Rallying the Armies or Bridging the Gulf: Questioning the Significance of Faith-Based Educational Initiatives in a Global Age

This article describes the cultural and political context within which one U.S. faith group, the Churches of Christ, operates in public schools in Tanzania. While Churches of Christ does not itself receive funding directly from USAID or the World Bank, its mission represents the kind of work that policy leaders of faith-based initiatives describe as ideal. It provides educational assistance to teachers and students at underfunded schools; it operates from a vision of ethics and social justice without overtly proselytizing; and its leaders seek to reduce poverty and integrate local communities into a global economy.

At a broader theoretical level, this essay argues that faith-based initiatives provide a specific way of imagining global interactions. Within the cultural scheme of lending and aid agencies, as well as within the conceptual framework of the Churches of Christ missionaries, faith-based initiatives are seen by participants as counteracting the dehumanizing effects of globalization. Religion is seen as providing a moral base upon which to rebuild a de-territorialized global culture, and education is viewed as a counterbalance to growing global economic inequalities. Together, religion and education operate symbolically and instrumentally to motivate and organize nonreligious initiatives. They are used by policymakers and religious leaders alike to inspire a worldwide community that paradoxically lives within, and yet transcends, national and linguistic boundaries and to create a sense of hope for future, better educated citizens. As Wolfensohn put it, religion and education tear down the “imaginary wall” between developed and undeveloped countries; faith-based initiatives “[transcend] economics” and deal “with the essence of humanity and what is right.” Or as President George W. Bush remarked, “The truth of the matter is that [a sense of purpose] comes when a loving citizen puts their [sic] arm around a brother and sister in need and says, I love you, and God loves you, and together we can perform miracles.”