The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships,formerly the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) is an office within the White House Office that is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States.
USA Freedom Corps was a White House office and fifth policy council within the Executive Office of the President of the United States under George W. Bush,who as President served as its chair. Bush announced its creation during his 2002 State of the Union Address,and the Corps was officially established the next day,describing itself as a "Coordinating Council... working to strengthen our culture of service and help find opportunities for every American to start volunteering."
The Secular Coalition for America is an advocacy group located in Washington D.C. It describes itself as "representing the interests of atheists,humanists,freethinkers,agnostics,and other nontheistic Americans."
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a non-profit organization based in Washington,D.C. that describes itself as "a non-profit,public interest law firm defending the freedom of religion of people of all faiths." The Becket Fund promotes accommodationism and is active in the judicial system,the media,and in education.
Joel Carl Hunter is the former senior pastor of Northland,A Church Distributed,a congregation of 20,000 that worships at three sites in Central Florida. He is the author of A New Kind of Conservative,Church Distributed and Inner State 80:Your Journey on the High Way. Hunter accepted the presidency of the Christian Coalition in 2006,but resigned before taking the office.
Founded in 1936,the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) is a national faith-based organization which focuses on upholding the historic Baptist principle of religious liberty. With a staff of attorneys,scholars,ministers and mobilizers,the Washington D.C. based non-profit has a long history of advocating in the U.S. Supreme Court and working with Congress on issues relating to religious freedom and church-state separation.
Catholic Democrats is an American not-for-profit organization of Catholics to support the Democratic Party,based in Boston,United States. The Catholic Democrats have more than 60,000 members in all 50 American states and Puerto Rico. It claims no authorization from the Catholic Church,or any Catholic bishop,Catholic diocese,candidate or candidate committee.
George Washington Truett,also known as George W. Truett,was an American clergyman who was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas,Texas,from 1897 until 1944,and the president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1927 to 1929. He was one of the "most famous Southern Baptist" preachers and writers of his era.
Sojourners is a progressive monthly magazine and daily online publication of the American Christian social justice organization Sojourners,which arose out of the Sojourners Community. It was first published in 1971 under the original title of The Post-American. The magazine and online publication feature reporting,commentary,and analysis on Christianity and politics,the church and social issues,social justice,and Christian living. Articles frequently feature coverage of fair trade,interfaith dialogue,peacemaking,and work to alleviate poverty. The offices of the magazine are in Washington,D.C.
Suzan Denise Johnson Cook is a U.S. presidential advisor,pastor,theologian,author,activist,and academic who served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom from April 2011 to October 2013. She has served as a policy advisor to President Bill Clinton and later to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros,a dean and professor of communications at Harvard University,a professor of theology at New York Theological Seminary,a pastor at a number of churches,a television producer,and the author of nearly a dozen books. She was the first female senior pastor in the 200-year history of the Mariners Temple Baptist Church in NYC part of the American Baptist Churches USA and a close friend of Coretta Scott King. She is an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
Edwin Scott Gaustad was a Professor of History at the University of California,Riverside. He achieved fame with his study of the genealogy of religion in the United States,Historical atlas of religion in America. The 1972 edition of this work has been used in secular histories of Mainline Protestantism and the Emergent church movement (denominationalism) for decades,and his a Religious History of America was a standard text for college students. A graduate of Baylor University and Brown University,Gaustad dedicated his career to sharing his expansive research on religious history. Gaustad was President of the American Society of Church History. Gaustad died March 25,2011 in Santa Fe,New Mexico at the age of 87.
Joshua DuBois is an executive and former government official who served as the head of the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in the Executive Office of the President of the United States from 2009 to 2013. In February 2013 he stepped down to write a book of devotionals based on the ones he sends Obama,start a consulting firm,and become the weekly religion and community solutions columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. DuBois has been included among "The Root 100" and Ebony Magazine's "Power 150" lists of the most influential African Americans in the country. He also appeared on the cover of Christianity Today magazine as one of the 33 most influential Christian leaders under 33. In September 2017 it was announced that DuBois would become a CNN Contributor.
David Nathan Saperstein is an American rabbi,lawyer,and Jewish community leader who served as United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. He previously served as the director and chief legal counsel at the Union for Reform Judaism's Religious Action Center for more than 30 years.
Wake Forest University School of Divinity is an ecumenical divinity school located on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem,North Carolina. The School offers a Master of Divinity degree as well several joint degree programs in cooperation with other graduate programs at the university in bioethics,counseling,education,law,and sustainability. The school has 19 faculty.
A contraceptive mandate is a government regulation or law that requires health insurers,or employers that provide their employees with health insurance,to cover some contraceptive costs in their health insurance plans.
The Fortnight for Freedom is a campaign initiated by the Roman Catholic bishops of the United States. Events over the course of fourteen days from June 21 to July 4 each year,call upon Catholics to participate in a pledge to religious liberty and an appeal for the inclusion of a "conscience clause" for religious institutions and religious faithful to practice according to the moral tenets of one's religious faith.
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores,Inc.,573 U.S. 682 (2014),is a landmark decision in United States corporate law by the United States Supreme Court allowing privately held for-profit corporations to be exempt from a regulation its owners religiously object to,if there is a less restrictive means of furthering the law's interest,according to the provisions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. It is the first time that the court has recognized a for-profit corporation's claim of religious belief,but it is limited to Privately held corporations. The decision does not address whether such corporations are protected by the free-exercise of religion clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Executive Order 13672,signed by U.S. President Barack Obama on July 21,2014,amended two earlier executive orders to extend protection against discrimination in hiring and employment to additional classes. It prohibited discrimination in the civilian federal workforce on the basis of gender identity and in hiring by federal contractors on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity.
Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania,591 U.S. ___ (2020),was a United States Supreme Court case involving ongoing conflicts between the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) over the ACA's contraceptive mandate. The ACA exempts non-profit religious organizations from complying with the mandate,which for-profit religious organizations objected to.
Faith in Public Life (FPL) is an American political lobby group formed by Presbyterian Christians that is focused on influencing state and federal government policies. Based in Washington,D.C.,it was founded by Reverend Jennifer Butler and aims to influence policies relating to racial equality,immigration,healthcare,the economy,voting rights,women's equality,and LGBTQ rights.
