Faith-Based Inefficiency: The Follies of Bush's Initiatives / Edition 1

by Bob Wineburg

Overview

On January 29, 2001, President Bush established the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Its stated mission is to fight society's ills by rallying the armies of compassion inside America's churches. In Faith-Based Inefficiency Bob Wineburg argues that beneath the compassionate camouflage lies a five-star war plan to demolish government programs, mobilize and increase the size of the evangelical Christian voting block, shift government money to churches and other faith-based organizations in the conservative-led culture war, and develop a smoke screen of convincing media images and baffling words to confuse detractors. This largely understated relationship between the plan's politics and its service delivery has been overlooked, until now.

Wineburg untangles the web of motives and complex activities in this newest dimension of the ongoing culture war to capture America's soul. He identifies the parties—religious extremists, social engineers, and politicos—and shows how they work to further the agenda of the core constituency of compassionate conservatism. His analysis clearly explains this initiative and exposes the naivete of the Administration's approach to fixing the serious and complex problems of persistent poverty. In addition, Wineburg illustrates through first-hand examples what is required for effective services, and he shows how local communities can develop plans to produce more skills for coping with local problems. He addresses complex issues like worker displacement, illiteracy, child abuse, substance abuse, and prison reentry, while offering workable options for small churches to participate in partnerships with government and other local nonprofits to prevent, solve, and manage such problems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275993122
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/30/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Bob Wineburg is Jefferson Pilot Excellence Professor of Social Work at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He is the author of many book chapters, published articles, and the books A Limited Partnership: The Politics of Religion, Welfare and Social Service and The Newer Deal: Social Work and Religion in Partnership. He was an advisor to Catholic Charities USA on its Vision 2000 Project, and served as a panelist on the President's Faith-Based Initiative at the United Jewish Communities bi-annual conference, along with Senator Joseph Lieberman, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, and USA Freedom Corps Director John Bridgeland.

Table of Contents

Preface     vii
Acknowledgments     xiii
Introduction     xv
The Launching     1
Changing the System     11
The Research Shows...     31
The Director     49
Shaping the Discourse: The Marathoners     59
Blacks and Jews     69
Wingspread     81
The Reverend and the Professor     91
From Church to Community Nonprofit     99
The Rest of the Story     111
Conclusion     117
Welfare Reform Liaison Project Quarterly Progress Report, June 2000 Class     123
An Envelope from Texas     129
White House E-mail to Jewish Leaders     131
Religious Community Already Is Doing Its Share to Provide Social Services     135
United Way Grant Approval to the Welfare Reform Liaison Project     139
Agenda for the 2005 Guilford County Community Faith Summit     141
Notes     147
Index     157

What People are Saying About This

Mark Chaves

"No one will accuse Bob Wineburg of pulling punches in this hard-hitting critique of the Bush Administration's faith-based initiative. But the book offers much more than a critique. By weaving the story of a successful church-based social service effort into his analysis of the national initiative, Wineburg shows us a better way to enhance partnerships between government and religious organizations providing social services: promote cooperation rather than competition among community agencies, and build on local knowledge and experience."

—

Mark Chaves, Professor of Sociology, University of Arizona

Mark Chaves

"No one will accuse Bob Wineburg of pulling punches in this hard-hitting critique of the Bush Administration's faith-based initiative. But the book offers much more than a critique. By weaving the story of a successful church-based social service effort into his analysis of the national initiative, Wineburg shows us a better way to enhance partnerships between government and religious organizations providing social services: promote cooperation rather than competition among community agencies, and build on local knowledge and experience."

Editorial Reviews

Wineburg wanted to pretend impartiality and provide a study of several representative cities in the US, in order to impress his colleagues and protect his status as an academic. He could not even begin until he decided instead to tell the story he knew to be true. Drawing from 20 years of data he has gathered since the Reagan administration, he describes religious based social services and sectarian services in Greensboro, and the community's reaction to continuing policy changes.” —Reference & Research Book News

“Criticizes the motivations and results of the president's policy of involving religious organizations in the delivery of social services.” —The Chronicle of Higher Education

From the Publisher