Faith groups target poverty
Plan to lobby DNC delegates
Saying that both major political parties are paying insufficient attention to the poor, a broad spectrum of religious groups in Massachusetts is planning to lobby delegates to the Democratic National Convention to urge policy makers to focus on eradicating poverty and hunger.
"Democrats have had a longstanding and significant commitment to issues of poverty and hunger and housing, yet we're always fighting over dollars -- there never seem to be enough -- so we're hoping to make a little bit of noise," said the Rev. Nancy S. Taylor, president of the Massachusetts conference of the United Church of Christ. "We want the delegates to understand that the religious voting community cares about these issues, and we hope those who are elected to serve us care as much."
The Christian, Jewish, and Muslim groups, along with several advocacy organizations, also are planning to hold voter registration drives to sign up low-income people to vote in the Nov. 2 election.
The efforts to draw attention to poverty issues are being sponsored by the National Council of Churches and the Center for Community Change, which also are planning to target delegates to the Republican National Convention in New York. Yesterday, the groups launched what they said would be a multicity campaign to call public attention to poverty and to register low-income voters.
In Boston, religious groups are planning a July 28 prayer service, voter registration drive, and rally at Old South Church in Copley Square, chosen for its proximity to the major downtown hotels at which many convention delegates will be staying.
Senator John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, is being asked to speak at the rally. Kerry spokeswoman Debra DeShong said yesterday the candidate is receiving multiple invitations to convention week events and has not yet decided which to accept.
The organizers of the July 28 event include the local divisions of the American Baptist Convention, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church, as well as the Massachusetts Council of Churches, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, the Islamic Council of New England, several African-American Protestant churches, and an order of Catholic nuns.
The head of the National Council of Churches said religious groups have chosen to focus on poverty issues because it is one subject on which there is broad unanimity among a large variety of faith groups and a shared frustration with both political parties.
"Both political parties have neglected the poor -- both political parties have not spent as much time in their campaign rhetoric addressing the needs of the poor," said the Rev. Robert W. Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches USA. "As people of faith we believe that it's critical for us to address these issues, especially in light of the energy around tax cuts and defense expenditures." 