IRFA Message Gains Traction
| 08 February 2010
IRFA President Stanley Carlson-Thies is quoted in a recent Washington Post story on President Obama’s version of the federal faith-based initiative. Carlson-Thies, identified in the story as one of the architects of the Bush faith-based office and as currently serving on a taskforce of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, contrasted the approaches of the two administrations: “There had been a clear reaching out to faith groups, he said, but now the attitude is: ‘We’re the government, doing wonderful things, YOU can come join US.’ The operation is less visible now, Carlson-Thies says. ‘People say, “Oh, what happened to that faith-based initiative?”
Although it does not appear in the story, Carlson-Thies stressed to the reporter that the work and basic standards of the federal faith-based initiative have been maintained by the Obama administration.
To read the complete article, see “Religious leaders worry that Obama’s faith council is for show,” by Michelle Boorstein and William Wan, Feb. 3, 2010.
On her show, Laura Ingraham referenced the Washington Post story and read the Carlson-Thies quotes. Unfortunately, she then turned the attention away from this important policy issue to discuss the President’s record of church attendance.