A former official in President Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives criticized the administration's lack of initiative in practicing "compassionate conservatism" and encouraged students to put their faith before their politics Thursday in the Kay Spiritual Life Center.
David Kuo, former deputy director of the initiative, spoke to AU students about his faith, career and new book "Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction," which is critical of the Bush administration.
Kuo said he went to work for the White House thinking the Bush administration was committed to reducing poverty in the country. He now criticizes the administration for not pursuing anti-poverty strategies aggressively enough.
"President Bush cares passionately about the poor," but his administration has not done enough to solve the problems of poverty, Kuo said.
"If it were any other area of public life other than dealing with the poor, what the White House has said on compassion and not done on compassion would be one of the biggest scandals of the presidency," Kuo said in a recent television interview on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher."
He also criticized what he called the common perception that Christians agree with Republican ideologies.
Jesus has gotten attached to a particular political philosophy, he said.
"The good news of Jesus Christ does not have to do with an estate tax cut," Kuo said.
April Seipp, an evangelical Christian and a senior in the School of Communication, said there are common misperceptions about Christians' political affiliations.
Christians are "not necessarily all under the umbrella of the Republican Party," she said. She identified herself as a political Independent.
"At the end of the day, faith is more important than politics," Kuo said.
Rather than donating to the Republican Party, Kuo advised Christian students to give money to inner-city groups that support the poor or to organizations combating the genocide in Darfur. These are causes that Christians can all agree on, Kuo said.
Seipp said she agreed with Kuo's comments that Christians should work together for social causes.
"The world would be a better place if Christians organized around the global AIDS initiative," she said.
While Kuo said Christians should put faith first, he also told students they should participate in politics and bring their religion into the political arena.
Elizabeth Janeczko, a senior in the School of Public Affairs, said Kuo was "right on with what he said. Every person is allowed ... to bring their principles, as well as the source of those principles, into the decision-making process."
Some students disagreed, saying that religion should be kept out of politics.
Kathryn Fisher, a graduate student in the School of International Studies, said religion and politics "should be totally separate." Fisher, who did not attend Kuo's talk, said she does not belong to an organized religion.
