Importance of Religious Communities Intersecting with Policy

Recently, while having lunch with members of Faith in Public Life, a Washington, DC—based interfaith organization, the issue of religious communities intersecting with policy-makers came up. At first, I presume like any other American, I was thrown back to my U.S. Constitutional law lecture of a clear division between the government and organized religion and balked at the idea; however, as the discussion proceeded, I couldn’t help but to find myself embracing this concept.

The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States guarantees what Thomas Jefferson defined as “a separation of Church and State.” This principle, based on John Locke’s social contract theories, has been paramount in the development and growth of this nation and of civil liberties throughout the United States.

As an indirect result of this, many policies are being implemented that seem not to incorporate public and social responsibility at the national and international levels, and civil society, particularly the religious communities need to take an active stance. I argue that religious communities –from all faiths—must serve as a persistent voice of legislators to help develop and advocate for truly ethical legislation. This is to assure that legislation which addresses important issues of social responsibility trump over those of economic interest. Such action, I find noble and not infringing on the principles of the First Amendment.
At hand is not the issue of promoting Christian, Islamic, or Jewish principles, but social justice issues which are important to all religious—as well as non-religious—teachings of protecting those who cannot care or advocate for themselves, much less influence legislation, and other principles that seem to fall victim to the interest of profit margins.

A uniting voice of the “religious” civil society, needs to advocate for the protection of our fragile environment, the disenfranchised of society, access to healthcare for our children and citizens, just wages, protection of human rights, and other social justice issues.

Intersections seeks to work with like-minded organizations to influence policy-makers to raise consciousness and keep these issues at the forefront of their legislative work. We will address them in a manner which is in-line with the principles of social justice and responsibility, and respectful of our separation of Church and State.