Why is Atheist George Soros Giving Money to a 'Faith' Project?

Editor's note: this is part one of a series The Blaze is doing on George Soros' ties to various religious groups.

The left is ramping up its infiltration of faith-based circles in an effort to gain more adherents, while harnessing the collective powers organized religions posses. And with billionaire atheist George Soros' financial help, these groups' radical policy dreams may become a reality.

The first Soros-funded organization we will be exploring is Faithful America (FA). This group has a history of blatantly utilizing faith to progress liberal policies. Back in March, we covered FA's campaign to encourage radio stations to "give up Glenn Beck for lent." We wrote:

The group credits Res Publica and True Majority for helping establish itself as a “religious version of MoveOn.org.” Res Publica is a progressive organization largely funded by George Soros’ Open Society Institute and boast board members such as John Podesta of the Center for American Progress and Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn. In 2008, Soros’ Open Society Institute awarded two $400,000 grants to Faithful America.

Working with other like-minded organizations, FA currently lists its partners as Jim Wallis’ Sojourners, Vote the Common Good, The Jewish Council For Public Affairs, the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the National Council of Churches in Christ (NCCC).  It has also collaborated in the past with Res Publica and Avaaz.org, a kind of global MoveOn.org.

Beck continues to be one of FA's primary targets. Currently, under "Take Action" on the group's website, there is an ad that seeks "bold faith spokespeople." The call to action's opening line?

"Are you the person constantly debunking Glenn Beck for your conservative friends and family? Ever wished you could be on TV instead of just yelling at it"

The contact listed on the FA web site is Kristin Ford (the only contact, in fact). Ford is the director of communications for Faith in Public Life, the group that currently owns and operates FA. Interestingly, FA was originally founded by the National Council of Churches, an allegiance of left-leaning denominations that has been accused of sponsoring communist regimes in the past. The National Council, too, is a recipient of George Soros' grant money. The Institute on Religion and Democracy has more:

The NCC’s Faith and Action Criminal Justice Working Group was awarded a grant from leftist billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Institute to advocate on behalf of a bill that would seek to restructure the current U.S. criminal justice system. The money would specifically be used to cover all expenses, including air travel, for faith activists to promote the legislation on Capitol Hill on June 15^th and 16^th this year.

The working group also advocated for tighter control laws to cut down on domestic gun violence.

While NCC no longer runs FA, Faith in Public Life (its new parent organization), coincidentally, also received a two-year $450,000 grant in 2009 from Soros (partially tied to the group's work toward achieving immigration reform). The parent organization sometimes takes to its blog to defend Soros -- one of its funders -- against Beck.

It is groups like FA, NCC and Faith in Public Life that exploit religion to rapidly spread radical, sometimes socialistic, ideals. Why would a billionaire who has no use for faith fund these left-leaning "religious" groups? For an atheist, ultra-leftist like Soros, these organizations provide the fuel needed to enforce his radical agenda with ease. If the left is successful in tying political activism to personal faith, millions of adherents can be more easily swayed to accept hardline political views as gospel -- literally.

On The American Thinker blog, Jason Lee sums these issues up:

As Obama's allies on the Religious Left step forward to promote Obama's agenda and build momentum for his 2012 campaign, we should be prepared to expose them for who they really are.  In many cases we will discover that these religious leaders are well-compensated hyperpartisan mercenaries whose religious rhetoric is merely a threadbare cloak for their core values -- values that have no basis in traditional religion or biblically-based teachings.

One can easily see that FA's "faith-based" initiatives put a very minor focus on issues of religious significance. The group's primary objective is to push America further left, not to create or foster anything remotely related to personal religious significance.

FA embraces the climate change agenda, has advocated strongly for Democratic health care reform, is pushing for a "fair path to earned citizenship for undocumented immigrants," and has run a campaign to get advertisers to abandon FOX News. It's pretty clear that faith, itself, is on the organization's back-burner; for these movers and shakers it's all about advancing liberal policy.

Below, watch a Faith in Public Life promo video (conveniently found on the Soros-supported Center for American Progress Blip.tv channel):