WASHINGTON (ABP) — Christian anti-poverty advocates are promoting a “Covenant for a New America” that calls for policy changes to build consensus across the political aisle and across denominations.
The document outlines three “fundamental commitments”:
— “Work must work and provide family economic success and security,”
— “Children should not be poor,” and
— “Extreme global poverty must end.”
The covenant is designed to bridge conservative-liberal ideological divides in addressing poverty in the United States and worldwide. It seeks tax reform, education reform, housing affordability, immigration reform and crime reduction.
The covenant's signatories include Daniel Vestal, coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and Stan Hastey, executive director of the Alliance of Baptists.
The document was presented at a three-day conference held at Washington's National City Christian Church and sponsored by the Christian anti-poverty group Call to Renewal and its companion magazine, Sojourners. A copy of the covenant has been presented to each member of Congress, meeting organizers said.
The meeting featured conversations with liberal Democrats such as progressive Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, moderates such as Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), and conservatives like Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).
At a June 27 rally on the Capitol grounds, Jim Wallis, the head of Call to Renewal and Sojourners, told meeting participants that the covenant marked “the arrival of a new special-interest group in Washington.” He continued: “The group is the churches; the special interest is poverty. Poverty was the special interest of Jesus Christ.”
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