November 11, 1999

CLEVELAND—Participants at the forum "Campaign 2000," held today during the 50th anniversary celebration of the National Council of Churches of Christ, examined the dynamics of involvement in the political process by faith-based communities and individuals.

The Rev. Jay Lintner, NCC associate general secretary for Public Policy, introduced the forum by noting that while most people acknowledge the reality of church/state separation, "we are called to be public advocates for justice…shaping the common good must be done in the common arena." Lintner listed suggested topics for people of faith to raise with candidates "that reflect the basic concerns of our churches": Jubilee 2000 and debt cancellation; child poverty; domestic hunger; universal health care; guns and violence; Affirmative Action; rights of immigrants and refugees; religion and public schools; campaign finance reform; the environment; a comprehensive test ban treaty; and the United Nations.

The Rev. Oliver Thomas, NCC special counsel for Religious Liberty, focused his remarks on legal concerns regarding participation in the political process. He identified the 2000 election as being particularly significant as the next one in the "20-year cycles of reapportionment and redistricting [in which] every state legislature redraws the lines as to how its state is represented in Congress."

Thomas traced the development both of IRS prohibition against political activity and "permission for issue-oriented speech." Referring to the former, he cited the number of major conservative religious groups penalized in recent years by the IRS. His advice to faith-based groups and individuals: "Talk about the issues…don’t endorse, don’t fund raise, don’t promote."

The Rev. Archie LaMone, associate director of the NCC’s Washington Office, discussed voter registration, and proposed five areas people of faith can address supporting it: 1. there must be information available that is "factual, clear, realistic"; 2. that information "must be used to organize people around the issues that most matter to them"; the physical act of voter registration must not be taken for granted; campaigning needs to "speak to issues"; and the notion of voting must "be turned around" so that "people vote for something, not against…we must think in progressive language."

The Rev. Felix Carrion, associate for Multiracial, Multicultural Church Empowerment, Office for Church in Society, United Church of Christ, looked at Latino voter registration developments in the 1990s. He referred to the significant increases both in the numbers of people registered and in Latino voters that could be seen between the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections. Noting the overwhelming Latino support for President Clinton in 1996, he said that support "made an incredible impact in many parts of the country." He said that the UCC emphasis is "to get churches to think about civic and public participation," and listed language, theology, and immigration concerns as being among factors to deal with in the registration of Latinos.

The Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, executive director of The Interfaith Alliance, said that the months leading up to the 2000 elections "will be filled with as much religious language" as any campaign in recent history. Gaddy alluded to recent national polls in which a majority of respondents affirmed that "religion holds the answers to most if not all problems" of society. However, he noted "the obvious gap between affirmation of the role of religion and the understanding of the proper way religion can express itself without violating…church/state separation." We must proceed toward the 2000 campaign, he cautioned, "with an eye on protecting the precious principle of religious freedom."