Presidential election years are always exciting, and this year promises to be the same. Predictions from pollsters and pundits fill the media, candidates have announced they are getting in and getting out, speeches, screams, and sweaters are analyzed, but we’re 10 months away from Election Day!

Citizens have many different reasons for casting their vote for a particular candidate — issues, party loyalty, a special constituent service, a personal history or appreciation of the candidate. Some voters may belong to a particular interest group whose cause is the deciding factor in a voting decision. And some may look to the Church’s positions on public policy as a helpful guide for considering candidates.

Those of us in the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations are sometimes asked how should Episcopalians look at this election year. As with all other parts of our lives, this is another opportunity to reflect on our Baptismal vow to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” We hope that Episcopalians will see voting and encouraging others to do so as one more way to strive for justice. And as they make decisions on the candidates they’ll back, we hope they’ll also consider the public policy positions of the Episcopal Church. These positions are rooted in resolutions that have been passed by our General Convention, or by the Executive Council when the Convention is not in session.

While most organizations in Washington start out with a small mission that expands — and expands — over the years, our Church starts with a huge mission and has to determine priorities for each Congress. We are just completing our new Policy for Action, a booklet outlining the social policies of the Episcopal Church. In it are outlined the Church’s policies on making peace and supporting reconciliation, fighting HIV/AIDS and expanding health care, protecting civil liberties and strengthening education, reducing debt and promoting women’s rights, and many more. Our social policies are active forces in carrying out the Church’s mission. It is through the enactment of these resolutions that the Church speaks, and it is through the collective actions of its members that these policies are implemented. (General Convention and Executive Council resolutions can be found online at the Episcopal Church Archives at www.episcopalarchives.org.

Some of these issues will be front and center this election year and some will not. In the ongoing 108th Congress, for instance, much of our work has centered on funding for HIV/AIDS, protecting Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas drilling, and additional money for childcare in the reauthorization of welfare (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families). If you would like to be active on these issues, we hope you will join our grassroots effort — the Episcopal Public Policy Network — by signing up at www.episcopalchurch.org/eppn.

Protestors gather by the Capitol in Washington, DC, last year to show support for peace.

Photo courtesy of GAIL HARPER and LAURIE LAMBRECHT

 

We decide our priorities based on what is moving in Congress, where we have expertise and where we can represent a strong voice for our Communion and for those too often left out of the political process. Here is a little more about our front burner issues this year:

HIV/AIDS: Today there are more than 40 million people living with AIDS. In Africa, where it is the leading cause of death, the AIDS pandemic has decimated the workforce, led to a collapse in educational systems, deepened poverty, undermined agricultural production and destroyed families, creating millions of orphans and vulnerable children. Of those infected with HIV/AIDS, 28.5 million live in Sub-Saharan Africa, home to approximately half of the 70 million members of the Anglican Communion.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: This wilderness refuge, in which experts contest how much oil could actually be recovered, is sacred ground to the Gwich’in Indians — 90% of whom are Episcopalians. Episcopal missionaries established a presence in the 19th century among the Gwich’in Nation near Fort Yukon, Alaska. The Gwich’in have lived in this area for over 10,000 years and still practice a subsistence culture, living from and caring for the Porcupine Caribou herd as mainstay of their diet, life and ancient customs.

Child Care: Millions of children of low-income working families eligible for assistance do not receive any government child care subsidy because of the lack of federal funding. A great many low-income parents, including those trying to leave welfare (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), can only find jobs that require working nights, weekends, or irregular hours.

Other significant issues will come up in this Congress and this election year, such as budget priorities and health care, and there will be many opportunities for voters to question candidates about their positions on these and other issues important to them. We hope Episcopalians will take advantage of any and all opportunities to ask candidates their views on issues — whether at a community forum, standing in line at a Fourth of July barbecue, calling in to a radio show or writing a letter to the editor.

In addition to advocating the Church’s legislative goals this year, we are embarking on a new effort. This year the Episcopal Church will be working with other faith communities to get people registered to vote and voting through a project called Faithful Democracy. It is not affiliated with any party or political group but is an effort by faith communities to promote civic action as an act of faith and moral responsibility. The strength of this coalition can be found in its unified voice around five areas of work: advocating for voter rights, encouraging voter registration, educating voters, getting out the vote, and monitoring the polls.

According to the Census Bureau, 70% of those eligible to register did so in 2000, and 60% of those eligible to vote did so. Among 18-24 year olds, just over half of those eligible (51%) registered, and only 36% of those eligible actually voted. Do you remember the lines of people waiting in searing heat to vote for the first time in South Africa? Think of them and then consider that among registered voters in the US who failed to cast ballots, 1-in-5 reported they were “too busy” to vote.

So, in answer to the question “How should Episcopalian look at this election year?” our answer is as an opportunity to fulfill our Baptismal covenant by being engaged in public policy and civic action. The “work we are given to do” manifests itself in many places — and the rough and tumble world of electoral politics can and should be one of them.

Maureen Shea is Director of Government Relations of the Episcopal Church, USA. She and her family attend St. Mark’s Church Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

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