In spite of some suing to prevent prayers during the Inauguration and thus mixing the spiritual realm with that of the state, Obama’s transition team is engaged in an unparalleled reaching out to religious organizations in the United States. According to reports there have already been about a dozen meetings of various groups with the transition team.
Dan Gilgoff, writing in US News and World Report quotes David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism;
“”This is the most extensive outreach and listening tour that I’ve ever seen a new administration take, and that is certainly true of their outreach to the faith community,” says Saperstein, who has worked with presidential transition teams going back to Jimmy Carter’s. “It’s quite remarkable.”
Gilgoff continues:
The effort is noteworthy not only for the number of Obama transition team meetings with religious groups—about 15 so far—but also because top Obama policy aides have joined the powwows. Melody Barnes, who will be director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and Heather Higginbottom, who will be the council’s deputy director, have participated in some of the meetings.
“There is the feeling that these are not perfunctory meetings but serious meetings with people in policymaking roles who know the process well,” says James Winkler, general secretary of the public policy arm of the United Methodist Church, who says that he or his staff have attended nearly a dozen meetings with the Obama transition team so far. “This is not something meant to bring in the faith community to keep them happy but to solicit our views and ideas.”