The Religious Right Goes Global

For Immediate Release Contact: Shannon Craig Straw, West End Strategy Team, 202-776-7700, scstraw@westendstrategy.com

Washington, D.C. – On this Sunday’s “State of Belief,” The Interfaith Alliance Foundation’s show on Air America Radio, Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy discusses the influence of the Religious Right at the United Nations with Rev. Jennifer Butler, author of Born Again: The Christian Right Globalized.  Rev. Butler tells Welton the Religious Right is more concerned with politics than religion when it comes to world affairs.

 

Rev. Butler, who worked as Presbyterian Representative at the U.N. for nine years, describes the new global focus of the Religious Right. “Organizations like Focus on the Family are forming interfaith coalitions with Catholic, Mormon and Muslim allies to advance a conservative agenda at the U.N.,” she says.  The result of these seemingly bizarre coalitions is a potential threat to progressive social policies on a worldwide level.

 

Religious Right organizations work on a number of issues at the U.N., including women’s rights, reproductive health, human cloning, children’s rights and AIDS.  The Bush Administration has given this movement a significant amount of power in shaping U.S. policy goals at the U.N.

 

Rev. Butler is also executive director of Faith in Public Life, a non-profit organization dedicated to achieving the common good through public policy.  Rev. Butler describes the organization as “a hub for progressive faith organizing.”  Faith in Public Life aims to build a nationwide infrastructure designed to ensure faith communities are actively engaged and included in public discourse.

 

Also on the show: Rev. Paul Sherry, National Coordinator for the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign.

Interfaith Alliance celebrates religious freedom by championing individual rights, promoting policies that protect both religion and democracy, and uniting diverse voices to challenge extremism. Founded in 1994, Interfaith Alliance brings together members from 75 faith traditions as well as those without a faith tradition to protect faith and freedom. For more information visit www.interfaithalliance.org.