WP: Few Black Churches Get Funds (Bush's Faith-Based Initiative)

[Pirate Smile]

Few Black Churches Get Funds
Small Percentage Participate in Bush's Faith-Based Initiative

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 19, 2006; Page A19

The Bush administration's faith-based initiative is reaching only a tiny percentage of the nation's black churches, most of which have limited capacity to run social programs, hampering the initiative's promise of empowering those congregations to help the needy, according to a study to be released today.

-snip-
Black churches in the Northeast and those with self-identified progressive congregations and liberal theologies were most likely to be taking part in the program, a finding that surprised the researchers, who concluded that the White House has not used the program as a political tool as some critics have suspected.

"Those people who were most worried can exhale," said Robert M. Franklin, a professor of social ethics at Emory University who worked as a consultant on the survey. "Churches have not been manipulated by Karl Rove. They have not sold out."

-snip-
"The thing is that the churches that are most likely to actually do social outreach or social ministry are liberal churches, they are not conservative churches," said David A. Bositis, a senior research associate at the center who conducted the study. "Those churches may have significant reservations about the program. But if the money is there, they are going to take it. They are the ones who have the capacity and the infrastructure to get grants and administer them."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/18/AR2006091801121.html

I think that last paragraph is important - "]"The thing is that the churches that are most likely to actually do social outreach or social ministry are liberal churches, they are not conservative churches".

[Lithos]

1. I don't follow

So is it only the large white churches (such as found in suburbia) which have taken the money? The white evangelical (Calvinist/Zwinglian) churches are Bush's traditional support and I'm sure he'd not be unhappy to only see them benefitting.

L-

[Erika]

2. Surprise Surprise

Rove wanted our taxes diverted to white fundamentalist churches and he did it.

[Pirate Smile]

3. No, not quite. There is actually some good news in this.

Regarding the Black churches:

While many of the churches surveyed had an interest in assisting those in need and frequently offered small-scale programs such as food pantries or used-clothing giveaways, most had neither the money nor the expertise to do more -- or even to seek more resources.

Most of the nation's estimated 50,000 black churches are led by pastors who work other jobs full time and have little more than administrative help in running their churches. The survey found that more than one in four black churches had annual revenue of less than $100,000 and half had revenue of less than $250,000. Only 12 percent reported taking in more than $1 million a year.

"The survey reveals for us the breadth of churches in the African American community, and it shows how churches that already have capacity have a leg up on churches that may do some good things" but are not in a position to do them on a larger scale, said Harold Dean Trulear, a professor of religion at Howard University who was an adviser on the study.

If Rove thought this would swing many more Black votes to the GOP, he was apparently very wrong.


But the $$$ didn't go to the RW white churches because they aren't the ones who do this type of work - the liberal churches do - social justice, caring for the least of those and all that real Jesus stuff -

"The thing is that the churches that are most likely to actually do social outreach or social ministry are liberal churches, they are not conservative churches," said David A. Bositis, a senior research associate at the center who conducted the study. "Those churches may have significant reservations about the program. But if the money is there, they are going to take it. They are the ones who have the capacity and the infrastructure to get grants and administer them."

[Roy]

4. Not good news really...

This confirms that if I need help, then I will also need the resources to leave my neighborhood to get it. Reading this makes me wonder if the majority of the institutions that is getting most of the resources are the ones that need it the least.
Maybe this is why I don't see this faith based policy benefiting anyone in my area. But, I see a lot of people in need of temporary help.
In this 'booming' economy the business I see booming is the Pawn Shops, with small contractors and handy persons pulling in front of the Pawn Shop next door and sorting through their tools trying to decide which ones they can pawn for a little cash and still be able to work.

[xultar]

5. DAYUM...Where is a fuckin fainting or shocked smiley when you need one?

[goclark]

6. Sure wish I could see a list of the Black Churches

that are taking money from them.

[Tyo]

7. And why only churches?

How many synagogues, mosques, Buddhist temples are getting funds? The program is clearly designed to funnel cash to churches and only those on the “right” side of the political and theological fence.

[The Stranger]

8. Christian Fundamentalism is White Supremacy warmed over.

Connect the dots -- they are everywhere.