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News of The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania
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| Dear Bolton,
Hello again. Sorry we've been so quiet. We've been coordinating our techincal expertise and our email list(s), and are now ready to keep you up to date on the activities of the The Interfaith Alliance of PA (TIA-PA). Here's what's been happening in the last weeks.
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| Prayer in the PA Legislature
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Around the state sensationalist headlines have been proclaiming "Jesus Banned from PA House of Represenatives."
A pastor in Gettysburg was invited to give an openning prayer before the House of Representatives and planned to conclude the prayer with the words "In Jesus' name." When told he could not conclude in that way, as that would make it exclusively Christian, he refused to give the prayer entirely. Newspapers, talk-radio, and television took up the story across the state. In response, we sent letters to editors of papers across the state. We know some have been or will be published. If you've seen it in your local paper please be in touch, for in a very real way you are our eyes and ears across the state. Here is the text of the letter:
Dear Editor -
Recent attempts by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to ensure that opening prayers will be appropriate for our multi-faith society have been unfairly misconstrued as an attempt to "ban Jesus" or exclude Christians.
Under rules adopted by the House, a Christian pastor may certainly be honored with an opportunity to serve as a chaplain and recite a prayer for the legislature, as may any other religious leader. But that prayer is not on behalf of the chaplain alone. The chaplain is required by law and common courtesy to offer a prayer that takes into account the diversity of our Commonwealth. Not to take that diversity into account is a mark of disrespect. The legislature has a responsibility to insist that its guest chaplains show respect for the religious diversity among the people that the legislature represents.
Respectful chaplains before a respectful legislature will find ways to word their prayers so that everyone who engages in prayer can speak through them. Praying "in the name of Jesus" is certainly appropriate in a Christian church, but just as certainly excludes everyone who is not a Christian.
The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania, with a constituency across the state and from many faith traditions, endorses all efforts to enhance religious liberty and avoid religious coercion - for the sake of both religion and politics in our society.
As such, we applaud the recent efforts by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to comply with the Constitution and acknowledge that Pennsylvania is a religiously diverse society.
The Pennsylvania Senate should strive to become more sensitive in its practices as well.
Rabbi Carl S. Choper
Chair, The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg
Unfortunately, the State Senate has not yet tried to become more sensitive. As a follow-up, the state Senator from Gettysburg invited the same pastor to give the same prayer in front of the State Senate, which happened this past Wednesday. Look for more on that from us soon.
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TIA-PA to be at Lehigh Valley Pride
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Look for TIA-PA on Sunday August 16th in Allentown as part of the Lehigh Valley Pride in the Park.
Those of you who will be at this Pride Festival in Allentown, please make a point of stopping at our booth.
As with last year, those of us coming from Harrisburg will be having dinner at a local restaurant after the Festival. We invite all of you in the Lehigh Valley to join with us so we can discuss how we in Harrisburg and you in the Lehigh Valley can support each other in building a stronger multi-faith society. Please inquire at the booth as to where we will be.
Also, any of you in the Lehigh Valley who would like to help staff our booth with us this year, please be in touch.
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TIA-PA Support's PA's Marriage Equality Bill
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On July 8, 2009, in the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg, State Senator Daylin Leach held a press conference introducing his bill for Marriage Equality in Pennsylvania. Rabbi Carl Choper, Chair of TIA-PA, was invited to speak, representing The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania, in support of the bill. Of course, for an issue like this, the media was there in force. The entire proceedings were carried on the Pennsylvania Cable News. Here are the comments by Rabbi Choper on behalf of The Interfaith Alliance:
"Good morning!
This morning I am happy to be here, and sad to have to be here.
"I am happy that religious liberty is taking a stand today.
I am sad that most of the opposition is rooted in religious communities.
"We must make it clear however:
Religion is not threatened or endangered by justice.
Religion is not threatened or endangered by loving, committed, nurturing relationships.
Nor is religion threatened by truth.
"I speak to you today as the Chair of The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania, a voice for people of faith and good will who understand that we are a very religious society, and we are also religiously a very diverse society.
"If we look upward at this moment, at this glorious rotunda that amplifies our voices this morning, we can take note of the four larger murals that frame the dome.
"Three of them highlight Pennsylvania's role in the development of oil, steel and coal. The other one - the one directly behind me and directly facing most of you - highlights the quest for religious liberty that has played such a large part in the development of this Commonwealth.
"Here in this Statehouse, the only one of these four murals that represents a principle other than economic power depicts the quest for Religious Liberty.
"Within this Commonwealth there are represented all the religious traditions of the world, and within each of those traditions - including Christianity - we have in our State a wide diversity of understanding as to how the teachings of those religious traditions should be applied.
"It is very sad to think that in a Commonwealth founded upon the principle of Religious Liberty that religious voices would lend themselves to upholding discrimination.
"There are, among us, religious communities who do not wish to establish for themselves committed families centered upon same-gendered partners - and nothing in this legislation would force them to do so.
"There are other religious communities in our Commonwealth who ALREADY celebrate the creation of committed families centered upon same-gendered partners. This legislation would give those families the protections that will allow them to be stronger building blocks for our society.
"This legislation would also allow those families to be stronger building blocks for their own religious communities - religious communities who understand that families ultimately are defined by bonds of love, support and mutual commitment.
"We of the Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania believe that religion can and should have an inspiring, healing and supportive role in society - and at the same time we understand that religion can lead to narrowness and judgment.
"The way I sometimes put it is that the Flame of Faith can both enlighten and burn - and indeed more than once in history it has even burned people at the stake.
"We want to ensure the healing role of faith in society, while simultaneously widening the aperture through which all people of faith - and people of no faith - view each other.
"And when we take the long view of what marriage is and what families are, we see that marriage has evolved through the history of our society and of our religious traditions.
"No one seriously is calling for a return to Biblical marriage, for example, because in Biblical times marriage was a polygamous arrangement in which the husband ACQUIRED his woman.
"Eventually in the western world we came to affirm monogamy - but until relatively recently the man still ACQUIRED the wife, her rights and her property.
"Even within living memory a bride routinely would vow to honor AND OBEY her husband.
"It is only very much in recent times that most of us have come to understand that marriage is a covenant between two EQUAL partners.
"We delude ourselves if we insist that the institution of marriage has NOT changed in its particulars throughout the generations. But what has remained constant in any healthy form of marriage are the bonds of love and justice, nurturing support, and mutual obligation.
"As we have heard and will hear this morning, it is difficult for families to sustain themselves without the protections that come from larger social and legal recognition. I want to mention one particular example that I have seen personally a number of times: the situation where a gay man or lesbian has created a family with a person of the same gender but not the same citizenship. Because they cannot marry each other legally, the government will not recognize their relationship - and therefore they both cannot necessarily remain in the same country.
"In at least one case I know, the couple in question actually moved to another country, because that other country was the only nation where both of them could obtain permission to live and work.
"Unfortunately, it is those who talk the most about family values that are often working the hardest to place obstacles in the way of attempts such as these to establish families.
"Ultimately, it is because we value families that we know a bill like this is needed."
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TIA-PA Eve of 9-11 Commemoration to include Ramadan Break-the-fast
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THE CHALLENGES
AND OPPORTUNITIES
OF AMERICA'S DIVERSITY
An Interfaith Commemoration of September 11, 2001
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009
6:00 P.M.
ST. STEPHEN'S EPISCOPAL CATHEDRAL
221 NORTH FRONT STREET
HARRISBURG, PA
In remembrance of September 11, 2001,
Central Pennsylvanians
of all religious and philosophical perspectives
are invited to join in an appreciation of
America's unique diversity and religious freedom.
All are welcome to remain for a
breaking of the Ramadan fast ceremony and dinner
beginning at sundown.
A freewill offering will be accepted to benefit Downtown Daily Bread.
Co-sponsored by The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania, the Institute for
Cultural Partnerships, the Religion and Society Center, the Red Rose
Foundation, the InterReligious Forum of Greater Harrisburg, St. Stephen's
Episcopal Cathedral, the Sikh Society of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Nonbelievers,
Unitarian Church of Harrisburg, Community Relations Council of the
Harrisburg Jewish Federation, Blue Mountain Lotus Society, and others.
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| Quick Links...
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| Contact Information
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3211 North Front Street, Suite 104; Harrisburg, PA 17110
Phone: 717-724-0353
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