Jack & Jill Politics

It seems I have a religious theme today

The main story: Black Churches Missing Out on Federal Aid

In a story by Hamil Harris, Black Enterprise reports:

When President Bush unveiled his faith-based initiative, African American church leaders from across the country were invited to the White House to stand with him as he detailed a plan to help churches and community groups gain access to millions of federal dollars to provide day care, drug abuse counseling, and other needed services.

Five years later, a study released by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that only a fraction of African American churches surveyed obtained grants

I always thought the Faith-Based Initiative was shady. As David Kuo’s new book mentions, the Bush White House was very cold and calculating in its use of the funds. However, this BE story seems to find that the use of such money in black churches was not nearly as politically or financially effective:

Of the 750 African American churches questioned, only 2.6% received grants with 47% of the recipients having congregations located in the Northeast and just 26% in the South.

I had assumed black churches, notorious for passing that collection plate, would have rushed to get this federal funding. I was wrong.

Meanwhile, was Jesus black? A new movie says yes. I say, of course he was!

It is quite painfully obvious that the idea of a white Jesus has been forced upon black folk for a long long time. I love going into a black church in the middle of the hood and seeing all these brothers and sisters praying to a while man on high for salvation.

If your God doesn’t look like you, but rather your oppressor, what does that say?