Congress members praise advocates for peace, justice
2/26/2003
WASHINGTON
(UMNS) - Several members of Congress offered encouragement to justice
advocates during a Feb. 25 reception, and noted the need for focusing
more attention on peace and bolstering neglected parts of the world.
The
reception on Capitol Hill provided a break for the advocates, who met
in Washington Feb. 23-26 for panel discussions and briefings on Africa
and the Middle East. The Advocacy Days gathering was to conclude with
visits to representatives and senators.
Speakers such as U.S.
Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) offered words of support to the participants. "I
think we can all learn a lot from you," he said.
Providing
opportunities for people in Africa to have a good quality of life is
important, and that entails working to overcome poverty and AIDS, Holt
said.
Turning to problems in the Middle East, he said: "Violence doesn't win and neither does the response of violence to violence."
The
event drew people from religious groups all over the United States.
Sponsors were Church World Service, the relief, development and advocacy
organization of 36 denominations; Churches for Middle East Peace; the
Washington Office on Africa; the Africa Faith and Justice Network; the
Stand with Africa Campaign; and Peaceful Ends through Peaceful Means.
"What
the church groups do on a sustained basis … is absolutely vital,"
said U.S. Rep. Thomas E. Petri (R-Wis.), a former Peace Corps volunteer
in Africa.
The Rev. Robert Edgar, staff head of the National
Council of Churches and a United Methodist clergyman, was emcee for the
program. He outlined peace efforts undertaken by the NCC and other
religious groups. Those have included a visit to Baghdad in early
January, in which he and a dozen other people from religious
organizations participated.
Edgar told of five trips to world
capitals by small groups of U.S. religious leaders, made possible by the
generosity of one donor. One such group is in Rome to meet with the
pope, he said. Another trip is planned for Moscow. Delegations have
already met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder and the French Foreign Ministry.
"So many
people within the churches have stood up and said, 'We want to be good
friends and good patriots, and that's why we're willing to stand up for
peace,'" Edgar said.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas)
quoted former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan as saying, "Find the right
thing to do and just do it." She told the advocates, "You are doing
that."
"We will be victorious over AIDS," Lee said. "We will be
victorious over hunger. We will be victorious over man and woman's
inhumanity to man or woman." She also urged debt relief for Africa as a
matter of life and death.
"I believe this world should elevate
peace over war," she added, noting that she had introduced a resolution
Jan. 7 to repeal Congress' Iraq war resolution. The United States must
act responsibly in deciding whether to send young people to war, she
said. "Don't be silenced by those who claim they would check the litmus
of your patriotism."
Edgar then commented that Jim Wallis, the
head of Sojourners, has said he wants to remind President Bush that
peace is a faith-based initiative.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters
(D-Calif.) participated in a panel on African issues with others at the
conference. "I came away more inspired by you than I ever could have
inspired you," she said.
"These are dismal days on the Hill.
You've seen what's happening with the budget," she lamented. "You are
feeling what I am feeling about this administration's lack of
understanding - its lack of a will to do the best job that can be done
for the people of this nation and the people of Africa and other places
that need our help."
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