My last entry in this series on the compassionate conservatism movement concluded with a question: Would John DiIulio, head of the George W. Bush administration’s faith-based office, insist that religion-based programs, to be eligible for federal grants, be devoid of religious teaching or evangelism? I liked John, but such a prospect seemed bizarre to me, and I knew many evangelicals would see it as a betrayal of campaign promises.

On March 7, 2001, both John and I spoke at the National Association of Evangelicals conference in Dallas. I tried to warn him with a story about the Texas mother who saw her daughter in front of their house milking a cow and talking to a strange man. The mom calls out, “Haven’t I always told you not to talk to strangers? You come in this house right now.” The girl calls back, “But momma, this man says he’s from Washington.” The wise mother replies, “In that case, bring the cow in with you.”

John told the audience not to worry: “We’re taking a deliberative approach and focusing first on conducting our audits, studying competing ideas, weighing competing perspectives, and looking forward to … improving government-by-proxy programs through performance-based grant-making.”