EXPRESSIONS OF FAITH
Alliance promotes healing role of religion

By the Rev. Vaughn F. Beckman

There is nothing like enduring the long flight to Washington, D.C., only to find that The Interfaith Alliance Leadership Gathering was canceled because of a severe snowstorm. Nevertheless, it allowed me the rare opportunity to spend an entire day with my friend Jerry Chang of Humanity United Globally, receiving personal attention from the national Interfaith Alliance staff.

The alliance, born in the late '80s, has a clear purpose: "to promote the positive and healing role of religion in public life through encouraging civic participation, facilitating community activism, and challenging religious political extremism."

Spokesmen include Walter Cronkite and Bill Moyer. The national board is filled with leaders of religion and people of good will such as Rabbi David Saperstein, Iman Mahdi Bray, the Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, the Rev. LaVerne Senyo Sasaki, and Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream fame.

Alliance programs provide a clear goal of encouraging "compassion, civility and mutual respect for human dignity in an increasingly diverse society." This would include safeguarding religious liberty and civil rights, working for good government through campaign finance reform (clean elections), strengthening public education, informing voters to make faithful decisions, fighting hate and exclusion, and helping to eradicate poverty.

There are more than 150,000 members across the nation, of whom 625 live in Hawai'i. Chapters have been forming in cities and states nationwide.

Alliance chapters do not seek to compete with other successful justice and peace programs. Rather, they pledge to augment what's working and to provide a place for voices that all too often are ignored or marginalized. The goal is to provide support, inform voters and to educate the public.

With the folding of The Hawai'i Council of Churches more than half a decade ago, there has been a void in having a clearly defined justice-focused group here. The alliance seemed a natural fit. Over the past six months, we have been organizing a chapter. We have only just begun, but the enthusiasm is intense and the commitment of diverse leaders is exciting.

As Walter Cronkite has said, "The Interfaith Alliance is dedicated to protecting America's basic freedoms of speech, press and religion from the fringe groups who cloak in religious garb their challenge to these principles."

The Interfaith Alliance, Hawai'i is firmly rooted in promoting the positive and healing role of religion in public life by showing support, by encouraging hope, and by developing understanding among our beautiful and diverse people.

The Rev. Vaughn F. Beckman is pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Makiki, and president of The Interfaith Alliance, Hawai'i.