You often hear people of faith ask, “Can the religious community advocate for public policies? Isn’t that an abridgement of church-state relations?”
From another perspective, people of faith say, “Advocating for justice is at the core of what it means to be a person of faith! Jesus stood in a long line of prophetic voices that said and did things that tilted against the governments of their time.”
Associated Ministries has a long-standing tradition of speaking up, particularly in seeking to add the voices of people of diverse faith traditions to articulate our concerns and support for people who are on the margins of our society, for and with people who are often voiceless in the public policy centers of our society. Associated Ministries desires to stand in that long line of prophetic voices that brings moral authority to the public sphere.
It is not easy to engage people of faith in advocating for public policies that build stronger communities while also fulfilling the first part of our mission statement: uniting people of faith. Ask a congregation --- whether Jewish, Christian, or Buddhist --- what the religious community believes should be the policies regarding any issue and you will create quite a stirring of people voicing varying perspectives. Home foreclosure is a great example. Should the religious community speak up on home foreclosures? Some people of faith will say, “Of course not. It’s all about personal responsibility, and each home owner simply has to do a better job of reading the contract before they sign, and then fulfill the contract.” Other people of faith will say, “Of course we should! This is one of the most heinous injustices of our time, and as people of faith we need to get the government to hold financial institutions accountable for their deliberate acts of greed that led to people signing contracts that were untenable in their design.” Finding unity in the midst of those polar opposite perspectives will not be simple or an easy task.
Yet, forming work groups made up of people representing different faith traditions, living in different parts of Pierce County, and who think about the issue at hand from different perspectives is one way in which Associated Ministries is seeking to live into the unity that God desires of us, even as we draft policy statements.
Currently, there are three work groups which have begun to draft social issue papers on: 1) Housing, Homelessness, and Foreclosures; 2) Immigration; and 3) Economic Justice. We believe that investing time and energy on the front end to articulate a faithful position on policies is one way that we can ensure that people of faith from varying perspectives can read what we write and find their faith perspective woven into the statement. Each statement will also provide us a basis upon which to call people of faith to be actively engaged in voicing their faith-based views on social issues.
Utilizing a structured approach, the work groups will draft papers that include the following sections: a) Theological Framework; b) Current Situation/System; c) Response of Society/Communities to the Current Situation; d) Response of the Church to the Current Situation; e) Critique of the Current Situation/System; e) Current Efforts Underway to Change the Situation/System; and f) Policy Recommendations.
Interns will also be a cornerstone of our advocacy work in the coming years as we partner with Seattle University’s School of Theology and Ministry (see both articles), both for the Monsignor Edward J. Ryle Scholarship/Internship as well as for The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiative, Family Homelessness. We are committing more of our resources and time to strengthen our relationships with people of faith by establishing a Center for Congregational Relations that will help facilitate engaging people of faith in building stronger communities which includes equipping people of faith to speak to policy makers on social issues.
Even if the relationships are stressed and the voices sound confused as we explore the path to our common voice on social issues, I can’t imagine people of faith not speaking our faith in the public sphere. As a colleague once commented, “it would be like a plane trying to fly with only one wing.” I hope that you will join us as we build our advocacy infrastructure so that people of faith from all traditions can find ways of speaking up and helping build stronger communities for everyone.
