Tempting Faith

For those of you haven’t heard yet, a new book is coming out Monday called Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction. Written by David Kuo, who was a well-placed person in the Office of Faith Based initiatives, it details how the Bush administration used faith to further a political agenda. Via Street Prophets, I found this interview hosted on Crooks and Liars. To me the most pertinent passage is:

One official who rated grant applications told Kuo, “ when I saw one of those non-Christian groups in the set I was reviewing, I just stopped looking at them and gave them a zero…a lot of us did. ”

It’s been many moons since I spoke of the faith based initiatives (and I don’t mean Iraq, Afghanistan, civil liberties, etc.). I feared that it would be a program that was designed to become corrupt (plausible deniability), but I had no idea it was designed to be corrupt, to subvert the very basis of the American system of governance. However, after 6 years of watching as the people in power rule by fiat, and spit upon what it means to be American, I am not surprised.

One of the great debates that is currently happening in the Muslim world is at what point do you stop being Muslim. Without actually renouncing your faith, are things you can do/not do that stop you from being Muslim. If you curse the Prophet (PBUH) are you still Muslim? If you don’t pray, are you still Muslim?

I think this would be a useful exercise in determining Americaness. Aside from renouncing your citizenship, are things that would make you unAmerican? I know language is a big issue; no English, no American (although oddly enough, I suspect it would impact as many American-born as foreign-born, including our dear Jorge in the Blanco House). What about denying the role of 2 of the 3 branches of federal government? Or taking office after losing an election? Or committing torture? Deny believing in the Constitution?

Technorati Tags: First Amendment, inter-faith, intra-faith