NCC communions ask that poverty be remembered in State of the Union

["Philip Jenks" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

>NCC communion leaders remind Obama 
>of his promise to cut poverty in half

Urge a reprise of 2008 speeches in State of the Union Message

Washington, January 18, 2011 -- Heads of National Council of Churches
member communions and NCC staff leaders used the Martin Luther King, Jr.
birthday 
weekend to urge President Obama to use his January 25 State of the Union
message to reassert his dramatic campaign pledge to "cut poverty in
half" in the next ten years.

In an open letter to Mr. Obama, the NCC staff and communion leaders
said, "There is no greater concern among the churches of Christ than for
those in this nation who live in poverty. This could hardly be otherwise
because Jesus himself lived among the poor: loving them, eating and
drinking with them, healing them, and speaking words of justice and
assurance that God's own love for the poor is unsurpassed."

The Rev. Michael Livingston, who directs the NCC's poverty program, said
it was appropriate to send the message to the President as the nation
observed Dr. King's 82nd birthday.

"Martin Luther King, Jr. was the prophet who inspired all of us to work
for justice and to end poverty," Livingston said. "We know the President
shares our views, and we want him to know we are behind him as he takes
up this challenge."

Despite hopeful signs that the recession is abating, the letter told the
President, "there are millions in our nation who live in the profoundest
poverty -- persons unable to find work to sustain themselves or their
families, children and elderly who go to bed hungry each night, persons
who have lost homes and the comfort of safe places to lay their heads --
persons who for the most part have been hidden from the national view,"
the letter said.

These persons "have neither a political power block nor an influential
constituency that makes it worthwhile for politicians to notice them.
The only real political advocate they have, as Harry Truman said, is the
President of the United States."

During the 2008 campaign, then Senator Obama said on more than one
occasion that he would commit his presidency to the goal of cutting
poverty in half in the next decade. "I absolutely will make that
commitment," Mr. Obama said in a forum in Grantham, Pa., in April 2008.

"Understand that when I make that commitment, I do so with great
humility because it is a very ambitious goal. And we're going to have to
mobilize our 
society not just to cut poverty, but to prevent more people from
slipping into poverty."

The ecumenical leaders said in their letter to the President: "We who
lead the member communions of the National Council of Churches believe
it is time for you to renew the pledge you made in the campaign to cut
poverty in half in the next decade ... Mr. President, we urge you to
renew this pledge like a clarion call in the 2011 State of the Union
Message."

As the President takes this step, the letter said, "be assured that we
stand with you and that you have the support and prayers of all 37
member communions of the National Council of Churches.

>The full text of the letter follows:

>January 18, 2011

>The President
>The White House
>Washington, DC

>Dear Mr. President

"I absolutely will make that commitment (to cut poverty in half in
ten years) ...Understand that when I make that commitment, I do so with
great 
humility because it is a very ambitious goal. And we're going to have to
mobilize our society not just to cut poverty, but to prevent more people
from slipping into poverty ..." (Barack Obama, Democratic Candidates
Compassion Forum, Grantham, Pa., April 13, 2008).

(Cutting poverty in half) "is a goal that I will set as president
of the United States of America." (Barack Obama, speech, Grand Rapids,
Mich., May 14, 2008).

All of us -- the heads of member communions of the National Council of
Churches -- listened to your historic words with hope.

There is no greater concern among the churches of Christ than for those
in this nation who live in poverty. This could hardly be otherwise
because Jesus himself lived among the poor: loving them, eating and
drinking with them, healing them, and speaking words of justice and
assurance that God's own love for the poor is unsurpassed.

Mr. President, the recession that reached its nadir in 2008 continues to
have a profound effect on all of us. There are millions in our nation
who live in the profoundest poverty -- persons unable to find work to
sustain themselves or their families, children and elderly who go to bed
hungry each night, persons who have lost homes and the comfort of safe
places to lay their heads -- who have for the most part been hidden from
national view. They have neither a political power block nor an
influential constituency that makes it worthwhile for politicians to
notice them. The only real political advocate they have, as Harry Truman
said, is the President of the United States.

As we see hopeful signs that the recession may be abating, we know that
millions in our nation will continue to live in poverty and hopelessness
unless immediate and decisive action is taken to help them.

We who lead the member communions of the National Council of Churches
believe it is time for you to renew the pledge you made during the
campaign to cut poverty in half in the next decade. We ask that you use
the influence of your office to assure those living in poverty that this
nation has not forgotten them.

Mr. President, we urge you to renew this pledge like a clarion call in
the 2011 State of the Union Message.

As you have noted, this is a very ambitious goal and there are far too
many politicians in this nation who might not take the risk or pursuing
it without the strong advocacy of the President. But as you renew this
commitment, be assured that we stand with you and that you have the
support and prayers of all 37 member communions of the National Council
of Churches.

>Grace to you, and peace,

Bishop John F. White, Ecumenical Officer, African Methodist Episcopal
Church

The Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley, General Secretary, American Baptist Churches

>USA

Bishop Charles Leigh, Apostolic Catholic Church

H.G. Bishop Serapion, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern
California and Hawaii

The Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, General Minister and President, Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ)

Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr., Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Bishop Ronald M. Cunningham, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Mr. Stanley Noffsinger, General Secretary, Church of the Brethren

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop, the Episcopal
Church

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America

The Rev. Dr. Betsy Miller, President, Moravian Church (Northern
Province)

The Rev. Canon Peg Chemberlin, President, National Council of Churches

The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary, National Council of
Churches

The Rev. Michael Livingston, Director, Poverty Initiative, National
Council of Churches

The Rev. Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church (USA)

The Rev. Dr. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, General Secretary, Reformed
Church in America

The Rev. Ken Turley, President, General Convention of the New Jerusalem
(Swedenborgian)

H.E. Metropolitan Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim, Syriac Orthodox Church of
Antioch, Archdiocese of the Eastern U.S.

The Rev. Geoffrey A, Black, General Minister and President, United
Church of Christ

Bishop Larry M. Goodpaster, President, Council of Bishops, United
Methodist Church

Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader, Ecumenical Officer for the Council of
Bishops, United Methodist Church

>---

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of Churches of Christ
in the USA has been the leading force for shared ecumenical witness
among Christians in the United States. The NCC's 37 member communions --
from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical,
historic African American and Living Peace churches -- include 45
million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities
across the nation.

NCC News contact: Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office), 646-853-4212
(cell), pjenks@ncccusa.org