Faith, Community, and Civic Action: Reflections from
the Organized Religion Initiative (2006)
by David Scheie and Nan Kari with Paul Speer
People and institutions of faith have long played
important roles in American Public life. From the
abolition of slavery in the 1800s to the civil rights
movement of the 1960s, religious individuals, networks,
and institutions have been at the forefront of liberating
change.
More recently, faith-based networks have served to galvanize voters with views along the entire political spectrum. In fact, some credit George Bush’s presidential re-election in 2004 largely to his campaign’s success at mobilizing millions of Christian conservation voters.
Given the power of religion as a force in public life, those who would improve community conditions and strengthen democracy would do well to understand the phenomenon of faith-based action. Under what circumstances can organized religion contribute to the democratic renewal, community problem-solving, and human development? What are the pitfalls and tensions that come with working through faith-based groups?
For nearly 10- years, from 1996-2005, The James Irvine Foundation invested in work across California intending to learn about these topics and explore the possibilities of faith-based community action. Over 20 organizations received grants during this period, most of them for several years, through Irvine’s Organized Religion Initiative. For the past five years, the authors of this report have worked with a subset of those organizations in a learning and documentation projects called the Organized Religion Evaluation Project. This publication shares insights from that effort.