Both a supporter and a critic of the faith-based initiative praised President Obama’s selection of Joshua DuBois to head his Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Orthodox Union public policy director Nathan Diament called DuBois, who worked on religious outreach on Obama’s presidential campaign and in his Senate office, an "excellent choice."
"Joshua not only knows the ‘people,’ but he also knows the key policies that concern the faith communities very well," said Diament. Perhaps most significant, Diament added, is that DuBois "has President Obama’s trust and will be able to ensure that the council will have appropriate impact upon the Obama administration’s policy discussions."
Religoius Action Center of Reform Judaism director and counsel Rabbi David Saperstein also praised DuBois as "an extraordinarily bright, thoughtful and competent professional" who did a "superb job in faith outreach" during the campaign.
"Josh is an excellent choice," he said.
But while Obama has vowed to revamp the faith-based office, which was opened under George W. Bush, Saperstein would have preferred if Obama had scrapped it.
"We thought that the faith-based office was not necessary and creates more problems," he said. But "it’s a valid judgment call" by the new administration, he said, noting that Obama has promised to insure certain "constitutional protections" in terms of "respecting the separation of church and state." They include not allowing recipients of federal funds to discriminate in hiring by taking religion into account.
Obama has indicated, and the New York Times reported Friday, that the new office will not just distribute grants to religious and community groups, but also look for other ways to involve those groups in working on social issues and problems.
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