December 4, 2008
Church leaders ask Obama for action on economy
by Brittney Bain
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS) Church leaders from around the globe met Wednesday (Dec. 3) in Washington to discuss their hopes for an Obama administration and their wish for a new style of leadership in the Oval Office.
Leaders from U.S. churches gathered for a three-day summit convened by the Geneva-based World Council of Churches' U.S. division.
The Rev. John Thomas, president and general minister of the United Church of Christ, stressed the American president's understated role as a public theologian who shapes the way people understand their relationship to God, their outlook on the world, and their sense of morality.
Last June, President-elect Barack Obama resigned his membership in Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ after sermons by his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, became a drag on his campaign.
"I do take comfort in the fact that Barack Obama has been schooled in this role by a preacher named Jeremiah," Thomas said, in a veiled reference to the outspoken Old Testament prophet Jeremiah.
Thomas said that he hopes Obama looks to Abraham Lincoln who "refused to pander to Americans' desire for optimistic and self-righteous interpretations of their own history even in the midst of this nation's greatest moral test."
Other leaders at the WCC summit brought up the recession and housing market collapse as concerns.
"Now it's an economic crisis that demands our attention," said the Rev. Gradye Parsons, the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA). "Our hope is that this current crisis does not become king, consuming us entirely and overshadowing the issues of ordinary people."
Parsons said many middle class Americans ignored warning signs of a financial crisis. "We need to confess that it wasn't just predatory lending, but predominately, I think, it was predatory acquisition ... by people in my pews and in your pews."
"Mr. President, before you save us, let us have a chance to profess our ills," Parsons said.
Poverty, health care, and education were also discussed.
"President-elect Obama has made it clear that education is a priority but he has left the emphasis on teachers and parents ... recent policies have tied the hands of both," said the Rev. Sharon Watkins, president and general minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
The Rev. Jeffrey Carter of the Church of the Brethren urged an end to the war in Iraq and a call for transparency in government dealings.
"I would say to this administration, be transparent not only in action but most of all in motives," Carter said. "Be responsive to real needs rather than rhetoric."
The U.S. Conference of the World Council of Churches will use the concerns and issues raised by the panelists to draft a letter to send to Obama after he takes office on Jan. 20.
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