Subject: IWG Iowa State Daily Sabin/ENDA/Church and State
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 1998 23:30:21 -0500 (EST)

The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 12 congregations and
organizations and 54 clergy from 15 religious traditions. 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.

February 6, 1998

The Iowa State Daily
108 Hamilton Hall
Ames, IA  50011

Dear Editors:

The February 5 story regarding local reaction to the
defrocking of  the Rev. Steve Sabin contained some
incorrect statements.  Employment and civil rights
laws, including the proposed Employment Non-
Discrimination Act (ENDA), typically carry religious
exemptions.  Opponents of ENDA who wish to engender
opposition among religious conservatives have spread
the false notion that ENDA could be used to regulate
the hiring of clergy.  It was especially confusing to
see supporters of ENDA repeating this idea.  

There are many activists inside the Evangelical
Lutheran Church and many other denominations who are
working to change policies to allow for the
ordination of sexual minorities, but those policies
must be changed from within, not through government
regulation, which would violate the free-exercise
clause of the First Amendment.    

Sincerely,
Barbara Purdom     Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators

-- 

Interfaith Working Group                Religious organizations, congregations
[email-masked]                      and clergy supporting gay rights,
http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/         reproductive freedom, and the 
215-235-3050                            separation of church and state.