More Than 1,000 Faith Leaders Speak Up for the Working Poor

[Joanne98]

Minimum Wage
http://www.umc-gbcs.org/site/apps/nl/content.asp?c=fsJNK0PKJrH&b=2401201&content_id={F825D51A-66F4-46E1-A5EF-E878FF2131A3}¬oc=1&tr=y&auid=2279490

More Than 1,000 Faith Leaders Speak Up for the Working Poor

Dear Members of Congress,

We, the undersigned religious leaders, in partnership with the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign, call on the 110th Congress to raise the minimum wage! Let Justice Roll is a nonpartisan coalition of more than 80 faith, community and labor organizations working to raise the minimum wage at the state and federal level. In 2006, we played a major role in increasing the minimum wage throughout the country at the state level.

We strongly support the Miller/Kennedy bill that increases the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. Furthermore, we strongly oppose any attempts to add provisions to the bill. We urge you to vote for this clean minimum wage bill.

The Prophet Amos proclaims, "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" (5:24, NRSV). We are morally outraged by the number of people living in poverty in the United States , and believe that now is the time to give hard-working low-wage workers a raise and take the first step toward a true living wage for America 's workers.

It has been nearly 10 years since the last federal increase in the minimum wage, and low-wage workers urgently need a raise. A minimum wage employee -- making $5.15 an hour, working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, earns about $10,700 a year -- about $6,000 below the federal poverty line for a family of three. This situation is unconscionable and immoral, as the wealth of our nation continues to be built on the backs of the working poor. Working poor families in America are struggling to meet the rising costs of health care, gasoline and housing, and $5.15 an hour is simply not enough.

Minimum wage legislation in the past has stalled in Congress because of attempts to attach unrelated provisions such as tying the minimum wage to a repeal of the estate tax, rolling back over-time protections or reducing the minimum wage of tip workers. In addition, such provisions are harmful to the very workers that a minimum wage increase is intended to help. The strong victory on all the minimum wage ballot initiatives is evidence that there is strong and widespread support from Americans for a prompt, clean minimum wage increase at the federal level.

We appreciate the commitment made by the leadership of the 110th Congress to address the woefully inadequate federal minimum wage. We will continue to raise our voices on behalf of "the least of these" and proclaim that a job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it.

Signed,



Rev. Dr. Paul Sherry, National Coordinator, Let Justice Roll, Cleveland , OH
Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary, National Council of Churches, New York , NY
The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church, New York , NY
Rev. Jim Wallis, President and CEO, Sojourners/Call to Renewal, Washington , DC
Rev. John H. Thomas, General Minister and President, United Church of Christ , Cleveland , OH
Rabbi David Saperstein, Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Washington DC
Rev. Dr. Roy Medley, Gen. Secretary, American Baptist Churches in the USA , Valley Forge , PA
Rev. Jennifer Butler, Executive Director, Faith in Public Life, Washington , DC
Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary, American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia , PA
Rev. William G. Sinkford, President, Unitarian Universalist Association, Boston , MA
The Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Senior Minister, The Riverside Church , New York , NY
The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church USA , Louisville , KY
Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins, Gen. Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Rev. Roy Riley, Chair of the Conference of Bishops and Bishop of the NJ Synod ELCA , NJ
Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, Archdiocese of Detroit , MI
Rev. Dr. Stan Hastey, Executive Director, The Alliance of Baptists, Washington , DC
James E. Winkler, General Secretary, United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society, Washington, DC
Rev. Michael Livingston, President, National Council of Churches and Executive Director, ICCC, Trenton , NJ
Rev. John L. McCullough, Executive Director, Church World Service

A complete list of signatories is at www.letjusticeroll.org



Date: 1/8/2006
©2005-2006

[babylonsister]

1. Great to see. K&R. nt

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Faith in action

this is what religious leaders should do, imho, rather than rake in money to support repuke agendas of hate.

[Joanne98]

3. The rise of the religious left. Thank God!

[jody]

4. That document is at the United Methodist Church site. Bush is a member but ignores UMC doctrine. n/t

[Joanne98]

5. He ignores the Pope too. He's such a fraud!

[Joanne98]

6. ,,,,