The debate about President Obama’s interest in philanthropy continues.

David J. Sanders, a columnist for Stephens Media, in Little Rock, Ark., wrote in The Wall Street Journal last week that the president wants to effectively “nationalize” rural giving based on a recent meeting between foundations and federal officials.

Ken Larson, a California businessman and blog writer for the Acton Institute, a religious thank tank, in Grand Rapids, Mich., agrees.

The Obama administration’s effort to promote philanthropy and service “calls to mind many things that hang on the tenets of faith to which Christians pay mind,” he writes on Acton’s blog. “But as we are consistently reminded by the scholars at Acton Institute, our charity is best left to the individual.”

But Blake Rutherford, a blog writer who covers public affairs in Arkansas, doesn’t understand what the fuss is about

“When did public-private partnerships become a bad idea?” he asks on his blog. “After all, aren’t many of the people complaining about this endeavor the same folks that supported President George W. Bush’s faith-based initiative, a program which claimed to accomplish some of the same things, including helping poor communities where the organizations played a sizable role? Can someone explain to me the difference?”

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