Faith leaders tell Congress: Deliver on promises made to values voters

Updated: 1/19/07

Faith leaders tell Congress: Deliver
on promises made to values voters

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Faith leaders are calling for members of Congress to deliver on promises made to values voters during the 2006 mid-term elections.

In a Jan. 9 panel discussion, representatives from Sojourners/Call to Renewal, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Let Justice Roll, Christian Peace Witness for Iraq, the National Association of Evangelicals and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture asked Congress to “deliver concrete gains on issues of deep concern to religious voters.”

Jeff Carr of Sojourners/Call to Renewal said a “cross-fertilization” of religious groups has led to a newfound range of voter diversity on the religious front. And those voters want newly elected leaders to put their money where their mouth is.

“One of the things we learned in this last election is that if you look at some of the polls … Americans said poverty and economic justice (are) the most urgent moral crises in American culture,” he said. “It’s clear that many folks—governors on both sides of the aisle—are committed in states to overcoming poverty.”

Indeed, 62 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 said the most important crises in America are economic justice, poverty and greed, according to a poll commissioned by Faith in Public Life and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

To that end, successful candidates during the 2006 campaign spoke early and often about personal faith. Not surprisingly, Democrats gained popularity among previously Republican-leaning faith voters.

As the religious debate expands within partisan politics, people of faith must address the nation’s “unconscionable” minimum wage, said Paul Sherry, national coordinator of the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign. He called the minimum wage “the foremost values issue” of the last election.

Raising the minimum wage to a “livable wage” has enormous public support within the faith community and beyond, he said, adding that it is both a moral issue and an economic issue.

“A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it,” Sherry said.

Let Justice Roll played a major role in state minimum wage increases in Ohio, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri and Montana in 2006. The current federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. The group has proposed an increase to $7.25 per hour.

In addition to discussing the minimum wage, panelists urged Congress to address immigration reform. Sam Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said Hispanic Evangelicals should demand comprehensive immigration reform legislation.

Immigration reform had a significant role in the 2006 elections, but not in the way many experts predicted, he said. In fact, Republican candidates lost many Hispanic votes because they had no plan for comprehensive reform.

“We are seeing our country torn apart again as many on the fringe elements of this issue are attempting to polarize and divide our nation,” Rodriquez said. “We need to pass comprehensive immigration reform that will stop illegal immigration, protect our boarders, (and) provide an earned pathway to citizenship for those who are already here. … Then we can secure our boarders, secure all of our families, and secure the American dream.”

Like poverty and immigration, voters of faith also have a moral obligation to address creation care, said Paul de Vries, president of New York Divinity School and a board member of the National Association of Evangelicals.

“We are very eager to see Congress act on a number of things, including raising standards of fuel efficiency, pollution reduction, sustainable use of natural resource and proper care of wildlife and their natural habitat,” de Vries said. He said many companies receive financial benefits from “bankable ecology,” or using business resources in ways that emphasize efficiency, recycling of used materials, and reduced waste products.

“We’re passionate about creation care,” he said. “Ecology has to be a priority. We’re people lovers, but we can be tree lovers at the same time. We’re people huggers and tree huggers.”

While the panel discussion focused on prompting work done in Congress, those leaders weren’t the only ones called upon. Speakers also appealed to President Bush as they put emphasis on “kitchen table” issues.

“Along with poverty, historically war and peace issues have been at the center of our agenda,” Carr said. “What we’re not looking for from the president is more of the same. We’d really like to see the president take a more thoughtful approach to … de-escalate this war, not escalate it. I fear that that’s not what we’re going to see.”

Rick Ufford Chase of Christian Peace Witness for Iraq agreed. His group is planning a worship service in March at the National Cathedral and an all-night prayer vigil at the White House asking for a “clear plan” to remove troops from Iraq.

“We’re really concerned at this point that there is a clear moral imperative to end the war. That was clearly backed up by a political imperative” which is now being ignored, he said. “We are clear that what we are looking for is a clear plan to end the war in Iraq. … The only way to create true security is to build those solid, right relationships that cross boundaries.”

Turning from war and torture in favor of “right relationships” will foster justice both abroad and in the United States, he said.