Rallying the Armies of Compassion: President Bush's Blueprint for the Faith-Based and Community Initiative

Foreword by President George W. Bush

America is rich materially, but there remains too much poverty and despair amidst abundance. Government can rally a military, but it cannot put hope in our hearts or a sense of purpose in our lives.

Government has a solemn responsibility to help meet the needs of poor Americans and distressed neighborhoods, but it does not have a monopoly on compassion. America is richly blessed by the diversity and vigor of neighborhood healers: civic, social, charitable, and religious groups. These quiet heroes lift people’s lives in ways that are beyond government’s know-how, usually on shoestring budgets, and they heal our nation’s ills one heart and one act of kindness at a time.

The indispensable and transforming work of faith-based and other charitable service groups must be encouraged. Government cannot be replaced by charities, but it can and should welcome them as partners. We must heed the growing consensus across America that successful government social programs work in fruitful partnership with community-serving and faith-based organizations — whether run by Methodists, Muslims, Mormons, or good people of no faith at all.

The paramount goal must be compassionate results, not compassionate intentions. Federal policy should reject the failed formula of towering, distant bureaucracies that too often prize process over performance. We must be outcome-based, insisting on success and steering resources to the effective and to the inspired. Also, we must always value the bedrock principles of pluralism, nondiscrimination, evenhandedness and neutrality. Private and charitable groups, including religious ones, should have the fullest opportunity permitted by law to compete on a level playing field, so long as they achieve valid public purposes, like curbing crime, conquering addiction, strengthening families, and overcoming poverty.

In this blueprint, I outline my agenda to enlist, equip, enable, empower and expand the heroic works of faith-based and community groups across America. The building blocks are two Executive Orders, signed yesterday, that call for the creation of a high-level White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, and instruct five Cabinet departments to establish Centers for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

As President, I will lead the federal government to take bold steps to rally America’s armies of compassion. I look forward to working with Congress on these issues and am open to additional ideas to meet our shared goals. I invite all Americans to join this effort to unleash the best of America. [read more]

• President Bush's Blueprint for the Faith-Based and Community Initiative [HTML Version]
• President Bush's Blueprint for the Faith-Based and Community Initiative [PDF Version]