compiled by faithinpubliclife.org
As news reports are abuzz with speculation about the State of the Union address — what agenda items will make the cut and what tone President Bush will strike — Christian leaders are challenging the President to address the most pressing moral concerns of our time: bringing our troops home from Iraq, eradicating poverty, abolishing torture without exception, creation care and comprehensive immigration reform.
“Christians insist that the war in Iraq must come to an end now,” says Rick Ufford-Chase, chief organizer of Christian Peace Witness for Iraq and former moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA) –the church’s highest elected office. “In the past two years, I’ve visited hundreds of Christian churches. In congregation after congregation, the folks sitting in the pews of our churches want the President to articulate a clear timeline on the way out of Iraq,” Ufford-Chase says.
“The Iraq military policy seems ungodly,” says Dr. Paul de Vries, National Association of Evangelicals governing Board member and President of New York Divinity School. “By repeatedly spending human lives to liberate areas, but then not holding those areas because the military must liberate other areas, two of our core Godly values of life and liberty are then trashed. Who designed this recipe of failure and offence to God? When will it be fixed?”
Dr. George Hunsinger, professor of theology at the Princeton Theological Seminary and founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture proclaims: “The president must address U.S.-sponsored torture, abuse, indefinite detention, and secret prisons. The soul of our nation is at stake. The time has come for all religious people and all people of conscience to stand up and say, ‘Enough!’ Let us renew our efforts to reverse the shame, and restore a measure of dignity to an America we can again believe in.” NRCAT’s statement of conscience has been endorsed by leaders and groups such as Rick Warren and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which serves approximately 15 million Hispanic evangelicals, says: “We call upon President Bush to include in his State of the Union address a commitment to work with the 110th Congress to finally pass and sign into law legislation that will protect our borders, put an end to all illegal immigration, create a market driven guest worker program, and facilitate avenues by which the millions of families already in America that lack the legal status can earn such status in a manner that reflects our faith values.”
Dr. de Vries, who was an original signer of Climate Change: Evangelical Call to Action in February 2006 also challenges the president to address the environment and poverty: “One of the most elementary relationships we have is our duty to God and his creation. How are the next two years of your administration going to reflect that priority in strengthening regulations, reducing pollution, and encouraging fuel efficiency and sustainable use of natural resources?” On poverty, an issue that has been woefully neglected by this administration and Congress, Dr. de Vries adds, “The main Biblical standard of justice is how the poorest are treated. How would you evaluate your tax cuts for the very rich, the cutbacks on student loans and other policies of your administration according to this Biblical standard?”
