Subject: IWG Sojourners Letter Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 23:19:26 -0400 (EDT) From: Chris Purdom The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 2 congregations, 5 religious organizations and 35 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/ or http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/religion/orgs/iwg/ This is the first letter we have written in response to an article dealing with all three of the IWG issues. August 13, 1996 Editor Sojourners 2401 15th Street NW Washington, DC 20009 Dear Editors: Danny Duncan Collum asserts that gay rights, reproductive freedom, and separation of church and state are based on radical individualism and are therefore linked to environmental deregulation and gun ownership. Mr. Collum is, at best, misinformed. The gay rights movement is about making communities more inclusive, not individualistic. Especially as manifested in religious institutions, the struggle for gay rights is a struggle to recognize and accept the gifts of all people. As a community we must work to overcome fear and prejudice and end discriminatory practices. This movement has led churches to address topics that some people have previously found uncomfortable. Open discussion of these topics has broken down barriers to communication that had made true community difficult to achieve. Reproductive freedom is not individualistic; it is largely about community and quality of life, responsible parenting, and understanding one's limitations. Abortion has been the most controversial aspect of reproductive freedom. Those on opposite sides of the abortion debate have largely disagreed over the importance of the rights of the mother and the rights of the fetus. It is hardly an issue of individualism versus the community. Mr. Collum links the debates over gay rights and reproductive freedom in the same manner used by those who believe that sexual activity is primarily pro- creative by divine decree, and that therefore any other sexual expression is inherently sinful. If such a theology is the crux of Mr. Collum's argument then he should be honest about it, rather than labeling all behaviors he disagrees with as radically individualistic and anti-community. He ascribes his beliefs to "the community," but most communities today are more diverse than this view would suggest. His support of school prayer, which would give each individual minority student the choice of forced religious participation or ostracism, pits him as an individual firmly against the larger religious community that values separation of church and state. The lines that separate those who take sides in various social debates are not "artificial;" they are based on different world-views and theologies. Mr. Collum appears to believe that the burden is always on the individual to conform to the will of the community, and that anything else is radical individualism. We believe that the community has a responsibility to support and respect all of its members. Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators