Using Religious Voices to Confront the Religious Right Rabbi Lynne Landsberg, Rabbi Daniel Swartz and Aaron Bisno Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism Washington, D.C. Any successful campaign to confront the agenda of the Religious Right will need the involvement of at least some segments of the local religious community. This chapter briefly outlines why such involvement is critical and discusses how to organize most effectively within the religious community. WHY INVOLVE THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY? 1) The power of a religious response to religious claims: The religious right often claims to have "God" on their side or at least to represent the "religious" perspective. They accuse their opponents of being hostile to religion. The simplest and most effective way to reveal the falsehood of such claims is to have in your coalition active representatives of religious communities who oppose the agenda of the religious right from a religious viewpoint. Representatives of such viewpoints clearly illustrate that your side also has moral and value-based arguments it can marshall. Inclusion of such individuals or faith groups indicates clearly that religious people believe the separation of church and state to be good for religion, that religious people support gay and lesbian rights, and that religious people in fact, most mainstream religious denominations support a woman's right to choose for reasons rooted in their faith. With religious support for your cause, you will have come one giant step closer to defeating the religious right. 2) The resources of the religious community: Religious communities are ready-made, "pre-organized" communities, with a variety of resources, including: organized humanpower, fully equipped buildings, public relations connections, and financial resources that potentially can be put to your use. It should be noted, however, that churches, synagogues and mosques or other religious organizations are primarily religious, not political bodies; people do not join their particular religious institution in order to support political activity. Nonetheless, with this caveat, you will find religious institutions that will gladly join you in your endeavor and may very well make their resources available to you. 3) If you don't, the Religious Right will: The Religious Right uses religious organizations as its primary organizing focus. You can be assured that if you do not reach out to the religious community in your area, the Religious Right will. In particular, the religious right is making a concerted effort to win the support of minority churches. Unless you present yourself and your cause effectively to these churches, they may be persuaded to ally themselves with the Religious Right. Conversely, if these churches ally themselves with you, it will immediately broaden the impact of your efforts. HOW TO ORGANIZE WITHIN THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY 1) Work within existing institutional infrastructures: Before approaching individual churches, synagogues, mosques, etc., you should tap into already existing interfaith networks and denominational institutions. Most communities have some sort (or several sorts) of interfaith clergy councils. In small towns, these are volunteer-run groups, while in larger cities they may have professional staff. In addition, areas with significant Jewish populations usually will have a Board of Rabbis with representatives from all the different movements within Judaism. Finally, most denominations have some sort of regional structure, such as a diocese or presbytery. By working through these types of structures, you will be able to reach larger numbers of religious leaders and congregations with less effort. Ask for permission to use a mailing list or to have an article included in a regional newsletter; see if you can speak at a meeting to many members of the clergy at once; ask one sympathetic staff member at the regional level to give you names of clergypersons who also are likely to be sympathetic to your cause. 2) Clergy are the key to their congregations: Once you have utilized regional structures to the fullest extent possible, you can turn to individual congregations. To get a particular church, synagogue, etc., on board your campaign, you will first need approval from the clergyperson in charge. As you try to get such approval, keep two points in mind. First, clergy respond best to other clergy. Once you have one minister, rabbi, priest, etc. who strongly supports you, ask him or her to help you with calls to other members of the clergy. Second, members of the clergy are usually overworked. Make your presentation brief; show how he or she can plug into your campaign with a minimal time commitment; have written material available for the clergyperson to include in a sermon or use in a congregational newsletter; ask for names of lay leaders in the congregation who you can turn to for more extensive commitments. 3) Non-congregational institutions: Don't forget potential allies in non-congregational institutions. The Jewish community in particular has a variety of "non-religious" Jewish institutions that may be effective allies, ranging from community relations councils to local chapters of national groups such as the American Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Committee. The Protestant and Catholic communities also take part in private, voluntary organizations and/or ecumenical, lay movements such as: the YWCA, the YMCA and Church Women United. These two should be sought out. Additionally, do not overlook state or local chapters of interreligious, political networks such as: Interfaith Impact for Peace and Justice and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. 4) Choose your allies carefully: Not all religious institutions are alike; they differ greatly both between and within denominations in terms of political influence and attitudes. You will need to make decisions such as: do I first approach congregations that are likely to be sympathetic, or do I focus instead on those with the greatest numbers and political resources? Once you have some members of clergy on board, you can ask them for their evaluation of how likely it is that a particular congregation might join with you and what resources they might bring to your campaign. 5) Indicate how the religious institution might benefit: Know how your campaign can benefit your allies even as they help your cause. First of all, many members of the clergy see themselves as being called to work for justice but they may not know exactly how to do such work. By giving them a good cause and an effective organization to work with, you are giving them a desirable opportunity. Second, their congregation may receive positive recognition through your campaign, making its members feel more excited about their participation in the congregation as a whole and perhaps even attracting new members. Finally, your organization may help with leadership development within the congregation. 6) Know how to respond to church/state and tax-exempt concerns: Some members of the clergy or congregational leaders may be hesitant to get involved in your activities because they are concerned about violating the separation between Church and State. You should make it clear to them that speaking out on issues is not a violation of the law interpreting the constitutional separation of church and state, and that such efforts do not jeopardize their tax exempt status. The law states that a congregation can not spend a "substantial" portion of its budget on direct lobbying (visiting congresspeople, letter writing, bulletin articles urging action on specific legislation, etc.). Because the term "substantial" is ambiguous, the rule of thumb is that no more than five percent of a congregation's budget may be used for such activities. It is highly unlikely that a congregation would come close to using five percent of its budget for such purposes, because most of the lobbying and/or letter writing is done by individual members and not the institution itself. Furthermore, there is no cap on the amount of money, time, or resources a congregation and/or clergyperson may use to speak out on issues, generally through articles, op-eds, sermons, public speeches, educational forums, etc., so long as they do not address specific pieces of legislation. Note well, however, that congregations may not get involved in partisan support for candidates and/or political parties without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status, but they can get involved in such non-partisan activities as sponsoring a voter registration drive or a multi-candidate debate. 7) Know what to ask for and of whom to ask it: Even though members of the clergy are often overly busy, they will frequently respond positively to invitations to speak at public rallies, press conferences, etc. and they can often be powerful speakers. Ask the clergy for opportunities to publicize your cause within their congregation, either through a congregational newsletter or through an opportunity to speak at the congregation. Ask them as well to put you in contact not only with other members of the clergy, but also with the lay leadership of the congregation most likely to be of assistance to you. These lay leaders may be able to help with publicity, space for meetings, letters and phone calls to elected officials, and turnout of large numbers of people for public gatherings. 8) Build long-term relationships: For the involvement of the religious community to be most effective, you have to develop long-term relationships and not merely approach religious leaders for crisis intervention. This can be done structurally by inviting religious leaders onto any formal board structures you develop. Equally important as such formal recognition, however, is involving the religious community in the early planning and strategy stages of your campaign; such involvement gives them ownership of the issue. Furthermore, once involved in the planning, they will be able to help you shape your campaign to use the resources of the religious community most effectively. (The authors owe a debt of gratitude to Kim Bobo of the Midwest Academy for inspiration for sections of this article. For more in depth information on organizing the religious community, we refer you to Organizing for Social Change: A Manual for Activists in the 1990's, Working with Religious Organizations, pp. 140ff.; Published by Seven Locks Press, Washington 1991.) SELECTED FORMS OF ADDRESS (tab delimited format) Category Written Form of Address In-Person and Salutation Archbishop The Most Reverend John Smith Bishop Smith (Roman Catholic) Archbishop of ___________ Your Excellency: Bishop (Episcopal) The Right Reverend John Smith Bishop Smith Bishop of ___________ Dear Bishop Smith: Bishop (Methodist) The Reverend Jane Smith Bishop Smith Bishop of ___________ Dear Bishop Smith: Bishop The Most Reverend John Smith Bishop Smith (Roman Catholic) Bishop of ___________ Dear Bishop Smith: Cardinal His Eminence Cardinal Smith (Roman Catholic) John Cardinal Smith Your Eminence: Clergy The Reverend Jane Smith Reverend Smith (Most Protestants) Dear Ms. Smith: Dean of a Cathedral The Very Reverend John Smith Reverend Smith (Episcopal) Dean of_________ Dear Dean Smith: Elder Elder Jane Smith Ms. Smith (Some Protestants) Dear Elder Smith: Monsignor The Right Reverend Monsignor Smith (Roman Catholic) Monsignor John Smith Dear Monsignor Smith Priest The Reverend Jane Smith Reverend Smith (Episcopal) Dear Ms. Smith: Priest The Reverend John Smith Father Smith (Roman Catholic) Dear Father Smith: Rabbi Rabbi John Smith Rabbi Smith Dear Rabbi Smith Sister Sister Jane Smith Sister Jane (Roman Catholic) Dear Sister Jane: (From Organizing for Social Change: A Manual for Activists in the 1990's, published by Seven Locks Press, 1991.) SELECTED DENOMINATIONAL TERMS Denomination National Regional Local Hired Leader African Methodist General Conference District (Bishop) Church Minister Episcopal Church (President & Senior Congregation Bishop) American Baptist Biennial Convention Association Church Minister Churches in the USA (President & General (Executive Minister) Congregation Secretary) Christian Church General Assembly Regional Office Church Minister (Disciples of Christ) (General Minister & (Regional Minister) Congregation President) Episcopal Church General Convention Diocese (Bishop) Church Parish Priest (Presiding Bishop & Deanery (Dean) Primate) Evangelical Lutheran Churchwide Assembly Region Synod (Bishop) Church Minister Church in America (Bishop) Congregation Presbyterian Church General Assembly Synod (Synod Church Minister (USA) (Moderator & Stated Executive) Presbytery Congregation Clerk) (Presbytery Executive) Progressive National Annual Session Region (Regional Church Pastor Baptist Convention, Inc. (President & General President) State Congregation Minister Secretary) Convention (State President) Roman Catholic National Conference of Archdiocese Parish Parish Pastor Catholic Bishops Diocese (Bishop) Priest (canonical) US Catholic Conference (civil) Denomination National Regional Local Hired Leader Southern Baptist Annual Convention State Convention Church Minister Convention (President) (Executive Director) Preacher Association (Executive Pastor Director) Union of American National Office Region (Director) Temple Rabbi Hebrew Congregations (President) Synagogue (Reform Judaism) Congregation United Church of Christ General Synod Region Conference Church Minister (President) (Conference Minister) Congregation United Methodist Church General Conference Annual Conference Church Minister (Bishop) District Congregation (District Superintendent) Please note: These are not parallel structures. The size, power, and structures vary greatly between denominations. (From Organizing for Social Change: A Manual for Activists in the 1990's, published by Seven Locks Press, 1991.) =================================================== How to Win: A Practical Guide for Defeating the Radical Right in Your Community Copyright 1994 by Radical Right Task Force Permission is granted to reproduce this publication in whole or in part. All other rights reserved. For more information contact: Pat Lewis National Jewish Democratic Council 711 Second Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20002 (202) 544-7636 =================================================== This document is from the Politics section of the WELL gopher server: gopher://gopher.well.com/11/Politics/ Questions and comments to: gopher@well.com .