Subject: IWG Inquirer Catholic Bishops Church/State letter
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 23:54:56 -0500 (EST)

November 21, 1998

The Philadelphia Inquirer
PO Box 8263
Phila., PA 19101

Dear Editors:

Your coverage of the Roman Catholic Bishops' orders to
Catholic elected officials was a perfect illustration
of why we have Constitutional guarantees of both
religious liberty and church/state separation.  The
Bishops are free to make whatever demands they want,
but the demands have no force of law and the officials
can decide whether they want to obey them or not.  They
are elected to uphold the law, not church doctrine, and
regarding their voting record, they ultimately answer
to their constituents, and not to the church.  Any
Archdiocese that both demands that Catholic elected
officials vote a certain way, and then issues voter
guides telling parishioners whether they complied, is
clearly endorsing candidates, which tax-exempt
organizations are not permitted to do.

Sincerely,
Barbara Purdom     Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators

The above letter went out on IWG letterhead listing 16 congregations and
organizations and 60 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.