There's More to Faith than James Dobson

Is Focus on the Family president James Dobson's opinion worth more than the beliefs of the entire American population?

The cable news networks seem to think so.

Early this week, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a groundbreaking survey1 of 35,000 Americans documenting the diversity and tolerance of people of faith and the growing consensus around issues like poverty and the environment.

But what religion story dominated the cable networks yesterday? James Dobson attacking Sen. Barack Obama for a speech he gave two years ago on his faith.

In fact, on Tuesday, June 24, Dr. Dobson was mentioned a total of 189 times on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. The landmark Pew survey? Just 8.

Let the cables know there's a lot more to faith than James Dobson.

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Direct Aid for Burmese Cyclone Victims

The world was outraged when Burma's military leaders brutally suppressed a peaceful uprising of Buddhist monks back in September. Now Burma's leaders are slowing aid to millions of victims of Cyclone Nargis that hit two weeks ago, killing over 100,000 people.

The International Burmese Monks Organization, including many leaders of the democracy protests last fall, launched a new effort to provide relief through Burma's powerful grassroots network of monasteries -- the most trusted institutions in the country, and currently the only source of housing and support in many devastated communities.

Our friends at Avaaz.org raising money for the Burmese Monks' relief efforts, and you can chip in. Click below to help the Burmese people with a donation and see a video appeal to Avaaz from a representative of the International Burmese Monks Organization:

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Torture is always wrong

Have you seen the headlines?

A newly released memo reveals that the Bush administration said torture was legal.

His lawyers argued that government officials who torture could not be prosecuted unless their act of torture was inspired by malice or sadism. They argue: "Whether conduct is conscience-shocking turns in part on whether it is without any justification."

Startling isn't it?

Bush's lawyers have given him some bad advice. He needs to hear another message.

Sign our different "torture memo" to President Bush from the faith community. Tell him torture is always wrong, and always shocks the conscience, no matter what his lawyers say.

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God's Only Party?

Tell the pollsters to stop stereotyping people of faith

The television networks' presidential primary exit polls are reinforcing false stereotypes about religious voters by asking Republican voters more religion questions than Democratic voters, and in some cases ignoring Democrats' religion entirely. In Michigan and Iowa they didn't ask Democratic voters any religion questions at all. In every state, they have exhaustively analyzed Republican evangelicals and completely ignored evangelical Democrats.

Can you sign the petition asking that the media pollsters to stop stereotyping people of faith? We will deliver the petition with your name and comments to the networks' pollsters in the next two weeks -- before the March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio.

The petition says: "The presidential primary exit polls, sponsored by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and the AP, must stop stereotyping people of faith. We call on the media pollsters to ask all voters -- Republicans and Democrats -- the same religion questions on the exit poll surveys."

If we are silent, the media pollsters will continue to reinforce false stereotypes about religious voters. The wedge-issue "values voter" will be the face of faith in politics AGAIN. We must refuse to be pigeonholed.

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Override President's Veto of Health Care for Poor Children

October 2007

The State Children's Health Insurance Program covers millions of low-income families and children, which in many cases makes the difference between life and death. When President Bush vetoed expanding it to cover four million more uninsured children, we sent an alert urging Faithful America members to contact their Congressional representatives immediately and encourage them to override the veto. Congress did not succeed in overriding the veto, but we are poised to take action when children's health legislation comes up again. It's not a red state or a blue state issue. Supporting the health of children is a fundamental responsibility for our nation, and we can successfully urge Congress to insure every child.

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Bring Our Troops Home

March 2007

"Congress...by its action or its lack of action, has proven to be totally morally inept to intervene and too politically compromised to act with real conviction... More than ever America needs our moral witness." --Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta

When thousands gathered in Washington for a religious witness for peace in Iraq, Rev. Warnock reminded the crowd that people of faith are a critical force for peace. We followed up by alerting Faithful America members to write their representatives in support of a House bill mandating a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by the fall of 2008. Ending the Iraq war remains a top priority for people of faith, we're watching for opportunities to take action to finally end this unjust war.

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Faithful America Relaunches! Welcome to the new Faithful America, redesigned and relaunched! Faithful America is now operated by Faith in Public Life -- a resource center for faith leaders dedicated to reclaiming the values debate in America. We could not be more thrilled to take action together in the weeks and months ahead. Together, we can make a difference. Questions? Ideas for campaigns? Contact us. We are all in this together. Now, let's get to work! --Katie, Jen, Dan, Beth, and Ron Out-polling the Exit Polls New poll demonstrates political diversity of evangelical voters February 19, 2008 -- Faith in Public Life and the Center for American Progress Action Fund commissioned a poll in two Super Tuesday states, Missouri and Tennessee, to demonstrate what our television network pollsters are missing. Their poll, released last week, showed: One-third of all white evangelical voters in both states participated in the Democratic primaries. There were 160,000 evangelical Democratic voters in Missouri and 180,000 evangelical Democratic voters in Tennessee. That's as many or more than all African American voters, all voters over 65, or all voters who said the Iraq war is the most important issue facing the country in those states. Majorities of evangelical voters in both states support a broader issue agenda that goes beyond abortion and same-sex marriage to include ending poverty, protecting the environment, and tacking HIV/AIDS. Click here for full analysis at progressiveandreligious.org. News outlets are picking up the story... Peter Steinfels column, New York Times, "Evangelical Democrats, Exit Polls and a Matter of Balance", 2/2/08 Washington Post, "The Invisible Primary Voter: Evangelical Democrats", 1/9/08 Chicago Tribune, "WWED: What will evangelicals do?" 2/13/08 Jefferson City News Tribune (Missouri), "Poll finds evangelicals vote in both parties", 2/12/08 Can you sign the Faithful America petition asking the media pollsters to stop stereotyping people of faith? The petition says: "The presidential primary exit polls, sponsored by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and the AP, must stop stereotyping people of faith. We call on the media pollsters to ask all voters -- Republicans and Democrats -- the same religion questions on the exit poll surveys." We will deliver the petition with your name and comments to the networks' pollsters in the next two weeks -- before the March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio.