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TechnoratiConservative evangelical and Catholic leaders who went out on a political limb by aligning themselves with the Obama administration are expressing feelings ranging from disappointment to optimism in their reaction to the president's decisions so far on culture war issues.
(Photo: AP Images / Gerald Herbert)President Barack Obama greets the audience in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, march 11, 2009, as he arrived to sign an Executive Order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls.
Although most of President Barack Obama's moves on abortion and stem cell research have been expected, some right-leaning Christian leaders who took a risk sitting down at the table with a Democratic president feel that several major decisions fall short of the common ground Obama had promised on divisive social issues.
Obama's reversal this week of Bush-era restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research is the latest example.
"Thus far, I have been disappointed to see little give. There's been a lot of take," said the Rev. Frank Page, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention who serves on a month-old advisory board to Obama's White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. "I've seen little give in the area of relating to the evangelical community as far as life issues."
Others point out that Obama is, after all, a Democrat and supporter of keeping abortion legal — and he has promised to proceed with caution on stem cells.
Obama "is not doing anything he hasn't said he was going to do during the campaign," said the Rev. Joel Hunter, an evangelical megachurch pastor from Orlando, Fla., and another advisory board member. "So I am not enthusiastic, but I'm not disappointed, because we knew what to expect. I'm encouraged he is not totally flipping to the other side. We've got to be patient here."
One of the four main priorities of Obama's faith-based office is to find ways to reduce the abortion rate, an attempt at common ground. But shortly after taking office, Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding of international family planning groups that perform abortions or provide information about the procedure.
Then in late February, the administration said it would rescind broad protections put in place in the waning days of the Bush administration for health workers who refuse to provide care they find objectionable on personal, moral or religious grounds. Conservative Christian groups cried foul.
The White House has said the administration was committed to protecting the rights of health care workers who don't want to perform abortions, but was concerned the Bush language went too far and could restrict services such as family planning and infertility treatments.
Obama's nomination of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic who supports abortion rights in conflict with church teachings, for health and human services secretary also has stirred the old culture war divisions.
But Page credited the White House for listening. He said an administration official reassured him that Obama would never force a health care provider to perform abortions against his or her conscience — easing Page's concerns about the so-called conscience clause.
"So, on that hand, I think they are listening and trying to seek some common ground," Page said. "But basically it seems like the more left-wing Democratic agenda is being followed."
On embryonic stem cell research, which involves the destruction of human embryos, many questions remained. President George W. Bush limited federally funded research to stem-cell lines that had already been created by August 2001, when he issued the order. Obama lifted that restriction and directed the National Institutes of Health to propose new guidelines, emphasizing that research should be done "responsibly." Continue >>
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