The wrong signal to black churches

Christian Century, August 29, 2001

The following comments on DiIulio's resignation are excerpted from an article written for Religion News Service by Samuel K Atchison, an ordained minister, social worker and prison chaplain in Trenton, New Jersey.

For many who work on the front lines of urban ministry, myself included, the loss is incalculable and threatens to undermine the credibility of the president's faith-based agenda. Granted, I am a bit biased. Like a number of black pastors, I consider DiIulio a close personal friend.

Long before being appointed to his White House office, DiIulio was at work in the 'hood, leveraging his considerable reputation and contacts in an ongoing effort to bring the work of minority churches and parachurch ministries to the attention of universities, think tanks, policy research organizations and private foundations.

In last year's presidential campaign, his advice was sought by both George W. Bush and Al Gore, thus ensuring the issue would be high on the national agenda regardless of the election's outcome. Yet even as he prepared to make the first of many early morning commutes to Washington from his native Philadelphia, I found myself wondering what kind of reception he would receive.

DiIulio, after all, is a passionate, no-nonsense kind of guy who does not suffer fools lightly. He has little tolerance for Beltway-style politics, where partisanship is substituted for substance in the name of the public good. DiIulio can be as diplomatic as a left jab.

So it was hardly unexpected when a brouhaha erupted from his statement in March questioning the commitment of "predominantly white, exurban, evangelical and national parachurch leaders."

Like many who have done hands-on work with the poor, DiIulio is well aware of the "bait and switch" game often characteristic of evangelical involvement in the inner cities. Writing in the Weekly Standard last year, he said: "National evangelical Christian church groups take in billions of dollars each year, but little of it ever goes to help their urban minority brothers and sisters in Christ."

That the Bush administration is about to lose its most vocal advocate for the poor sends exactly the wrong signal. As Eugene Rivers, a black pastor and longtime DiIulio ally, noted: "The message in Professor DiIulio's departure is that the black and the poor in the inner cities can go to hell. It sends a signal that the faith-based office will just be a financial watering hole for the right-wing white evangelists."