elections

Mark Johnson, director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and several other FOR members were among more than 200 national leaders of religious organizations who wrote to Speak of the House Nancy Pelosi today calling for passage of the Fair Elections Now Act. In response to last month's extraordinary 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court on the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case, faith communities across the religious spectrum, faciliated by Common Cause, contacted Congress today to express their deep concern for swift action. The letter reads:

February 3, 2010

Dear Speaker Pelosi:

Not too long ago I helped out on a film called Iran (is not the problem), which provides historical context on U.S. relations with Iran. I recently got back together with a few colleagues from the film and we put together a set of Talking Points on Iran. Take a look: http://www.iranisnottheproblem.org/talking_points

If you are interested in endorsing it, please sign the petition here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/iranprotests/

TALKING POINTS (created 7/1/09):
What you should know about the Iranian protests and how you can help

As of this weekend, it seems the protests in the Islamic Republic of Iran have died down a bit… for now. The opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who for the past week has essentially been under house arrest, has agreed to seek the government’s permission before holding any further demonstrations and is no longer able to use his official web site as its functionality has been compromised. While these developments may be disappointing to many, they should not be read as the failure of this mass movement or its end. Such impatient and rash determinations by some analysts in the U.S. and Europe reveal a lack of faith in the very systems and values they claim to support. Have we forgotten that the Civil Right movement in the United States took more than a decade before we even began to see real changes? -- changes that are still in-progress today.

(this was written on Sunay 6-21 but not posted to this blog until later)