Catholic League president Bill Donohue warned Monday the Biden administration has inexplicably brought in militant atheists to consult for the White House office on faith-based initiatives.
President Biden already altered the nature of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships when the White House announced on February 14 that it “will not prefer one faith over another or favor religious over secular organizations,” Dr. Donohue notes, thereby defeating the purpose of an office dedicated to “faith-based programs.”
Last week, Melissa Rogers, the executive director of the Office, met with leaders of six anti-religious organizations: Freedom from Religion Foundation, the American Humanist Association, American Atheists, Center for Inquiry, Ex-Muslims of North America and the Secular Coalition for America.
Railing against the new “Christian nationalism,” the groups denounced the pro-religious liberty policies ushered in by the Trump administration, Donohue observes.
It was President George W. Bush who introduced a White House office of faith-based initiatives to create cooperative endeavors between government and religious groups.
President Obama, on the other hand, while not disbanding the office, substantially diluted the faith element in faith-based programs, Donohue writes. After four years of greater attention to people of faith from the White House, Biden is returning to Obama’s more secularist model and taking it to a new level.
“If the Biden administration is going to manipulate the founding purpose of faith-based initiatives by welcoming the advice of militant secularists, it would do us all a favor and simply trash this office,” Donohue concludes.
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