wfn.org | Religious leaders urge `civility code' for election campaigns

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

20-September-1999 
99312 
 
    Religious leaders urge `civility code' for election campaigns 
 
    by Religion News Service 
 
WASHINGTON--The Interfaith Alliance, a 5-year-old organization of 
politically liberal and moderate religious activists, says it will push 
political candidates to sign a "civility code" for the upcoming campaign. 
 
    "In the last six months, we have heard almost all the leading 
presidential candidates express their faith as a matter of personal 
conviction and belief," said the Rev. J. Philip Wogaman, alliance president 
and pastor of Foundry Methodist Church in Washington, D.C.  Wogaman is also 
one of three spiritual counselors to President Clinton. 
 
    "We are not here to question or judge those expressions of faith," he 
added.  "We are here, however, to call on those seeking the highest office 
in the land to put their faith in action by either embracing our Framework 
for Civility or providing their own." 
 
    The civility code, released at a Washington news conference Sept.15, 
calls on politicians to "talk honestly" about their beliefs, motivations 
and purpose in running for office and "refrain from using deception, 
half-truths, falsifications or innuendo in describing your opponents." 
 
    But at the heart of the civility code is a call to respect the dignity 
of others and the diversity of religious voices in the public arena. 
 
    "Though front-runners in the presidential race talk openly about their 
personal faith and values systems, neither candidate fully acknowledges the 
vast diversity that characterizes the American religious landscape," said 
the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, executive director of the alliance and pastor for 
preaching and worship for Northminster Baptist Church in Monroe, La. 
 
    "Candidates," added Sister Mary Carol Bennett, a Roman Catholic nun and 
president of the Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania, "frequently assume 
`litmus test' issues exist within certain faith traditions, assuming that 
people of faith are single-issue voters akin to special-interest voters. 
 
    "Too often, candidates cling to the perception that there is one 
faith-based position on matters of public policy," she said. "This idea 
ignores both the diversity and differences that exist between people of 
faith in our communities." 
 
    The civility code is part of the alliance's "Call to a Faithful 
Decision 2000" project.  The project will include a series of voter 
education activities -- including support for voter registration programs 
but not candidate-oriented voter guides -- to challenge people at mosques, 
synagogues, temples and churches "to renew their commitment as citizens and 
as people of faith to participate in 
the political process." 

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