TIA: The Road to Renewal: Terry Anderson

Statement by Terry Anderson

July 15, 1996

Washington, DC


I decided to become actively involved with The Interfaith Alliance for a number of reasons having to do with who I am and what I believe in. First, I am a Christian. Specifically a Catholic, but more importantly a Christian. Second, I am a political progressive.

There are those who would insist that those two things do not go together - that as a Christian, a person of faith, I have to be a political conservative, even ultra-conservative. These days when most of you journalists think of the two words - religion and politics - together, you almost automatically come up with the names Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed, Christian Coalition. You think of the religious right, and its divisive, exclusionary political message.

Well, those people do not represent me, neither in faith nor in politics. And they do not represent millions of other people of faith in this country - Christians, Jews, Moslems and others. Like those conservatives in the Christian Coalition, our religious beliefs lead directly to our political beliefs. But they lead in an entirely different direction. Our faith requires of us that we work for an ever more just, an ever fairer society; that we further human rights and human dignity; that we help the poor, the weak and the powerless; that we try to bring people together in cooperation and respect, not divide them in contention. Christianity is not a conservative religion. Neither is Judaism, nor Islam. Their social and economic teachings are liberal, even radical. Do you think Jesus or Mohammed would turn the children of illegal immigrants out of our schools? Do you think they would recommend the drastic reduction of social services for the poor? Do you think they would condemn and promote hatred of those who look or think differently than them?

Yes, we must be responsible and efficient in our use of resources. Certainly we should not throw money away unnecessarily. My faith does not call for that. But it does demand that I oppose violence, whether physical, psychological, social or economic; that I defend all children, most especially those who have little other defense; that I show respect for all other human beings in my actions, not just my words.

These are also the beliefs held by so many others who have joined The Interfaith Alliance. The Christian Coalition does not speak for us. We speak for ourselves. We are people of faith. We believe that our public political positions must match our personal beliefs. Those beliefs are about inclusion, not exclusion; cooperation, not division; respect, not hatred.