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President's Faith-Based Council Holds Its First Official Meeting

By Howard M. Friedman

Yesterday afternoon, President Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships held its first official meeting by conference call. Washington Post's On Faith has an account of what transpired. Each of the Task Forces reported on its activities. Originally it was reported that the White House had created six task forces (see prior posting); however yesterday's report suggests that a seventh has appeared: Reducing Teen Pregnancy and Abortion. The Council's timeline for the next few months is: Phone conferences every month with an in-person meeting , open to the public, in July. At that meeting, each task force will identify 2 to 3 areas for primary focus. In October, each task force will present a draft of recommendations, with a February meeting to release a final report and recommendations. In between,frequent phone conferences among task forces are anticipated.

Today, Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Civil and Political Rights today issued a press release focusing on part of the report by the Task Force on Global Poverty and Development. The Task Force identified as an issue the importance of foreign aid going to civil society institutions, such as churches, mosques, temples and universities, as well as to governments. Donohue says: "This is a commendable proposition, but it also smacks of hypocrisy: U.S. taxpayers are expected to foot the bill for religious institutions overseas but there is no money for poor kids down the block from the White House who would like to have a school voucher to attend a Catholic school. "

Full post as published by Religion Clause on June 05, 2009 (boomark / email).