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.

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