Addressing Moral Issues of Our Day

Below you will find an open letter to the community from a group of religious leaders from Santa Barbara County inviting the community to consider -- in partnership with the California Democratic Party -- important moral issues. I am one of the signatories to this letter, which was sent to several media outlets in our area.

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As spiritual and religious leaders from the Central Coast, we have come together recently at the invitation of the California Democratic Party to begin to speak to each other and to speak out on critical moral issues facing our communities, our nation and our world. Our intent is to help the Democratic Party hear and understand the perspectives that religious and spiritual communities have on issues of moral concern. In an era where the politics of division have pushed us further and further apart, we believe Americans everywhere need to come together and find common ground in order to work for the common good.

We cherish the religious freedom enjoyed in this nation, which has enabled people of many faiths to live together peacefully and with religious integrity and vitality. With that freedom to practice our different faiths comes responsibility to reach across differences, and to speak and listen respectfully, identifying concerns we share. By honoring this responsibility, we believe we can both enhance public discourse that has sadly fallen into dissent, blame and negativity, and move our people to work together for the common good.

Our faith traditions call on us to turn our attention away from selfish desires and personal gain and to focus instead on honoring the divine, on serving God and our neighbors. Our traditions challenge us to speak out for those who have less and for those who suffer here and around the world. We believe war is a moral issue. Climate change is a moral issue. Health care, poverty, immigration—all are moral issues. From across diverse faith traditions, we aim to lend our collective voices to the political debates on critical moral issues confronting our nation and people around the world.

In this exciting collaboration, we are encouraged by the Democratic Party’s efforts to learn from our conversation. Democratic Central Committee Chair, Daraka Larimore-Hall says, "People of faith have always been an integral part of the Democratic Party. We are working anew to make sure they know there is an essential space inside the Party where this conversation can take place."

On June 3, 2007 from 2:00-5:30 PM at the Goleta Valley Community Center we will embark on this dialogue and we invite the community to join with us. Participants include faith leaders and members of central coast Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Native American and other spiritual communities, elected and community leaders, concerned citizens, and members of the Democratic Party. Coming from a range of perspectives, we invite participants to join with the panelists who are united in their commitment to draw on their faith traditions to bring voices of hope and conscience to a variety of moral issues that affect public policy.

This community summit will serve as a first step in turning our serious collective attention to these matters. But, it cannot end with conversation. We ask citizens to join us, so that after we are done talking, we can begin to take action and address those problems facing our nation.

Ed Bastian, Ph.D. President Spiritual Paths Foundation
Rev. William Calderwood Aqueous Church, Isla Vista
Rabbi Allison RH Conyer, Executive Director, Santa Barbara Hillel
Rev. Bob Cornwall, First Christian Church Lompoc
Rev. Roy Donkin, President, Interfaith Initiative; Pastor, Cambridge Drive Community Church, Goleta
Rev. Teena Grant, President, Greater Santa Barbara Clergy Association
Rabbi Arthur Gross-Schaefer, Community Shul of Montecito and Santa Barbara, Loyola Marymount University
Rev. Gwendolyn Hampton, Peace of Wisdom Ministries, Santa Barbara
Chris Hoeckley, Westmont College administrator and faculty, Member, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church
Rev. Steve Jacobsen, Goleta Presbyterian Church
Rev. Nicole Janelle, St. Michael's, Isla Vista/Episcopal Campus Ministry at UCSB
Cheri Larsen Hoeckley, Westmont College Faculty, Elder, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church
Rev. Doug Miller, Baptist Minister and Seminary Professor (Ret.)
Hussam Mousa, Islamic Society of Santa Barbara
Samaneh Oladi, Islamic Society of Santa Barbara
Rev. Wallace Shepherd, Jr., Second Baptist Church, Santa Barbara
Rev. Jarmo Tarkki, Bethania Lutheran Church of Solvang
Rev. Darrell W. Tullis, New Beginnings Missionary Baptist Church in Lompoc

* Designations are for information only and don't imply the endorsement of the organization