|
News Day – November 21, 2003
New clergy group opposes Bush re-election
By SHARON THEIMER - Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON Nov. 21, 2003 -- Aiming to become the Christian Coalition of the left, liberal and moderate religious leaders are founding a political group to oppose President Bush's re-election and try to turn their congregations into election-year activists.
The Clergy Leadership Network will help churches, temples and mosques develop voter registration programs, run its own get-out-the-vote drives and, if it can generate enough money, air issue ads, the Rev. Albert Pennybacker, the group's president and chief executive and former president of the Interfaith Alliance, said.
The group, which comprises Jews, Muslims and Christians, will counter the conservative voice of Christian groups such as the Christian Coalition, said Pennybacker, who belongs to the Disciples of Christ.
The network's leaders stop short of saying they want a Democrat in the White House after next year's elections, but make it clear they want a change in leadership, both the president and the Republican-controlled Congress.
Among other issues, the network contends the Bush administration has unacceptably interfered in the separation of church and state through programs such as its "faith-based initiatives." The program offers federal money to religious organizations for work with the homeless and drug addicts and alcoholics.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-preachers-politics,0,6743904.story
|
