Obama Gets Prayers Via BlackBerry

Joshua DuBois, head of White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, delivers prayers to Obama's BlackBerry:

The address queue for President Barack Obama's BlackBerry is one of the White House's better-kept secrets.

But the president now has allowed that at least one of his most faithful aides has his number: Joshua DuBois, a former associate pastor and an advisor to Obama in his Senate office and campaign who runs the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

And each morning, Obama says, DuBois delivers a prayer to the president's BlackBerry.

Obama, who still has not found a permanent house of worship for the first family since moving into the White House, spoke with reporters from the religious press this week. Swamp

Obama's Joshua DuBois on Speaking of Faith

Krista Tippett, host of Speaking of Faith, talks with Joshua DuBois, who heads Obama's office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Obama kept Bush's office but has changed it in key ways. Listen or watch the conversation here. Speaking of Faith is a great program, by the way. As someone who, depending on the day, leans toward Humanism, as opposed to organized religion, it's fascinating to hear about all different faiths and beliefs and how they merge with our lives. Krista sometimes talks to atheists or non believers, as well. Her show, while speaking of faith, talks a lot about economics and politics.

Obama to Form Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Joshua DuBois is expected to lead the office.
Obama spoke at a National Prayer Breakfast at the Hilton Washington. Read his full remarks here.

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"I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I’ve ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done.

I didn’t become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college. It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck – no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to. It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God’s spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose – His purpose. "

Some of the council members:

WSJ: President Obama is announcing a new 25-member President's Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships on Thursday. The White House said about 15 people will be named on Thursday, including:

Diane Baillargeon, president and CEO of Seedco
Fred Davie, president of Public/Private Ventures
Pastor Joel Hunter, Northland Church
Vashti McKenzie, African Methodist Episcopal Church
Frank Page, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention
Eboo Patel, executive director, Interfaith Youth Core
Melissa Rogers, professor of religion and public policy at Wake Forest University Divinity School.
David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Judith N. Vredenburgh, president and chief executive officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters

Obama Picks Joshua DuBois to Head Faith-Based Giving

Salon: DuBois, a political strategist who was religious affairs director in the Obama campaign, will head the President's Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a senior administration official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made by Obama.

Obama said during the campaign that he wanted to expand White House faith-based efforts begun under former President George W. Bush.

But while he endorsed Bush's initiative to give religious groups more equal footing when getting federal funding, he also promised to tweak it.

He has changed the name of the White House effort from its original Office of Faith-based Initiatives to display a broader focus. Obama has promised to increase spending on social services, increase training for charities applying for funding and make that a grass-roots effort, and to elevate the program's status within the White House.