c. 2000 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON _ A wide array of Christian leaders stood in front of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday (Feb. 16) to call on political candidates and the nation’s religious and secular sectors to make eradicating poverty a top agenda item.
Liberal, moderate and conservative Christians were among those gathered to urge agreement to a “Covenant to Overcome Poverty” and call for partnerships with political, business, labor and philanthropic leaders to reduce the numbers of poor people.
“The persistence of widespread poverty in our midst is morally unacceptable,” the covenant reads. “Just as some of our religious forebears decided to no longer accept slavery or segregation, we decide to no longer accept poverty and its disproportionate impact on people of color.”
The covenant was announced at the conclusion of the annual summit of Call to Renewal, an alliance of religious organizations working to overcome poverty and racism. Religious leaders who took turns at the microphone on the east steps of the Capitol expressed their simultaneous concern for the poor and the hope their unity would help those most in need.
“In a time of record prosperity, the poor are being left behind but the churches are being drawn together,” said the Rev. Jim Wallis, convener of Call to Renewal. “I believe we are on the verge, on the edge of a movement for economic justice led in large part by people of faith.”
Wallis was joined by other speakers who represented the breadth of Christianity, including officials of the National Association of Evangelicals, the National Council of Churches and the U.S. Catholic Conference as well as faith-based organizations that have long worked with the poor.
“For evangelicals, there is no way that we can say we are committed to the authoritative word of God … unless we are committed, I believe, to the cause of the poor,” said Rich Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals. “I believe by the group standing here that the cold war among religious groups over the poor is over.”
Mark Publow, vice president of domestic programs for the evangelical Christian relief organization World Vision, said he hoped the covenant would become a “mandate for personal involvement” by more American churches in helping the poor.
The Rev. Wallace Charles Smith, a Washington pastor and representative of the predominantly black Progressive National Baptist Convention, said “our voices will not remain silent” about those who are oppressed.
But even as they heralded their unity on the problem, the leaders said the religious community cannot be the sole entity addressing the ills of poverty. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, said the government needs to approve a “package of policies that makes it possible for every family in this country to have a livable income.”
Sharon Daly, deputy to the president of Catholic Charities USA, said she hopes the covenant will prompt widespread involvement across the political spectrum.
“It recognizes that … overcoming poverty will require personal responsibility but also social responsibility,” she said. “It will require the churches and all religious groups and all community people to come together, but it will also require the work of this body behind us, the Congress of the United States.”
The covenant, initially affirmed by 57 individual leaders, calls for congregations and other organizations to place the needs of the poor as a high priority as they allocate their time and resources, promote economic opportunities and evaluate political candidates. It also calls for dismantling racist structures and organizing interracial and interdenominational efforts to overcome poverty.
The larger 10-year campaign to implement the covenant seeks new partnerships between governmental, business, labor, philanthropic and nonprofit sectors to achieve such goals as quality health care that is affordable, good education for all children, affordable and safe housing, and a decent family income.
“Our principle is that people who work full time should not be poor,” Call to Renewal said in a statement on its “Campaign to Overcome Poverty.”
Religious officials, from the Rev. Andrew Young, president of the National Council of Churches, to members of the Industrial Areas Foundation, recently have called for reducing poverty to be a unifying goal for the nation’s faith groups.
The Rev. Robert Edgar, the new general secretary of National Council of Churches, explained the renewed interest.
“I think people are embarrassed with how much money the economy has made and how much the stock market has grown and yet how poor the very poor still are,” said Edgar. “We’re all trying to make a bridge to assist in lifting everyone rather than just some in our society.”
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