Remarks to the White House National Conference on faith-based and Community Initiatives

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 7, 2004

June 1, 2004

Thank you all for coming. Thank you all. Please be seated, thanks for coming. Thank you so much.

I want to thank you all for caring about your country enough that you are here to inspire others as to how to save lives. Welcome to Washington, DC. I want to thank Tonja Myles, the director of Set Free Indeed, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for introducing me. Tonja is--when I talk about people involved in saving people's lives, I'm speaking about people like Tonja and those on the stage with me. You heard their stories. I have too. And on behalf of a grateful nation, I thank them and you for serving in the army of compassion.

By feeding the hungry, by healing the addicted, by loving and caring for refugees, you represent the true strength, the real strength, the genuine strength of the United States of America. And I am grateful for what you do.

We're here to talk today about the relationship between people of faith and Government policy. I believe it is in the national interest that Government stand side by side with people of faith who work to change lives for the better. I understand in the past, some in Government have said Government can not stand side by side with people of faith. Let me put it more bluntly, Government can't spend money on religious programs simply because there's a rabbi on the board, cross on the wall, or a crescent on the door. I viewed this as not only bad social policy--because policy bypassed the great works of compassion and healing that take place--I viewed it as discrimination. And we needed to change it.

So we've hosted regional conferences to raise the issue. I try to talk about the Faith-Based Initiative a lot. Part of my job is to say to the American people, "Here is a fantastic opportunity to help America become what we want it to be, a land of hope and promise and love and compassion."

And so we're--and we're having regional conferences like this. I'm proud to report that we've reached more than 10,000 faith-based and community groups with the message that we want your help, that the Federal Government now welcomes your work, and do not fear being discriminated against by the Government.

Listen, I fully understand there are people in the faith community who have said, "Why do I want to interface with the Federal Government?" [Laughter] "Why would I want to interface with a group of people that want to try to get me to not practice nay faith?" It's hard to be a faith-based program if you can't practice faith, and the message to you is, "We're changing the culture here in America."

And we're making progress. We're changing the attitude here in Washington, DC. I want to thank the Cabinet Secretaries who are here. It should indicate to you that my Cabinet not only has gotten the directive from the President that I expect all Cabinets to be open to faith-based programs, but it should speak to the character of the people who I've called to serve the country. Secretary Ann Veneman, Elaine Chao, Rod Paige, Tony Principi, thank you all for coming today, Hector Barreto of the SBA and Andrew Natsios of USAID, thank you all for coming. I see the Justice Department is represented by Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey. Thank you all for coming. This is a--HUD is represented.

Listen, what I'm telling you is, is that I told our Government, the people in my Government, "Rather than fear faith programs, welcome them. They're changing America. They do a better job than Government can do." [Applause] Thank you all.

I know Jim Ryun is here, the Congressman from Kansas, and his wife, Anne. Thanks for coming. There he is. My advice is don't go jogging with him. [Laughter]

I have to tell you, I came from a--what we call a roundtable--the table happened to be square, but it's one of those Government things--[laughter]--where I met with some healers and doers and community changers.

Mark Franken is the executive director of Migration and Refugee Services of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops--is with us. Wintley Phipps is the founder, president, and CEO of the U.S. Dream Academy, from Columbia, Maryland. Archbishop Harry Flynn of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis; Bishop Don Wuerl, the Bishop of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; my friend from the great State of Texas, Tony Evans of the Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. There's a few Texans here, Tony, that know of you. Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, California; Reverend Cheryl Anthony Mobley is the founder and CEO of the Judah International, from Brooklyn; and from a local church here, Jim Sprouse, the pastor of Trinity United Methodist.

We talked about what they see, what they hear, the frustrations in dealing with the Government. It's part of making sure--this outreach is part of making sure that I hear as best I can firsthand from people whether or not the strategy" is being properly implemented, because I understand amongst our prosperity there is suffering still and despair in America. And that troubles every American, regardless of their political standing or where they're from. Where there is despair, we must work to provide hope. Where there is loneliness, we must work to provide love.