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Faith-Based Initiatives (the other FBI) and “compassionate” conservatism are interconnected. We all should know more about this secretive movement that melds two spheres of belief, religion and politics. Its origin can be traced back to former Nixon aide and Watergate felon Charles W. Colson’s Prison Fellowship, a worldwide fundamentalist evangelical ministry that wages war on secularism. Traditionally evangelicals aided and worked for the poor and the suffering. This ended in the early part of the twentieth century when their “Social Gospel” was radically revised.

 What was the outcome? Good works are disdained today; all the poor needs is Jesus. Colson and his “brothers” are members of The Family (what they call themselves).

The Family or Fellowship is a core of religious fundamentalists that wants to change the world. “They take the same approach to religion that Ronald Reagan took to economics,” says…Neil MacBride, a political liberal with conservative evangelical convictions that put him at odds with the Family’s unorthodox fundamentalism. “Reach the elite, and the blessings will trickle down to the underlings.” This fundamentalist mix includes evangelicals, Pentecostals, Roman Catholics, and an assortment of right-wing politicians. For example, Senators James Inhofe (R., Oklahoma.), Jim DeMint (R., South Carolina), Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), Tom Coburn (R., Oklahoma), Sam Brownback (R., Kansas), Mike Enzi (R., Wyoming), John Ensign (R., Nevada) and John Thune (R., North Dakota) are some of its members. These cultural imperialists’ religious and political ideas are not in sync with those of the majority of Christians. Jeff Sharlet dubs them the avant-garde¹ of American fundamentalism in his bestseller about the secret fundamentalism at the heart of American power².

Separation of church and state as well as the other cherished pillars of our democratic form of government are threatened by the so-called faith-based initiatives. In chapter 4 (entitled The Faith-Based Gravy Train) of her best seller, Kingdom Coming³, investigative journalist Michelle Goldberg emphasized: “The diversion of billions of taxpayer dollars from secular social service organizations to such sectarian religious outfits has been one of the most underreported stories of the Bush presidency. Bush’s faith-based initiatives have become a spoils system for evangelical ministries, which are now involved in everything from prison programs and job training to teenage pregnancy prevention, supplanting the safety net that was supposed to catch all Americans. As a result of faith-based grants, a growing number of government-funded social services jobs explicitly refuse to hire Jews, gay people, and other undesirables; the administration and its surrogates, in the name of religious freedom, defend such discrimination. Bringing the dispossessed to Jesus Christ has become something very close to a domestic policy goal of the United States government. All of this has happened with far less notice or public debate than attended the removal of Terri Schaivo’s feeding tube or the halftime baring of Janet Jackson’s breast⁴.”

Amy Sullivan⁵, a writer sympathetic to religion, stated, “The policy of funding the work of faith-based organizations has, in the face of slashed social services budgets, devolved into a small pork-barrel program that offers token grants to the religious constituencies in Karl Rove’s electoral plan for 2004 while making almost no effort to monitor their effectiveness.”⁶

Puerto Ricans should heed this wake-up call. Religious Fundamentalists follow the “dominion theology, which asserts that, in preparation for the second coming of Christ, godly men have the responsibility to take over every aspect of society. Dominion theology comes out of Christian Reconstructionism, a fundamentalist creed that was propagated by the late Rousas John (R.J.) Rushdoony…He was a prolific writer, churning out dense tomes advocating the abolition of public schools and social services and the replacement of civil law with biblical law…he called for the death penalty for gay people, blasphemers, and unchaste women, among other sinners.”⁷ “Is fundamentalism too limited a word for such utopian dreams? Lately some scholars prefer maximalism, a term meant to convey the movement’s ambition to conform every aspect of society to God.”⁸

Beware of the rise of Christian Nationalism! It’s “a partisan political force… [that] developed out of the modern religious right born late in the 1970’s. That’s when a group of right-wing strategists including Paul Weyich, Richard Viguerie, and Howard Phillips—all veterans of the Barry Goldwater campaign—recruited a somewhat obscure Baptist televangelist named Jerry Falwell (1933-2007)⁹ to found the Moral Majority. Their idea was to use abortion as a wedge to split social traditionalists from the Democratic Party, and to harness the energy of the evangelical movement to the GOP. It worked.”¹⁰ A parallel political force developed in Puerto Rico. It was the beginning of a massive realignment of evangelical fundamentalists here with right-wing politicians especially the Republican wing of the PNP.

My crusade against this unholy alliance began years ago. On September 4, 2003 the now defunct San Juan Star (the “Star”) published “A call against pandering to religious leaders”. I said: “It is pathetic how low some politicians will stoop to perpetuate themselves in power. Carlos Pesquera, defeated, once again wannabe gubernatorial candidate and New Progressive Party President…amused us by dawdling with the likes of Carlos Sanchez (Pro Vida), Milton Picón (Morality in the Media), Jorge Raske (Clamor de Díos), and Roberto González Nieves (San Juan archbishop) in a bid for their followers’ votes. Now veteran politician and party switcher Sergio Peña Clos¹¹ has introduced a resolution calling for the amendment of the commonwealth Constitution to ban same-sex marriages…The Fonts, Raschkes and González Nieves fail to realize that it is on the inside that God, family, and marriage must be defended, not at rallies and other places outside religion. Families are made by turning the television off, praying, eating and conversing during meals, and by otherwise dedicating quality time to the members regardless of whether you are straight or gay.”

Earlier on July 25, 2003, the Star published “Supreme Court sodomy ruling in tune with freedom-loving Puerto Rico”. In that letter I warned: “In the aftermath of the Senate’s approval of the new Penal Code excluding Article 103; the Supreme Court’s landmark 6-3 decision in Lawrence v. Texas (June 26, 2003…, and the protest of the former by Protestant evangelists at the Capitol, everyone should reflect on the far-reaching impact these events have on justice and equal rights for all. To prosper our society needs an upright, progressive-minded governor who has studied the Puerto Rico and U.S. Constitutions, and believes in defending liberty and justice for all. The Star quoted Carlos Pesquera at the rally saying: ‘Here the traditional family concept is being threatened.’…The issue [in Lawrence, supra] is whether the majority may use the power of the State to enforce these views [religious beliefs, conceptions of right and wrong and respect for the traditional family] on the whole society by operation of criminal law. Our obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code.”

And even earlier, published in the Star on June 16, 2003, in “Legislators should say ‘yes’ to freedom and ‘no’ to scare tactics”, I emphasized: “Nobody in Puerto Rico wants people burned at the stake, exterminated as was done in the Nazi era, spied upon and questioned by inquisitors. Therefore, after a careful analysis of the underlying issues of freedom and democracy, most adults, regardless of their sexual preferences¹², will conclude that the state should stop meddling in their private lives…”

I continued to express my viewpoints in the press in spite of all the human rights setbacks that occurred during the retrogressive Bush administration. Progressives hoped that President Obama would make structural change, but after I read the Audacity of Hope¹³ and have seen what his administration has done early-on, we are discovering that he was merely promising a centrist change of heart. The Democratic Senate took a single-payer health care system off the table before negotiating health reform with the GOP minority. DDAT¹⁴ and the federal DOMA¹⁵ have not been repealed or attenuated. What disappointments!

The same goes for the White House Office of Faith Based Initiatives; instead of eliminating it and transferring its funding to government social services, President Obama renamed it the White House’s Office of Faith Based & Neighborhood Partnerships and revamped funding as a $50 million Strengthening Communities Fund. Purportedly, the focus is no longer blatant evangelism, imposition of religious dogma and rampant employment discrimination as was the case under the Bush administration.

Recently, Rev. Joshua DuBois, the head of White House’s Office of Faith Based & Neighborhood Partnerships, spoke at a LULAC¹⁶ forum on “Faith, Community & Recovery in Challenging Times” at the Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan. He said that the Office that he directs: “has been given a new set of goals by President Obama…noting that the agency works with 12 other federal agencies, such as Labor and Justice, to provide job training and other social programs. Chief of these is to connect the federal government with faith-based groups, as well as secular non-profits, to “get the economy back on track after its free-fall.”¹⁷

Governor Fortuño is a diehard Republican whose policies mirror the Bush administration’s policies.¹⁸ He favors the same kind of big moneyed interests and discredited economic and social policies. He has dismissed thousands of public employees many of whom voted for him and the PNP legislature. His administration is disparagingly referred to as the “such is life”¹⁹ administration. Does anyone honestly believe that Rev. Aníbal Heredia Burgos, Rev. DuBois’ counterpart in Puerto Rico, will set his religious preferences aside, stop lobbying at the Legislature,²⁰ promote responsible fatherhood, healthy families, common ground on abortion and adoption, higher wages and better-quality jobs for all low income individuals? They just might; after all so many foolishly voted for Luis Fortuño! What do I think? The faith, political affiliation and sexual orientation of the person in need of help, more often than not, will be a considered before extending assistance.

The Puerto Rico Daily Sun’s July 16th edition (p. 6) reported: “Fortuño administration officials stressed during the forum the need to incorporate local churches in efforts to solve the island’s social problems. At times, the exhortations took on religious overtones…Heredia Burgos…stressed it was ‘the first time ever’ a commonwealth governor included ‘an evangelical agenda.²¹ Before, you didn’t hear the voice of the Church and of faith in the government; Now it’s being listened to’…[and] noted that while ‘much has been accomplished’ during the first seven months of the Fortuño administration, the agenda to ‘put the minds of God in the government’ is incomplete...to applause and cries of ‘hallelujah’ from the audience…He said his office has ‘connections’ with 77 commonwealth agencies…to expedite permits for churches and solve ‘any other problems. Glory to God! This is an achievement. So take advantage of this, Heredia told the religious leaders in the audience… We should make Puerto Rico a model for Obama to follow...’ He acknowledged that they [religious leaders] present… ’Feared that the president would eliminate funding for faith-based religious groups…’ Family Secretary Yanitzia Irizarry, a Catholic who described herself as a ‘Christian lawyer’, agreed with Heredia, saying she preferred to have such children [those placed under the Family Department’s care] in adoption centers that are headed by church leaders. ‘We need faith-based organizations to rescue lives form the darkness,’ she said in a message that sounded at times more fervent than those given by religious leaders. ‘Given that the enemy does not rest, neither do the sons of our Lord.’ DuBois said ‘you can’t use federal resources for a religious purpose, they have to be focused on social services…’ ’’

Recently, I started to look for new venues to share my views about the pitfalls of mixing church and state because I feared that my criticism of the Fortuño administration’s policies might have been censored; therefore, I was delighted when Papel Mag invited me to contribute my thoughts to the Queeritics Section. Hopefully our collaboration will be persistent and fruitful. I will be interested in reading its readers’ comments. If its invitation is extended and the reaction to “The Other FBI” is favorable, I have had two related topics on my mind for ages: “Worldly Power: Cell by Cell”, and “Living in a Topsy-Turvy World: Who inverted Theology and Revelation?” Tomorrow brings new challenges; let’s see what each of us can do. We’ll fearlessly and optimistically face this utter confusion together. We progressives must prevail. ¡Hasta la próxima edición!

Thank you very much!

William J. Luckeroth

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