Katherine Marshall discusses the challenges that Joshua DuBois, head of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, faces and argues for the need to bring faith into discussions of important global issues:
The American faith agenda is large enough but it pales in comparison to the challenges of bringing faith institutions and ideas intelligently into international affairs. DuBois said [at a recent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life meeting] his office was actively engaged in President Obama’s Cairo speech addressing the Muslim world; he cited interfaith work on malaria and service programs. Nonetheless, in the large agenda he traced, the international dimensions seem the least clearly set out.
The office focuses on the Domestic Council but has, it seems, less engagement on security and international development issues. Here too there is a complex legacy—the way other countries and communities perceive American policy and culture often has a significant faith lens. Navigating the faith dimensions of international relations is a demanding and sensitive priority and it did not emerge clearly from the Pew event who in the administration can serve as the pilot.
President Obama spoke movingly and with great conviction in Cairo about the links between hope and peace, jobs and security. He recognized that religion is part of the challenge and part of the solution. It’s an exciting start. But the “playing field” on the international side is still very rough terrain and it’s not easy to see clearly who’s there and how they operate. And many voices are warning that the impact of the global economic crisis on the world’s poorest communities has only begun to be felt. There’s an urgent need to bring the faith dimensions into the discussions about these global challenges.
Read the full piece here.