TIA: Oregon Interfaith Alliance Press Release

O TIA: Oregon Interfaith Alliance Press Release

The Oregon Interfaith Alliance's Distribution of Mainstream Voter Guides to Counter Extreme Religious Right

For Immediate Release: January 11, 1995

Portland, OR - Oregon religious leaders announced today the formation of a state chapter of The Interfaith Alliance, an organization that provides people of faith with a mainstream alternative to the divisiveness and intolerance of the extreme religious right such as the Christian Coalition. The Reverend Rodney Page, Executive Director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon stated, "We pledge to promote the positive role of religion as a healing and constructive force in public life, and to challenge those who manipulate religion for partisan political gain."

Mainstream religious leaders from across the country organized The Interfaith Alliance in 1994 to speak out against the divisive use of religion in the public sphere, including political campaigns. TIA goal is to ensure that an alternative faith-based voice is heard in the public debate. The national grassroots movement now encompasses 16 state chapters and over 20,000 members.

Rabbi Emanuel Rose the Senior Rabbi at Temple Beth Israel in Portland, emphasized the need for a reasonable and civil faith-based alternative to the prevalent influence of the extreme religious right in Oregon. He asserted these groups are "guilty of fostering divisiveness and bigotry, in addition to pursuing partisan political agendas, under the guise of religious certainties."

The first official activity for the Oregon chapter will be the distribution of mainstream voter guides which provide Oregon voters the positions on important issues for candidates running in the special U.S. Senate election. The Reverend Cecil Prescod, minister at the Highland United Church of Christ in Portland, declared, "The need for fair and honest voter guides should be obvious to anyone who has seen the so-called 'voter guides' distributed by extremist groups like the Oregon Family Council and Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition."

The Interfaith Alliance's voter guides will be mailed to Oregon voters and distributed through their volunteer network of grassroots activists. The non-partisan guides cover the following issues: minimum wage; Medicare and Medicaid; tax deductions for college tuition; the environment and housing discrimination.

Proclaiming the need for a mainstream faith-based response to groups like the Oregon Citizens Alliance, the Oregon Family Council and the Oregon Christian Coalition, Rev. Page asserted, "in the name of God and 'family values', these extremist organizations preach not the gospel of love and healing, but rather a destructive message of division, discord, and even outright hatred. To achieve their political goals, they unhesitantly engage in character assassination, distortion of facts, deliberate misrepresentation of the beliefs and values of their political opponents." He proceeded to issue a challenge to Oregonians, declaring, "When such deceptive and divisive activities are carried out in the name of God and religion, people of faith can no longer remain silent."