Faith-based progressivism

Democrats and religious groups are natural allies in the fight for social justice What was the significance of Barack Obama's speech on faith yesterday? My sense is that the Bush team pulled away from the faith-based initiative around the time it discovered that most faith-based practitioners were politically progressive, or at least politically unpredictable, and in any case unsympathetic to major portions of the GOP agenda, especially its tax breaks for the rich, support of capital punishment and decision to invade Iraq. Faith-based communities were happy to receive grant money for projects and programmes, for repairs and upkeep of their clinics, community centres, soup kitchens and the like, but highly critical of the Bush-Marvin Olasky premise that "compassion" should be the business of the congregations alone and not of... [read full story]