Framing the Faith-Based Initiative: Black Church Elites and the Black Policy Agenda

Abstract

The Faith-Based and Community Initiative represents a puzzle for black politics. In an academic realm where black faces in Congress are widely hailed as integral to black representation (e.g. Tate 2003), it behooves scholars to explores instances where black faces fail to represent black interests. There is little congruence--substantive or symbolic--between the Faith-Based visions of the black masses and black political elites in the Congressional Black Caucus. But one set of black political elites, black pastors, seem to be more receptive to the Faith-Based Initiative epiphany. While some black pastors are solidly opposed to the Initiative, most plan to apply for Faith-Based funds (Joint Center 2006).

Few current policy issues highlight the role of religious elites in public policy debates in such sharp relief. Even fewer issues allow an examination of the added dimension of race and religion in the context of public policy. The research questions for this project are:

1. What are the policy images of black pastors of the Faith-Based and Community Initiative?

2. What do pastoral images of the Faith-Based and Community Initiative teach us about the contours and the content of the black consensus agenda and black agenda politics?

The policy images of black pastors have relevance for black politics, specifically, the notion of a black policy agenda. Black pastors framing and implementation of the Faith-Based and Community Initiative bespeaks much about black agenda politics. Answering the research questions should enable the construction of an indigenous typology of black pastors as policy implementers and indicate how implementation affects agenda setting.