Subject: IWG Institute on Religion and Democracy Omaha letter
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 23:13:26 -0400 (EDT)

July 9, 1998

Omaha World-Herald
World-Herald Square
Omaha, NE  68102

Dear Editors:

The July 5 opinion piece by Mark Tooley was
accompanied by a description of the Institute on
Religion and Democracy as "a conservative research
group."  In fact, the only thing the organization
researches are leaders of the United Methodist Church,
and the only thing they produce are criticisms
designed to convince the members of the denomination
to decrease or suspend their financial support of the
denomination.  

While Mr. Tooley has recently latched on to the same-
sex union issue as a hot topic that increases the
likelihood of publication, he also reveals that his
true agenda: it is not concern for church polity and
theological debates over the nature of gender, sexual
orientation, and marriage, but the legislative
politics of women's equality, environmental
protection, economic justice for minorities, military
training for dictatorships, educational support for
language minorities, and the safety net of welfare.  

There is no question that the United Methodist debate
over religious marriage influences the national debate
over civil marriage, even if the two issues should be
considered separately.  But it is extremely disturbing
that an organization would intentionally exacerbate a
denominational debate over one issue in order to
influence the legislative debate over a laundry list
of unrelated items.  

Sincerely,
Barbara Purdom     Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators

The above letter went out on IWG letterhead listing 15 congregations and
organizations and 58 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.

-- 

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.