Subscribe to Breaking NewsVanasco: Obama names Harry Knox to religion council
President Barack Obama named Harry Knox, director of the Religion and Faith Program of the Human Rights Campaign to the the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
The Council is gigantic – 25 people – and seem to be a fairly diverse group, though it seems to be a bit heavy in Baptists.
The new members are starred. How about it, 365 readers? I know the National Council of Churches is liberal; any word on the rest of the appointees?
Full release after the jump.
Washington – President Barack Obama today announced additional members of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The Advisory Council is part of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and is composed of religious and secular leaders and scholars from different backgrounds.
Each member of the Council is appointed to a one-year term. The members of the Council are:
Diane Baillargeon, President & CEO, Seedco, New York , NY
*Anju Bhargava, Founder, Asian Indian Women of America, New Jersey
*Bishop Charles Blake, Presiding Bishop, Church of God in Christ, Los Angeles, CA
Noel Castellanos, CEO, Christian Community Development Association, Chicago, IL
*The Rev. Peg Chemberlin, President-Elect, National Council of Churches USA, Minneapolis, MN
Dr. Arturo Chavez, President & CEO, Mexican American Catholic College, San Antonio , TX
Fred Davie, Senior Adviser, Public/Private Ventures, New York , NY
*Nathan Diament, Director of Public Policy, Orthodox Jewish Union, Washington, DC
Pastor Joel C. Hunter, Senior Pastor, Northland, a Church Distributed, Longwood, FL
*Harry Knox, Director, Religion and Faith Program, Human Rights Campaign, Washington, DC
Bishop Vashti M. McKenzie, Presiding Bishop, 13th Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church, Knoxville, TN
*Dalia Mogahed, Executive Director, Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, Washington, DC
Rev. Otis Moss, Jr., Pastor emeritus, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, Cleveland, OH
Dr. Frank S. Page, President emeritus, Southern Baptist Convention, Taylors, SC
Eboo S. Patel, Founder & Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Core, Chicago, IL
*Anthony Picarello, General Counsel , United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC
*Nancy Ratzan, Board Chair, National Council of Jewish Women, Miami, FL
Melissa Rogers, Director, Wake Forest School of Divinity Center for Religion and Public Affairs, Winston-Salem , NC
Rabbi David N. Saperstein, Director & Counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Washington, DC
Dr. William J. Shaw, President, National Baptist Convention, USA, Philadelphia , PA
Father Larry J. Snyder, President, Catholic Charities USA, Alexandria , VA
Richard Stearns, President, World Vision, Bellevue , WA
Judith N. Vredenburgh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Big Brothers / Big Sisters of America, Philadelphia , PA
Rev. Jim Wallis, President & Executive Director, Sojourners, Washington , DC
*Dr. Sharon Watkins, General Minister and President, Disciples of Christ (Christian Church), Indianapolis, IN
NOTE: Members marked with an asterisk were announced today. The White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will be a resource for nonprofits and community organizations, both secular and faith based, looking for ways to make a bigger impact in their communities, learn their obligations under the law, cut through red tape, and make the most of what the federal government has to offer. Other members of the Advisory Council were announced earlier this year.
I agree, where are the non-believers? We are 15% of American society. I understand that an atheist presence may be polarizing, but a good appointment could do exactly the opposite. However, in the end, just having this group is dangerous.
Why are no explicitly atheist or otherwise non-believer organizations included? Non-believers need these kinds of services even more so than the religious, because often services are dominated by religious organizations out to promote their message, or worse, restrict who can receive their services.
From the article above: “The Council is gigantic – 25 people – and seem to be a fairly diverse group, though it seems to be a bit heavy in Baptists.”
Be more specific. Do you mean Northern, mainstream Baptists, or the slave owning, n+++er hanging, child/church bombing, second-generation snake handling, Good Old Bubba, hypocritical Silent Majority, mega-church building/big-money-collection-plate ubber Conservative Republican fag-hater SOUTHERN BAPTISTS? There is a huge difference in case you haven’t noticed. I do wish people, especially gay-positive reporter/writers, would be specific when they use the relegious title “Baptist.” They are NOT interchangeable. Historically, you should be aware that the Southern contengent were excomunicated prior to the Civil War for their abuse of human rights and slavery. Not much has changed, Eh? They are still trying to exert their white-supremicy dictates and mis-guided relegious tenets about what God condones and what he condems. I doubt seriously they’ve ever read Christ’s admonition to his diciples that the greatest law is “Love.” If any them have, they surely didn’t understand it plain and simple.
Where is the United Church of Christ?
Where is the Episcopal Church USA?
Where are the Lutherans?
There should be no faith-based funding, period. First we pay their taxes for them since they are exempt, then we turn around and give the tax money we have collected back to them. What a scam. Barnum would be proud.
This dabbling in Theocracy is one of the worst threats to American Democracy in our lifetime.