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JAC HOME | Commission Members | Washington Offices | Major Initiatives | Public Statements | Policy Documents Recent NCC Statements on Issues in the Public Square
The Council's messages are based on official policy documents that have been adopted by the NCC/CWS General Assembly. Where the communions have not reached such a consensus, the Council does not speak. Below is a listing of some recent statements released or affirmed by the NCC. Some of these statements are detailed in searchable news stories that can be found in the NCC News archives.
SEPTEMBER 2008 Statement of protest
against Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s hateful language, particularly his
denying the historicity of the Holocaust and calling for Letter to Members of
Congress and both Presidential Campaigns,
calling for legislation that would assure a renewed, specific and just
federal
Letter to Congress urging energy conservation
and efficiency and a shift toward renewable energy instead of authorizing
drilling for oil in sensitive coastal regions,
which threatens water supplies, fisheries, and beaches. Drilling, the letter
says, perpetuates our dependence on fossil fuels and contributes to air
pollution and global warming. The NCC Eco-Justice Working Group endorsed the
letter. –
Letter to members of the U.S. Senate
supporting S.B. 3213, which provides congressional authorization to the
National Landscape Conservation System
to protect unique scenic views, wildlife
habitat, and outdoor recreational opportunities in the Wyoming Range, and
establishing new wilderness areas in the Monongahela National Forest in West
Virginia. Supported by all NCC
communions in the Eco-Justice Working Group.
–
Letter to members of Congress supporting S.
2229, the Wyoming Range Legacy Act,
to protect the unique Wyoming Range, an important part of the Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem, by preventing new energy leasing and development
within its boundaries. The NCC Eco-justice staff worked with the Wyoming
Association of Churches, who have endorsed the legislation, and with member
communions.
Letter from 28 national faith leaders,
hand-delivered to all members of the
AUGUST 2008 Letter supporting S.3406, the ADA Amendments Act, urging the Senate to join the House in restoring protections for those who should be covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act but who, as a result of restrictive Supreme Court decisions, are now excluded from coverage. NCC and 48 other organizations signed an earlier letter (see below) sent to House members in June; the House passed the bill (402-17) on June 25th. Contact Jessica Cooke at Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, cooke@civilrights.org, or (202) 263-2881. – Pat Pattillo, 8/14/08. Letter on "Empowering Schools and Improving Learning" a forthcoming expanded commentary on the 2004 "Joint Organizational Statement on No Child Left Behind," which notes that NCLB frames education reform primarily by demanding outcomes but without providing adequate resources for program improvement to achieve them. The original statement was signed by NCC and 143 other national organizations. The new statement anticipates a 2009 vote on a five-year reauthorization of the federal education law. Contact: Monty Neill, convener of the group, monty@fairtest.org, and Jan Resseger, ressegerj@ucc.org . – Pat Pattillo, 8/12/08 Letter from nine faith leaders urging Senators
Barack Obama and John McCain to present a 10-year plan to combat poverty
when speaking at their national nominating conventions. The
interfaith coalition – led by Steve Gutow of the Jewish Council for Public
Affairs and Larry Snyder of Catholic Charities USA -- included Michael
Kinnamon of the National Council of Churches, David Beckmann of Bread for
the World, Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals, Eboo
Patel of Interfaith Youth Core; David Saperstein of Religious Action Center
for Reform Judaism, Sayyid M. Syeed of Islamic Society of North America, and
Jim Wallis of Sojourners. Contact: Melissa Boteach, JCPA, (202) 212-6039. –
Michael Kinnamon, 8/1/08
JULY 2008 Letter in support of HR 3221, the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.” The bill makes available nearly $4 billion in Community Development Block Grants for communities to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed properties in hard-hit areas, and return affordable housing to those who need it most, while reducing urban blight, safety hazards, and drains on limited local resources. It creates an Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and a new nationwide licensing and registration system for loan originators. Contact: Rob Randhava, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, (202) 466-6058, randhava@civilrights.org . -- Pat Pattillo, 7/24/08 Letter from Religious Leaders to Reynolds
American Inc. and RAI Board of Directors in support of farm workers in the
Southeast who plant, tend, and harvest tobacco for RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co.,
asking Susan Ivey, Reynolds’ CEO, to meet with the Farm Workers Organizing
Committee (FLOC) to discuss workers’ concerns about hazardous working
conditions. Contact: Virginia Nesmith, National Farm Worker Ministry,
314-726-6470, vnesmith@nfwm.org . --
Michael Kinnamon, 7/9/08
JUNE
Letter to Members of the U.S. Senate urging passage of the Biden-Lugar
resolution (an updated version of SR 30), in support of
re-engagement by the United States in international climate change
conversation and negotiations,
introduced and passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as an
amendment to S.3036 on the Senate floor,.
Contact: Tyler Edgar, NCC Eco-Justice Program. –
Letter to Members of the House of
Representatives urging them to support
H.R. 1108, legislation authorizing the Food and Drug Administration to
regulate tobacco products to
protect children and teenagers.
Contact: Vincent DeMarco,
demarco@mdinitiative.org, of the
Faith United Against Tobacco
coalition, made up of 25 faith constituencies including United
Methodist, American Baptist, ELCA, PCUSA, Seventh-Day Adventist, Jewish and
Muslim communities. – Pat Pattillo,
6/9/08
Open Letter in Roll Call
(the Capitol Hill newspaper)
advocating U.S. Senate support for
the Global AIDS Reauthorization Act of 2008 and The Jubilee Act for
Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation of 2007.
Contact: Kim Stietz,
Kim.Stietz@elca.org, of the
Letter to Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives supporting
passage of the Clean Water
Restoration Act (H.R. 2421/S.1870), which would clarify that protections
extend to the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of
all of the nation’s water bodies.
Contact: Jordan Blevins,
NCC Eco-Justice Program. –
Letter to Members of the U. S. House of Representatives in support of the bipartisan ADA Amendments Act of 2008, to ensure coverage for all individuals intended by Congress to be covered by the original Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), including persons with diabetes, epilepsy, serious heart conditions and mental disabilities. Contact: Lisa Bornstein, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, bornstein@civilrights.org. More than 30 other signers including Friends Committee on National Legislation, Union for Reform Judaism, National Education Association. – Pat Pattillo, 6/24/08.
MAY
Letter to Members of the House of Representatives encouraging stronger
provisions in the Consumer Products Safety Bill with a focus on children’s
products.
Contact: Chloe Schwabe, NCC Eco-Justice Program. –
Letter to Minnesota Governor Tim awlenty in support of SF 651 that would
phase out toxic brominated flame retardants deca-BDE and phthalates in
children’s products.
Contact: Chloe Schwabe, NCC Eco-Justice Program. –
Declaration of Principles for a Presidential Executive Order on Prisoner
Treatment, Torture and Cruelty,
and an accompanying Statement of
Conscience on these issues, a product of the Campaign to Ban Torture, an
alliance of faith and security leaders including the National Religious
Campaign Against Torture, Evangelicals for Human Rights, and the Center for
Victims of Torture. –– Michael Kinnamon,
5/7/08
Statement on “A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education,”
calling for a multi-track initiative to improve schools, provide early
childhood education, address children’s health, improve the quality of
out-of-school time as a remedy for the inadequacies of the No Child Left
Behind act. Prepared by a task force
assisted by the Economic Policy Institute (www.epi.org),
monitored by the NCC Education and Leadership Ministries Commission
– Michael Kinnamon, 5/8/08
Letter to Members of the
Letter to Senate and House Leadership and
Chairs of Senate and House Armed Services and Appropriations Committees,
asking that they include an amendment
in upcoming legislation endorsing a diplomatic surge to facilitate U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq as part of
achieving stability in Iraq and the wider region.
Contact: Kate Gould,
kate.gould@fcnl.org, of the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
Signed by 14 other faith-based organizations including justice
offices of the Episcopal, United Methodist, Church of the Brethren and UCC
communions. – Michael Kinnamon, 5/16/08 APRIL
Letter to Members of the U.S. House of Representatives in support of H.R.
2016, which would codify the National Landscape Conservation System and
protect its operation by the Bureau of Land Management;
the system, established in 2000, consists of more than 26 million acres of
national monuments, conservation areas, wilderness and wilderness study
areas, wild and scenic rivers, and national scenic and historic trails.
Contact: Jordan Blevins, NCC
Eco-Justice Program. –
Public Comments to the Energy Department on the Supplement to the Stockpile
Stewardship and Management, Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement,
Complex Transformation. Contact:
Jessica Wilbanks, Faithful Security, Taos, NM;
jwilbanks@fourthfreedom.org;
505-758-1206 (o), 410-713-0335 (c),
www.faithfulsecurity.org
– Pat Pattillo, Michael Kinnamon, 4/8/08
Letter to Members of Congress highlighting the status of unpaid
Letter to Members of the U.S. House of Representatives encouraging them to
cosponsor H.R. 2593 (the Borderlands Conservation and Security Act of 2007),
forbidding the Department of Homeland Security from imposing
a blanket waiver of environmental and land
management laws along the U.S.-Mexico border that would give
DHS permission to ignore 35 laws – such as the Clean Air Act, the Safe
Drinking Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the
Endangered Species Act – in order to complete construction of 470 miles of
border fence by the end of 2008.
Contact: Jordan Blevins, NCC Eco-Justice Program.
–
MARCH Letter to Congressional Leaders re: Funding of FEMA Emergency Food and
Shelter Program. /span>Contact: Karen
Edell Yoskowitz, United Jewish Communities, 1720 I Street, NW- Suite 800,
Letter expressing shock and sorrow at the shootings on the ercaz Harav
Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and calling
on the political and religious leaders of
Open Letter to Congress on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. Invasion of
Iraq on March 19, /span>calling on
Congress to reject President Bush’s request for an additional $102.5 billion
to continue the U.S. occupation. Contact: Win Without War coalition, (202)
822-2075, Tom Andrews and Ryan Anderson,
FEBRUARY Letter to Senator Jeff Bingaman supporting strong
environmental provisions and reclamation standards by reforming the
1872 Mining Law during the current
congressional session, following the passage of HR 2262 (the Hardrock Mining
and Reclamation Act of 2007) in the U.S. House last year; the measure seeks
especially to protect water resources. Contact:
Jordan Blevins, NCC Eco-Justice Program.
A
Faith Reflection on the Federal Budget,
prepared by the Domestic Human Needs Working Group, contact: Leslie G.
Woods, Domestic Poverty and Environmental Issues, Washington Office of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 100 Maryland Ave. NE Ste. 410, Washington, DC
20002, (202) 543-1126. – Pat Pattillo 2/27/08 Letter to Congress to redirect $29 billion from excessive military spending
to human needs, prepared by the
Women’s Action for New Directions and the Catholic Social Justice Network,
(hand-delivered to members of Congress during Ecumenical Advocacy Days),
contact: Marie Rietmann, Public Policy Director, Women's Action for New
Directions, (202) 544-5055 x195 – Pat Pattillo 2/27/08 Letter to President Bush re: National Religious Campaign Against Torture,
contact: Richard Killmer, Executive Director, National Religious Campaign
Against Torture, 316 F Street NE, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20002; Tel:
(202) 547-1920 or (207) 846-1614. – Michael Kinnamon 2/28/08
Letter to Condoleezza Rice re: Action on JANUARY Interfaith letter to Congress urging
enactment of H.R. 3797, the
bipartisan “New Diplomatic Offensive for
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