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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Islamist Eboo Patel To Serve On Obama's Faith Advisory Council

Islamist Eboo Patel To Serve On Obama's Faith Advisory Council

February 11, 2009

Islamist Eboo Patel To Serve On Obama's Faith Advisory Council

By BEILA RABINOWITZ and WILLIAM MAYER

February 10, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - President Barack Obama has launched the White House Office for Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships which includes an advisory council. According to a White House press release:

"The White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will be a resource for nonprofits and community organizations, both secular and faith based, looking for ways to make a bigger impact in their communities, learn their obligations under the law, cut through red tape, and make the most of what the federal government has to offer… The Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will include a new President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, composed of religious and secular leaders and scholars from different backgrounds. There will be 25 members of the Council, appointed to 1-year terms." [source, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ObamaAnnouncesWhiteHouseOfficeofFaith-basedandNeighborhoodPartnerships/]

In reality this program is a redesign of President Bush's innovative, but controversial idea which was the subject of repeated attacks last fall by then candidate Obama who opposed the idea that faith based groups which received federal funding should actually be allowed to put their faith into practice in the organization and staffing of these programs, which Obama equated to "discrimination."

Given the leftist/secular tilt of Obama's board such concerns seem no longer to be motive. We must assume then that the advice from this group will most likely be far more palatable to the new president's rarefied secular sensibilities.

Of particular interest, among the advisory council members is Eboo Patel, a stealth Islamist who is founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, an organization designed to promote Islam through the smokescreen of religious "dialogue."

As these writers pointed out in, Eboo Patel And The Interfaith Youth Core - Da'wa's Newest Media Darling, "though feted in many circles as one of the rising "moderate Muslim" voices, from his pulpit in the Washington Post's blog, "On Faith" [see, http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/eboo_patel] Patel routinely proves himself to be offering nothing of the sort, and examining his methodology and ideas reveals all of the undertones which taken together prove Muslim interfaith dialogue to be a fraudulent endeavor." [source, http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=patelarticleid=061008%2Ehtm]

Patel, who also writes for ABC News, and was recently forced to admit that he made false assertions regarding the writings of Middle East expert Dr. Daniel Pipes. [see, http://www.meforum.org/press/2060]. In 2007 Patel served as the master of ceremonies at the Council on American Islamic Relations 2007 Annual Event [see, http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3492]

For those who haven't been paying attention recently, CAIR is a Saudi funded public relations mouthpiece for Hamas. CAIR was also named as an unindicted co- conspirator in the recently concluded Holy Land Foundation terrorist funding trial. As a result, the FBI has recently severed their ties with the organization.

Patel is not the first Islamist that Obama has associated with. During the fall campaign he was forced to go to extraordinary lengths in disavowing his long relationship with former PLO spokesman Rashid Khalidi and in August these writers took the lead in forcing the resignation of his then Muslim outreach director Mazen Asbahi another radical Muslim [see, Mazen Asbahi, Obama's Immoderate Muslim Outreach Director, Forced To Resign]

Any reformation of the White House Office's faith based programs, which includes Eboo Patel seems to indicate that the Obama administration is willing to partner even with bottom feeders as long as it will enable him to further his radical agenda.

We therefore recommend that Patel should be removed from the council immediately.

http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=patelid=2.10.09%2Ehtm

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Obama Announces White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary
_________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release

February 5, 2009
Obama Announces White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Washington (February 5, 2009) – President Barack Obama today signed an executive order establishing the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will work on behalf of Americans committed to improving their communities, no matter their religious or political beliefs. "Over the past few days and weeks, there has been much talk about what our government's role should be during this period of economic emergency. That is as it should be – because there is much that government can and must do=2 0to help people in need," said President Obama. "But no matter how much money we invest or how sensibly we design our policies, the change that Americans are looking for will not come from government alone. There is a force for good greater than government. It is an expression of faith, this yearning to give back, this hungering for a purpose larger than our own, that reveals itself not simply in places of worship, but in senior centers and shelters, schools and hospitals, and any place an American decides."

The White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will be a resource for nonprofits and community organizations, both secular and faith based, looking for ways to make a bigger impact in their communities, learn their obligations under the law, cut through red tape, and make the most of what the federal government has to offer. President Obama appointed Joshua DuBois, a former associate pastor and advisor to the President in his U.S. Senate office and campaign Director of Religious Affairs, to lead this office. "Joshua understands the issues at stake, knows the people involved, and will be able to bring everyone together – from both the secular and faith-based communities, from academia and politics – around our common goals," said President Obama. The Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will focus on four key priorities, to be carried out by working closely with the President's Cabinet Secretaries and each of the el even agency offices for faith-based and neighborhood partnerships:

• The Office's top priority will be making community groups an integral part of our economic recovery and poverty a burden fewer have to bear when recovery is complete.
• It will be one voice among several in the administration that will look at how we support women and children, address teenage pregnancy, and reduce the need for abortion.
• The Office will strive to support fathers who stand by their families, which involves working to get young men off the streets and into well-paying jobs, and encouraging responsible fatherhood.
• Finally, beyond American shores this Office will work with the National Security Council to foster interfaith dialogue with leaders and scholars around the world.

As the priorities of this Office are carried out, it will be done in a way that upholds the Constitution – by ensuring that both existing programs and new proposals are consistent with American laws and values. The separation of church and state is a principle President Obama supports firmly – not only because it protects our democracy, but also because it protects the plurality of America's religious and civic life. The Executive Order President Obama will sign today strengthens this by adding a new mechanism for the Executive Director of the Office to work through the White House Counsel to seek the advice of the Attorney General on difficult legal and constitutional issues. The Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will include a new President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, composed of religious and secular leaders and scholars from different backgrounds. There will be 25 members of the Council, appointed to 1-year terms.

Members of the Council include:

Judith N. Vredenburgh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Big Brothers / Big Sisters of America
Philadelphia, PA Rabbi David N. Saperstein, Director & Counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and noted church/state expert
Washington, DC Dr. Frank S. Page, President emeritus, Southern Baptist Convention
Taylors, SC Father Larry J. Snyder, President, Catholic Charities USA
Alexandria, VA Rev. Otis Moss, Jr., Pastor emeritus, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church
Cleveland, OH Eboo S. Patel, Founder & Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Corps
Chicago, IL Fred Davie, President, Public / Private Ventures, a secular non-profit intermediary
New York, NY Dr. William J. Shaw, President, National Baptist Convention, USA
Philadelphia, PA Melissa Rogers, Director, Wake Forest School of Divinity Center for Religion and Public Affairs and expert on church/state issues
Winston-Salem, NC Pastor Joel C. Hun ter, Senior Pastor, Northland, a Church Distributed
Lakeland, FL Dr. Arturo Chavez, Ph.D., President & CEO, Mexican American Cultural Center
San Antonio, TX Rev. Jim Wallis, President & Executive Director, Sojourners
Washington, DC Bishop Vashti M. McKenzie, Presiding Bishop, 13th Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church
Knoxville, TN Diane Baillargeon, President & CEO, Seedco, a secular national operating intermediary
New York, NY Richard Stearns, President, World Vision
Bellevue, WA

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