Transcript
E.J. DIONNE: I'd like to welcome everyone to this discussion and celebration of our book, Sacred Places, Civic Purposes: Should Government Help Faith-Based Charity? We are blessed to have so many wonderful people with us today at this discussion sponsored by the Brookings Institution and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. I'd like to thank Reverend Calvin Butts and everyone at Abyssinian Baptist Church for sharing their time and space with us to hold this conversation in such a beautiful sanctuary.
I love the book of James, not only because I have a son named James but also because I think James had it exactly right—James the writer, that is, and the gospel. My son is right sometimes, too. The Gospel writer had it exactly right when he said, "Faith without works is dead." You could say that James was the very first person to ask the question "You can talk the talk but can you walk the walk?" And you could say that our theme today is about the work that people of faith—the ones who walk the walk—do every single day. It's the work of solving problems, of helping others, of lifting up the outcast and the needy, of binding social wounds and forging bonds of community and brotherhood and sisterhood.
I promise I won't speak long today, because we have so many very special people to participate in the conversation. So I just want to say a couple of things about Sacred Places, Civic Purposes.
First, we're here to celebrate Sacred Places, Civic Purposes, and the 47 people who contributed to it. Apropos of Mrs. Clinton, It Takes a Village to Raise a Child, it took a village to produce a book like this. Ming Hsu, the co-editor, and Kayla Drogosz and also Staci Simmons and Christina Counselman might be seen as the town council of that village. I want to thank them for all the work they did.
The theme of the book is straightforward, that sacred places serve civic purposes. They help solve problems, including the problems of crime and teen pregnancy. They help find solutions in child care, community development and education. These are the subjects that we've focused on in the book.
You don't have to be a Republican or a Democrat, a liberal or a conservative, to notice the role our religious institutions play. The last time I looked, God did not have a party membership card, even though it's true that on election day most of us assume God belongs to whichever party we do.
The book deals with issues around President Bush's proposals to expand government help to faith-based organizations, but this project began before President Bush took office and its purpose is neither to praise nor to condemn the president. We suggest that before the country has a polarized, partisan and ideological debate, all of us should look carefully at what churches, synagogues, mosques and the houses of worship and meditation of other faiths are accomplishing right now, often in partnership with government, without raising a single First Amendment problem.
Assemblyman Denny Farrell from this area told me recently that he is a strong believer in the separation of church and state and that he always tries to find money for programs connected to religious institutions in his neighborhood. That's not a contradiction. It's the story of our ongoing struggle to protect religious liberty. We protect it not for the purpose of undermining religion but to honor and raise up the powerful contributions religious people and institutions make to the commonweal.
You don't have to believe that our religious institutions can replace government—I don't believe that at all—to acknowledge their indispensable role. The people in religious institutions can be both practical and loving providers of service and also prophetic and critical voices. They ask us to heed the words of Isaiah, "to undo the heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free."
Now, people in these institutions were doing this a long time ago. Dr. King, in his letter from the Birmingham jail, spoke of "those noble souls from the ranks of organized religion who have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in this struggle for freedom. They have carved a tunnel of hope," Dr. King said, "through the mountain of disappointment," and if I may add they are carving out that tunnel of hope still.
Few events more powerfully underscore the relationship between faith and public life than the public response to the assaults of September 11th. Throughout the nation citizens spontaneously flocked to their houses of worship in search of consolation, understanding and solidarity. Prayer and meditation, along with the acts of generosity and mercy that so often followed, partook of both the sacred and the civic realms. Americans discussed the urgency of religious toleration and the paradox of religious commitment, depending on how it is understood, can unit communities or divide them from each other. It can lead, we have learned, to love or hatred.
The terrible events pushed our country I think toward a new spirit of seriousness and reflection, creating a moment that might allow us to begin our national conversation on the meaning of faith in our public life.
It's that conversation that we're having here today and it's why it gives me such great pleasure to introduce our three opening speakers. I certainly don't have to introduce Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to you. She is well known to you. She was well known for her work with children long before she became a household name, and she is known as a person who has reflected on her faith. And if I can give away a secret here, she and our second speaker, John DiIulio, engaged in a very fruitful dialogue behind the scenes in the last several months, and I thought it was a blessing that both of them would be so kind to share that dialogue with us today publicly. It's a great honor to have you with us, Mrs. Clinton.
John DiIulio, as you know, was the head of the president's office on faith-based and community initiatives. He is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. John has been working at this issue I think longer than anybody in the room, and I know as a friend he is a spectacular human being with enormous heart.
And finally Steve Goldsmith. Steve Goldsmith is the former mayor of Indianapolis. He is also the chair of the Corporation for National Service. I've gotten to know Steve Goldsmith over several years and at many meetings on public policy, and here's one of the things that's most striking about Steve. It's not unusual for a politician to brag on his or her achievements. Steve usually skips that part and he goes to the problems that aren't solved yet and he tends to talk not only about things he did that worked but also the things he did that didn't work. I find that very refreshing in a public figure and we're honored to have you with us today.
It gives me great pleasure to introduce Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Thank you so much for joining us today.
(Applause.)
SENATOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY): Thank you very much. It is a great honor to be back in this historic and beautiful church, especially since the last time I was here the scaffolding was still up. To see the church in all of its glory during the Christmas season is especially a treat for me.
I want to thank the church for hosting this forum and even more for the work that it does every day. I particularly want to thank Karen Phillips and Darren Walker for their leadership and the inspirational example of Dr. Butts, because I think that this church has demonstrated that it is possible to intervene effectively in a community through the Development Corporation and other efforts that it has undertaken for a number of years under Dr. Butts' leadership.
I'm delighted to be here with my friend E.J. I probably shouldn't call him that. I'm going to blow his journalistic objectivity, but I have a great regard and respect for the issu