Press Release
Christian Leaders to President: Your Moral Legacy Is at Stake
President Asked to Salvage Moral Legacy on War, Torture, Poverty and Climate
STATE OF THE UNION PRESS TELECONFERENCE AT 10 AM
Audio of the press teleconference available here (recording begins about 30 seconds in).
As the president prepares to deliver his final State of the Union address on Monday, Catholic and Evangelical Christian leaders are urging President Bush to salvage his moral legacy. On a press teleconference tomorrow at 10 a.m. Eastern, Catholic and Evangelical leaders will call on the president to change course on the most pressing moral issues of our time -- war, torture, climate, and U.S. and international poverty.
WHO: Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, which is actively engaged in a campaign to reduce U.S poverty by 50% by 2020, will encourage President Bush in his last year in office to provide leadership in reducing poverty, rather that weakening protections for millions of our nation’s poor.
Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action, will evaluate of how President Bush has responded to the call issued three years ago by 76 evangelical leaders asking the President to invest in improving economic conditions for the poor worldwide.
Rev. Dr. David Gushee, president of Evangelicals for Human Rights and author of the anti-torture statement recently endorsed by the National Association of Evangelicals, will explain how the president’s failure to ban torture without exception is a blatant violation of the rule of law and biblical doctrines, and how reversing course can help restore America’s standing in the world.
Rev. Dr. Paul de Vries, Board Member of the National Association of Evangelicals and original signer of the Evangelical Climate Initiative statement will discuss the damaging global implications of the Bush administration’s failure to act on climate change and how the president can salvage his moral legacy on climate by strengthening regulations and investing in sustainable energy sources.
Sister Anne Curtis, Leadership Team, Institute of the Sisters of Mercy, who just returned from visiting Iraqi refugees in the Middle East, where present during the bombing of a U. S. embassy car, which killed three people, will discuss the impact of war as seen through the eyes of those who live with it everyday.
WHEN: Thursday, January 24, 2008, at 10 a.m. Eastern
DIAL-IN NUMBER: 1-866-682-6100
