| WASHINGTON —
The National Council of Churches joined faith-based and grass-roots
groups Jan. 14 to kick off a $15 million mobilization effort to
register more than 2 million low-income voters in the 2004 presidential
election year.
“Only 38 percent people living below the poverty line voted
in the year 2000. That’s compared to 68 percent of middle-class
and upper-income votersin that same year,” said Deepak Bhargava,
executive director of the Center for Community Change, a Washington-based
public interest advocacy group.
“We know that there are two sources of power in America
— organized money and organized people,” he added.
“Low-income people by definition don’t have the money
to buy a seat at the table, but they have the potential to shape
the national debate and dialogue through collective discipline
action.”
The Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the NCC, said people
of all faiths should take on poverty as a religious issue, and
that churches represented by the NCC should make an effort to
inform their congregations about the problem of poverty in their
communities.
“I don’t think the church ought to run the state,
but I think the church needs to influence the state by the kind
of people it encourages to run for public office, and by the urgency
of the issues that are very important to religious communities,”
Edgar said. “I have no problem encouraging ministers not
to preach partisan politics but to preach the substance of the
gospel, which is care and love of your neighbor, care for the
least of these our brothers and sisters.”
Edgar also said at the meeting he wasn’t interested in the
recent attention that presidential candidates have given to their
personal belief systems and was more eager to see the “broad
religious principles related to poverty” become part of
the dialogue.
“Christianity, Judaism, Islam and other faith traditions
all teach that God holds society accountable for the plight of
people living in poverty,” Edgar said. “This is a
theme that could unite our nation if we took it seriously, while
a narrow emphasis on candidates’ religious affiliation could
divide us.”
The NCC, which includes 36 Protestant and Orthodox denominations,
will participate in a CCC-sponsored, one-on-one dialogue between
low-income families and Democratic presidential candidates on
Jan. 30 after the second presidential primary debate in Columbia,
SC. The NCC is scheduled to host a Jan. 31 meeting, also in Columbia,
to discuss ending poverty and to allow poor families who participated
to discuss the events of the previous day.
“We think churches can (hold these dialogues), not just
with presidential candidates but with other candidates who aspire
for public office,” Edgar said.
Church-state relations watchdog Americans United for Separation
of Church and State said it’s all right for faith-based
organizations to host such forums as along as they allow a platform
for all parties.
“I would say that to be on the safe side, at some point
down the line (faith-based organizations) ought to have a program
where someone from the Republican party or someone from the White
House comes before the same audience and has the opportunity to
respond to the same questions that the Democratic candidates were
asked,” said Americans United’s Robert Boston.
The CCC said it has invited President Bush but expects he will
not be attending.
“Churches often don’t do the right thing, but every
once in awhile, they make a difference,” Edgar said. “It’s
my hope and my prayer that the religious communities of all the
faith traditions will take this moment to say, ‘If God’s
calling us to commit ourselves to the poor, this is the hour to
address that need.’”
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, the Gamaliel
Foundation, and Voces de la Frontera joined the CCC and NCC in
announcing the initiative at the Occidental Grill, one of Washington’s
most popular political dining spots. The groups said they chose
the location because it signifies the arrival of a new “power
broker” in a town that celebrates movers and shakers. |
