TIA: TIA's "Road to Renewal": Promoting Informed Civic Participation

In the 1996 election cycle, The Interfaith Alliance made great strides in our effort to build a revitalized mainstream religious movement based upon active civic participation.

The Road To Renewal which began in June continued with the Candidate Pledge of Civility, the Call For Faithful Decision Voter Pledges, clergy letters, public forums, media events and voter guides. None of our successes would have been possible without the dedication and support of tens of thousands of members, activists and volunteers across the country.

Our involvement began early in the summer as the national office held a press conference in Washington, DC which featured several members of the board of Directors including TIA President Rev. Albert Pennybacker and Advisory Board Chair, Terry Anderson.

A few days later similar Road to Renewal kickoff events were held in Tennessee and North Carolina with special guest Board Member Rev. Robert Meneilly. People of faith were encouraged to mobilize for civic participation by registering to vote, educating voters and promoting civility in the upcoming campaigns.

From the national office, Candidate Pledges of Civility were sent to all federal office seekers. More than 400 candidates for US House and Senate seats signed and returned TIA’s Pledge of Civility in which they promised, among other things, not to use religion as a weapon in their campaigns.

Many local alliances distributed the Civility Pledge to candidates for statewide and local races, adding hundreds to the number of candidates who signed the pledge.

The response was overwhelming and, in local communities throughout the nation people expressed their support for TIA’s efforts. In communities such as Des Moines, Iowa, those candidates who received wide publicity in local papers for vociferous opposition to the pledge were unsuccessful on Election Day.

Over 20,000 “Call To Faithful Decision Voter Pledges” were distributed by TIA chapters. These pledges urged people of faith to exercise their civic sacrament by promising to vote on Election Day. These voter pledges were then utilized by local chapters in “Get Out The Vote” efforts in several states.

This project not only helped TIA improve voter turnout but also helped to identify thousands of people who support civility in the public debate and reject the manipulation of religion by religious political extremists.

Alliances in nine states hosted public forums on issues affecting their local community. Several forums highlighted the future of public education and featured candidates for local, state and federal offices. These popular forums provided citizens with an opportunity to engage in civil and informative dialogue around these important issues.

In Washington State, the local Interfaith Alliance held a forum for statewide candidates which was attended by the eventual winner of the Governor's race Gary Locke.

TIA publicly challenged the Christian Coalition’s use of house of worship to distribute partisan political information. Local alliances sent letters to approximately 50,000 members of the clergy alerting them to the inaccurate nature of the Christian Coalition’s voter guides. Thanks to the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and activists, members of the clergy were successfully alerted to the biased and misleading nature of these guides.

Similarly, state and local alliances held an unprecedented number of local press events pointing out the biased nature of the Christian Coalition’s voter guides. Alliances from our new chapter in Athens, Ohio to our more established chapter in Pittsburgh were among those publicly challenging the Christian Coalition's deceptive and partisan voter guides. This hard work of TIA chapters in alerting the press to our message and activities has resulted in over 250 news stories across the country in the months leading up to November.

In contrast to the Christian Coalition’s campaign of misinformation, TIA provided people of faith with accurate information about real issues affecting our communities, families and children.

TIA distributed 5 million voter guides in 44 U.S. House and Senate races covering 18 states. In addition local alliances added several statewide and local races to their voter guides. These voter guides were both mailed and distributed through our extensive grassroots network of activists across the country. Unlike the Christian Coalition, did not disrespect the sanctity and dignity of our nation's churches by distributing voter guides through our nation's house of worship.

Our grassroots network of thousands of clergy, laity and other concerned citizens directly engaged religious political extremists and their ordained candidates on the fundamental concerns of values, families and communities.

Rev. Philip Wogaman, Vice-President of The Interfaith Alliance, stated, "TIA succeeded in revealing the Christian Coalition’s partisan core, lifting their veil of religious authenticity and finally removing its aura of political invincibility. No longer will the Christian Coalition have a blank check with which to exploit the faith community in the electoral process.”

Although the elections ended in November, the necessity of TIA’s work grows. As school boards across the country hold elections, the lessons that were learned can be applied as local communities continue to struggle with attempts by religious political extremists to impose a narrow self-righteous agenda on their communities.

With the successful implementation of the 1996 "Road to Renewal" concerned citizens now know that they have the ability to effectively challenge religious political extremism wherever it may exist.

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