Where's Popeye now? And what does he have to do with covering religion?

At the center of any religious vision are two questions that demand emotional discipline: What's meaningful and what am I going to do about it? Journalism addresses these questions by providing difficult, unpleasant and sometimes tedious information about our world. It's mental spinach.

But these days there's less and less spinach and more and more junk food. How many stories, blogs and twitters have you seen about South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's adultery? How many Michael Jackson obituaries, testimonials, and profiles do you plan on reading? What about clips of the Farrah flick? And all that speculation about 10 (count 'em) Oscar nominees for best picture.

Then again, anything can be spun so I am sure that some folks are thinking deep thoughts about death and infidelity (or maybe that screenplay gathering dust in the closet). And others are too busy lamenting journalism's demise to see their role in the corruption of content. (So many Iran tweets slid easily into speculation about Jackson.)

So here's today's veggie plate: a white paper on the Bush Faith-Based Initiative. Released earlier this month, I found just one news story about it. The report, issued by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York in Albany, is a comprehensive evaluation of the elements and the effectiveness of Pres. George W. Bush's faith-based and community initiative. (Disclosure: As a program officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts in 2000, I participated in initial conversations about the grant that funded the Institute to conduct research and analysis on the initiative.)
 
The report has much to chew on. There's a summary of the hiring issue—should federally-funded, faith-based organizations (FBOs) be allowed to make employment decisions on religious grounds—that became a bitter point of contention. But there's also mention of the small numbers of FBOS that actually applied for federal money because of red tape and potential governmental oversight; Bush's move to decentralize the program by creating complementary initiatives in 11 governmental agencies, and the successful creation of a "level-playing field" for FBOs to compete for federal dollars. We learn why the Bush initiative was politicized, how Obama is trying to re-cast it, and that we still lack definitive research on the efficacy of faith-based programs and whether or not they work better than secular ones.

Anyone who remembers the press posturing that accompanied the roll-out of the Faith-Based and Community Initiative--theocracy seemed imminent--will likely pass the plate this time around. But that would be a mistake. At a time of economic stress, the role of religious groups in providing social services is relevant. Moreover, the debate about how religion should enter social service provision is significant. But most important, this is a discussion about values, responsibility and social change. It's a micro-religion story with a macro-religion message. It's not sexy, seamy or smarmy but it will be good for you.

Diane Winston