On Friday, the Reverend Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General
Assembly, joined with 33 other leaders of faith denominations and organizations
to urge Congress duly to enact a budget that will keep our government running
into the new fiscal year. They wrote:
"Our democracy rests on principles of reason, compromise, and
a commitment to the common good. To hold our governance processes and financial
credibility hostage to narrow priorities is not only dangerous to the nation’s
near-term financial well-being, it threatens the very foundations of our
democratic process and our capacity to live united in community."
Parsons continued in a
separate comment:
"It is time to stop playing politics with people's
wellbeing. It is the genius of our
democracy that no one political ideology should determine the agenda of a
nation, nor should those relying on government programs or the full faith and
credit of the U.S. Treasury be held hostage.
It is time for everyone, citizens and elected officials, to engage in
good faith in the difficult and challenging work of government."
The complete text of the letter from Religious
Leaders follows:
September 27, 2013
Dear Senator/Representative:
As leaders of faith communities and organizations comprising
millions of people from all walks of life across our nation, we are deeply
concerned by the completely avoidable budget and financial crises we are fast
approaching as a nation.
Though Congress must pass the federal budget,
it belongs to every American. This common
fund formed of our combined tax revenues is designed to support the shared
infrastructure, well-being, and long-term ethical values of our society. As people of faith we find it morally
irresponsible to blockade the process by which we provide for our nation’s
shared needs in a bid to force any
individual legislative priority.
It would likewise be reckless to propel the United States into
financial default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling for spending that
Congress has already approved. Shuttering
the federal government or defaulting on the nation’s financial commitments is
likely to reverse our fragile economic recovery, punish the middle class, and
deeply harm our most vulnerable neighbors.
Our democracy rests on principles of reason, compromise, and a
commitment to the common good. To hold
our governance processes and financial credibility hostage to narrow priorities
is not only dangerous to the nation’s near-term financial well-being, it
threatens the very foundations of our democratic process and our capacity to
live united in community.
We ask that lawmakers address their concerns through the proper
legislative channels. It ill serves our nation and people to stand in the way
of funding federal operations or raising the debt ceiling in an effort to block
implementation of health care legislation that Congress duly enacted. We ask that congressional leadership of both
parties stand strong in opposing efforts to allow the will of the few to
threaten the common good.
We commit to keeping you in prayer, asking that God continue to
give you wisdom as you faithfully serve our nation during this time when the
country most needs your principled leadership.
Sincerely,
Ruth Messinger
President
American Jewish
World Service
|
Rev. David Beckmann
President
Bread for the
World
|
Dr. Lester A. Myers
President
Center of
Concern
|
Dr. Sharon Watkins
General Minister and President
Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ)
|
Rev. John L. McCullough
President and CEO
Church World
Service
|
Dr. Jack Sullivan
President
Disciples
Justice Action Network
|
The Most Reverend
Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and
Primate
The
Episcopal Church
|
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America
|
Rev. Linda Hanna Walling
Executive Director
Faithful Reform
in Health Care
|
Sr. Margaret Magee, OSF
President
Franciscan Action
Network
|
Diane Randall
Executive Secretary
Friends
Committee on National Legislation
|
Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy
President
Interfaith
Alliance
|
Dr. Sayyid Syeed
National Director
Islamic Society
of North America
|
Rabbi Steve Gutow
President
Jewish Council
for Public Affairs
|
Sr. Janet Mock, CSJ
Executive Director
Leadership
Conference of Women Religious
|
Fr. Tim Mulroy, SSC
U S. Regional Director
Missionary
Society of St. Columban
|
Salam Al-Marayati
President
Muslim Public
Affairs Council
|
Sr. Gayle Lwanga Crumbley, RGS
National Coordinator
National
Advocacy Center of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd
|
Jack Payden-Travers
Director
National
Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund
|
Peg Birk
Transitional General Secretary
National
Council of Churches
|
Nancy Kaufman
Chief Executive Officer
National
Council of Jewish Women
|
Sr. Simone Campbell, SSS
Executive Director
NETWORK, A
National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
|
Sr. Patricia Chappell
Executive Director
Pax Christi USA
|
Rev. Gradye Parsons
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly
Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.)
|
Rev. Kip B. Banks
Interim General Secretary
Progressive
National Baptist Convention
|
Rabbi
David Saperstein
Director
Religious Action Center of Reform
Judaism
|
Sr. Patricia McDermott, RSM
President of the Sisters of Mercy of
the Americas
Sisters of
Mercy of the Americas
|
Rev. Jim Wallis
President
Sojourners
|
Rev. Peter Morales
President
Unitarian
Universalist Association
|
Rev. Dr. William F. Schulz
President
Unitarian
Universalist Service Committee
|
Rev. Geoffrey Black, General
Minister and President and
Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo
Executive Minister, Justice and
Witness Ministries
United Church
of Christ
|
Bishop
Peter D. Weaver
Executive
Secretary, The Council of Bishops
The United Methodist Church
Shan Cretin
General Secretary
American Friends Service Committee
|