Religious affiliations can affect the electability of the presidents of the United States and shape their stances on policy matters and their visions of society and also how they want to lead it. While no president has ever openly identified as an atheist,Thomas Jefferson,Abraham Lincoln,and William Howard Taft were speculated to be atheists by their opponents during political campaigns;in addition,a survey during the presidency of Donald Trump showed that 63% of Americans did not believe he was religious,despite his professed Christian affiliation. Trump supporters have also circulated conspiracy theories that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Conversely,other presidents,such as Jimmy Carter,have used their faith as a defining aspect of their campaigns and tenure in office.
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 "protecting the equal rights of nonreligious Americans."
Joel Carl Hunter is a pastor and author. 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. He delivered the closing benediction on the final day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) is a US faith-based organization which focuses on upholding the historic Baptist principle of religious liberty.
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.
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 40 years.
The Respect for Marriage Act is a landmark United States federal law passed by the 117th United States Congress in 2022 and signed into law by President Joe Biden. It repeals the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),requires the U.S. federal government and all U.S. states and territories to recognize the validity of same-sex and interracial civil marriages in the United States,and protects religious liberty. Its first version in 2009 was supported by former Republican U.S. Representative Bob Barr,the original sponsor of DOMA,and former President Bill Clinton,who signed DOMA in 1996. Iterations of the proposal were put forth in the 111th,112th,113th,114th,and 117th Congresses.
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.
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.
Centers for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives are bodies within U.S. federal government agencies giving religious groups more voice in government programs. The executive order on the "Establishment of a White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative" issued in May 2018 during the presidency of Donald Trump requires all executive departments to designate a Liaison for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives to coordinate with a new Advisor to the White House.
Amanda R. Tyler is an American lawyer and executive. She is the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) in Washington,D.C.,a nonprofit whose focus is defending religious freedom for all people. In addition,she serves as the co-host of the BJC's "Respecting Religion" podcast series,alongside BJC General Counsel Holly Hollman. Tyler is the sixth executive director of the organization since its founding in 1936 and the first woman to hold the post.
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 nonprofit religious organizations from complying with the mandate,to which for-profit religious organizations objected.
Faith in Public Life(FPL) is a non-profit 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.
Josh Dickson is an American politician who serves as the deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships,appointed by Joe Biden since 2021.
