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Lesley Crosson, (212) 870-2676, lcrosson@churchworldservice.org Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net
Church World Service To Voice Concern Over U.S. Violations of Religious Freedom at May 25 D.C. Press Conference on Cuba Policy
Washington, D.C., May 23 -- Church World Service will voice its concern over Bush administration violations of religious freedom and unwarranted incursions into relationships with church counterparts in Cuba at a Thursday, May 25 press conference scheduled for 9 A.M. in the Murrow Room of the National Press Club, 529 14th Street N.W., Washington, DC.
The press conference, sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for International Policy, will focus on the counter-productive nature of the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, which is expected to release new recommendations regarding U.S. policy toward Cuba.
Church World Service, one of several participants, will discuss attempts by United States government agencies to curtail religious freedom by imposing new restrictions on travel to Cuba for work by national church agencies and by its refusal to grant visas to Cuban pastors seeking to travel to the United States.
The agency has for decades engaged in mission and humanitarian work in the island nation, despite changing political ideologies and changes of government in Cuba and in the United States.
"Our outreach to people who are in need should not be subjected to the whims of government. We respond wherever people are hungry or hurting," says Rick Augsburger, deputy director of programs for Church World Service, who will speak at the press conference. Last March, Church World Service Executive Director and CEO the Rev. John L. McCullough led a delegation of religious leaders to a meeting in Washington, D.C., called by members of Congress, to press the demand that United States government agencies cease attempts to curtail religious freedom by imposing on national church agencies restrictive regulations on travel to Cuba for church work. Church World Service is the relief, development, and refugee assistance agency supported by 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations in the United States.
Other agencies participating in the press conference are the Latin America Working Group, the Washington Office on Latin America, and the National Council of Churches.
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