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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Thursday he will establish a White House office of faith-based initiatives that will show no favoritism to any religious group and adhere to the strict separation of church and state.Addressing the National Prayer Breakfast, Obama spoke of how faith has often been a divisive tool, responsible for war and prejudice. But, he said, "there is no religion whose central tenet is hate" and all religions teach people to love and care for one another. That is the common ground underlying his faith-based office, he said.FAITH & REASON: Who decides mix of religion, government, money?
THE OVAL: Obama speaks of 'God's grace' at Prayer BreakfastIn personal terms, he talked about the role of faith in his life, from his Muslim-born father and a mother skeptical of organized religion to his own embrace of Christianity as a young man.
"In a world that grows smaller by the day, perhaps we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of zealotry and make room for the healing power of understanding," Obama told the gathering of lawmakers, dignitaries and world leaders. "This is my hope. This is my prayer."FIND MORE STORIES IN: Barack Obama | United States Senate | God | Christianity | President George W. Bush | Baptist | Pentecostal | Methodists | White House Office | National Prayer Breakfast | Joshua DuBois | Neighborhood PartnershipsDogged throughout the presidential campaign by rumors that he was a Muslim, Obama described his background in a household that wasn't religious.I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I've ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done," he said.Obama planned to sign an executive order later in the day creating the White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. It would expand and refocus the faith-based office founded by former President George W. Bush.Obama said the organization will not favor any one religious group over another, will work with communities and will act "without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state."The president will also appoint Joshua DuBois, a 26-year-old Pentecostal minister who headed religious outreach for Obama's Senate office and later his campaign, to lead the partnerships office and name 25 religious and secular leaders to a new advisory board.During his presidential campaign, Obama said he wanted to expand White House faith-based efforts begun under Bush. But while he endorsed Bush's initiative to give religious groups more access to federal funding, he also promised to make some changes to the office.Obama's advisers want to be certain tax dollars sent to the faith-based social service groups are used for secular purposes, such as feeding the hungry or housing the homeless, and not for religious evangelism. The administration doesn't want to be perceived as managing the groups yet does want transparency and accountability.Obama pledged during the campaign to allow taxpayer-funded religious institutions to hire and fire based on religion — but only for the activities run on private funding.One question is whether the faith-based office will issue grants under the Bush rules while the hiring policy is worked out. Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Traffic deaths fell sharply across the nation last year, dropping in at least 42 states and the District of Columbia as Americans battered by high gasoline prices and the sour economy cut driving by a record amount.Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia registered double-digit percentage declines, sending death totals in some places to levels not seen in a half-century or more, according to preliminary data the states provided to USA TODAY.SAFETY: Stepped-up patrol efforts help save livesThe only states reporting increases were Delaware, New Hampshire, Vermont and Wyoming. Data have not been compiled yet for California, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.Traffic safety experts acknowledge that last year's plunge in miles driven likely played some role in the drop, but they say it's too soon to know how much of the decline was because of that or other factors.FIND MORE STORIES IN: California | Texas | Pennsylvania | New York | New Hampshire | Vermont | Delaware | Wyoming | District of Columbia | Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | Federal Highway Administration | Governors Highway Safety Association | Anne McCartt | Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles"High gas prices in the early part of the year and the poor economy in the second half of the year clearly played a major role," says Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association. "However, states are reporting that other factors such as better laws, record high safety belt use and reduced speeds played a role."Some states are still collecting information on deaths and caution that the totals could rise.Since 1995, the annual U.S. total has ranged between 41,000 and 43,000. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said in December that traffic deaths through the first 10 months of 2008 were down nearly 10%. The fatality rate per 100 million miles traveled also dropped during that period from 1.37 in 2007 to 1.28, she said. If the national rate stayed at that level for all of 2008, it would be the lowest since 1966, says DOT spokeswoman Karen Aldana. The rate for the full year has yet to be calculated.In the 13 months ending Nov. 30, Americans drove an estimated 112 billion miles fewer miles than the previous similar period, a drop of about 3.4% and far outpacing the 49.9 billion-mile decline during the oil embargos of the 1970s, according to the Federal Highway Administration."There's growing evidence that declines in travel are leading to declines in deaths," says Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "Beyond that, I don't think it's possible to pinpoint all the changes we see in deaths to different factors."McCartt and others say that gradually phasing in driving privileges for young drivers as they gain experience, road engineering improvements and safer vehicles also have helped cut the death toll."New cars have a record number of airbags that mitigate frontal and side impact crashes," Harsha says. "Electronic stability control has contributed to the reduction in rollover crashes."Some state officials say the link between fewer deaths and less driving is unmistakable.
"There are fewer people on the roads," says Rachel Kaprielian, registrar of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. "They're going slower to save fuel. Job layoffs have people driving shorter distances on local roads."