A year ago, President Obama thrilled many religious Americans and worried some secular supporters by announcing that he would not only keep the faith-based infrastructure President Bush had constructed across the government but would expand it, adding a marquee council of faith leaders to advise him.

But as the council prepares to end its first term and issue its report, some faith leaders across the ideological spectrum -- including some Obama allies -- say the operation may be more about window dressing than results.

Critics say that the faith-based office isn't enough of a priority at the White House and that faith leaders who were consulted regularly during the campaign are now simply copied on pro-forma e-mails. They complain that Obama is no longer using the faith language that he employed as a candidate to frame his policy goals, and that before the new faith council convened, some of the most controversial questions, including religious hiring and abortion, were taken off the table.

"We're wondering if religiously driven voices really have a voice at the table," said David Gushee, an evangelical ethicist who has been in regular contact with Obama's team since the presidential campaign. And whether "gatekeepers around the president are thinking he has more important constituencies to pay attention to."

But even critics acknowledge that it is too early to judge the ultimate impact of the largest part of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships -- the 12 offices based in federal agencies meant to create a bridge between faith-based and grass-roots nonprofits and the government. And several members of the faith council argue that it will be easier to measure their results once the president receives their recommendations on fatherhood, interreligious cooperation, economic recovery and other issues.

A low-key strategy

The White House's faith operation and its supporters say they are pursuing a less controversial, more low-key strategy than Bush, who declared it his mission to remove legal barriers for religious organizations so they could work with -- and get money from -- the government.

Joshua DuBois, the office's director, said in an interview this week that his team is helping small faith-based groups around the country do things such as fight H1N1 and home foreclosures. "It takes a long time to measure impact," he said.

The president regularly seeks out religious guidance in shaping policy decisions, DuBois said.

But some of Obama's religious supporters are worried that the progress the Democratic Party has made during the past few years in engaging people of faith is in danger of being lost.

Others, including Jim Wallis, leader of the progressive faith movement Sojourners, who has served on the White House council, said he hopes to see the president engage with the faith community on a much deeper level on domestic and foreign policy. "I want him to listen to faith groups as much as he listens to people on Wall Street," Wallis said. "I want him to listen to faith groups as much as military leaders on Afghanistan."