Subject: IWG Daily News letter ftr-l@aquilapub.com, religion@critpath.org, jmwindgate@aol.com, waibling@calvin.usc.edu, amerunited@aol.com, joed@rabbit.com, RAARONS@aol.com, denkulp@aol.com, BCS41@aol.com, ncac@netcom.com, axiosusa@aol.com, 74344.2361@compuserve.com, pflagntl@aol.com, submit@qrd.org, jerobert@mail.airmail.net, pa-expose@critpath.org Date: Sun, 3 Nov 1996 11:40:56 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Purdom The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 3 congregations, 5 religious organizations and 37 clergy from 12 faiths and denominations. If you are in the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in other areas. Visit the web page at http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/. November 1, 1996 Philadelphia Daily News PO Box 7788 Phila., PA 19101 Dear Editors: Thank you for the story about anti-gay violence, and especially for the quote from Rita Addessa. An increased understanding of the link between religious anti-gay teachings and anti-gay violence has fortunately led many churches to change the message heard from the pulpit and to welcome the oppressed with open arms. Unfortunately, people like letter-writer Charles Steinbach still haven't gotten the message. His belief that the Bible condemns homosexuality is still popular, but more enlightened interpretations are rapidly becoming the norm. Congregations who have come to know sexual minority clergy have learned that they are not significantly different as clergy than heterosexuals. Nobody is advocating sin; we are arguing that being gay is not a sin. Steinbach fails to recognize that opposition to organized public school prayer (which is not the same as prayer in school) comes from Jews and Christians as well as atheists, agnostics and members of other religious traditions. That opposition occurs because the moral status of homosexuality is only one of the many theological points on which different branches of Christianity and Judaism fail to agree. The founders of the United States were Jews, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Anabaptists, Quakers, Puritans, Episcopalians, Catholics, and Unitarians. They recognized that it would not be morally correct, and should not be Constitutionally legal, to force anyone to participate in religious observances contrary to their own beliefs. Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators -- Chris Purdom phone:610-993-1134 Development Team Leader email: purdom@rabbit.com Tangram Enterprise Solutions homepage: http://www.tesi.com/~cpurdom/ When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore.