"We Believe Colorado" is a diverse group of faith leaders seeking to broaden the values debate for 2008, according to organizers. The group is challenging the political agenda set by social conservatives and the religious right in the 2000 and 2004 elections.
Thursday's event combined worship and training for effective advocacy on moral issues such as civil rights, the environment and economic justice.
"I came happy. I came excited. I came to embrace and endorse 'We Believe Colorado' as an opportunity for economic and social justice to prevail," said the Rev. Andrew Simpson, presiding elder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Simpson and others said faith communities outside the extreme right have been in the majority but have not been counted by politicians and media as values voters.
"We Believe Colorado" is part of a national movement for racially, ethnically and religiously diverse alliances that will represent their common moral values in the political arena, according to organizers, such as Washington, D.C.-based Faith in Public Life and the Colorado Council of Churches.
Issues this year include lifting people out of poverty, equitable public education, affordable health care, a just immigration policy offering paths to legal status and families' reunifications, progressive taxes and government budgets that embody the common good.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_9571047
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