"If this tax cut is passed without help for the poor then it will be very difficult for us to support them on faith-based issues," said Jim Wallis, head of Call to Renewal, which has strongly supported the president's initiative.
Advisers to the White House on faith-based issues, including ones involving the Catholic Church, said the two may discuss topics such as the U.S.-led Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the pope's May visit to the Holy Land, the U.S. embargo of Cuba, Syria and the plight of religious minorities around the world.
He left the faith-based office last month to pursue a part-time professorship at New York University and launch Values Partnerships, an organization that helps businesses and nonprofits with faith-based issues.
As faith-based issues continue to shape news headlines, it is evident that a new type of interfaith leadership that is rooted in compassion is needed in this era.
Anju Bhargava, the founder of the Hindu American Seva Charities and advisor to President Barack Obama on faith-based issues, delivered the keynote address, which emphasised the need for seva in society and the vital role of spirituality in one's life.
Because plural marriage is often linked to a faith-based system, these issues get dismissed based on religious grounds.
In a sense, it helped many faith-based NGO´s rethink issues of poverty and development and move away from the Messiah-complex mentality and it's narrow-mindedness and paternalistic bigotry.
"It may be that the Hispanic evangelicals are really a different trend within the evangelical movement," Schmidt said, "that is not going to necessarily find in the Republican Party a candidate who meets both their faith-based concerns -- issues like abortion and so on, which probably are pretty important as well -- but also speak to the social justice aspects of Christianity".
In the weeks since the April 20 Deepwater Horizon disaster, religious leaders and faith-based organizations have issued an array of responses, both in words--prayers for help, comfort and wisdom--and deeds, such as organizing aid and urging people to reduce energy consumption.
