Faith-Based Inefficiency

The Follies of Bush's Initiatives

Bob Wineburg

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9780275993122
• eBook ISBN: 9780313087363
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

On January 29, 2001, President Bush established the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Its stated mission is to fight society's ills by rallying the armies of compassion inside America's churches. In Faith-Based Inefficiency Bob Wineburg argues that beneath the compassionate camouflage lies a five-star war plan to demolish government programs, mobilize and increase the size of the evangelical Christian voting block, shift government money to churches and other faith-based organizations in the conservative-led culture war, and develop a smoke screen of convincing media images and baffling words to confuse detractors. This largely understated relationship between the plan's politics and its service delivery has been overlooked, until now. Wineburg untangles the web of motives and complex activities in this newest dimension of the ongoing culture war to capture America's soul. He identifies the parties—religious extremists, social engineers, and politicos—and shows how they work to further the agenda of the core constituency of compassionate conservatism. His analysis clearly explains this initiative and exposes the naivete of the Administration's approach to fixing the serious and complex problems of persistent poverty. In addition, Wineburg illustrates through first-hand examples what is required for effective services, and he shows how local communities can develop plans to produce more skills for coping with local problems. He addresses complex issues like worker displacement, illiteracy, child abuse, substance abuse, and prison reentry, while offering workable options for small churches to participate in partnerships with government and other local nonprofits to prevent, solve, and manage such problems.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The Launching
• Chapter 2 Changing the System
• Chapter 3 The Research Shows . . .
• Chapter 4 The Director
• Chapter 5 Shaping the Discourse: The Marathoners
• Chapter 6 Blacks and Jews
• Chapter 7 Wingspread
• Chapter 8 The Reverend and the Professor
• Chapter 9 From Church to Community Nonprofit
• Chapter 10 The Rest of the Story
• Conclusion
• Appendix A Welfare Reform Liaison Project Quarterly Progress Report, June 2000 Class
• Appendix B An Envelope from Texas
• Appendix C White House E-mail to Jewish Leaders
• Appendix D Religious Community Already Is Doing Its Share to Provide Social Services
• Appendix E United Way Grant Approval to the Welfare Reform Liaison Project
• Appendix F Agenda for the 2005 Guilford County CommunityFaith Summit
• Notes
• Index