Background

Founding

The 2004 elections brought a resurgence in religious advocacy for social and economic justice. Yet the Religious Right continued to dominate public discourse on issues of faith -- primarily targeting issues of abortion and homosexuality -- and virtually ignoring issues of justice and the common good. In December 2004, national religious leaders – including Jim Wallis, Rabbi David Saperstein, Rev. Jim Forbes, Rev. Bob Edgar, Sr. Catherine Pinkerton, Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, and Rev. Timothy McDonald -- gathered in Washington, DC to confront the challenges facing the burgeoning social justice faith movement. They recognized the critical need for increased and effective collaboration, coordination, and communication on the national, state and local level. The meeting resulted in the creation of Faith in Public Life -- a permanent organization providing critical organizing and communications resources to strengthen diverse faith movements that share a call to pursue justice and the common good.

Why Faith In Public Life?

We have faith in public life. In other words, we have faith in the positive and significant role that faith should play in public life, and we have faith that public life will support justice and the common good. We believe the positive role for faith in public life is fulfilled when: (1) religious voices for justice and the common good impact public discourse and policies; and (2) those who use religion as a tool of division and exclusion do not dominate public debate. We also believe faithful contributions to public life should not, and need not, violate America’s central tenet of separation of church and state.

Why A Resource Center?

Faith in Public Life provides organizing and communications resources to diverse faith leaders and organizations in support of justice and the common good. As a resource center, our tools and services are intended to build capacity among partners, enabling each to maximize reach and mission impact. We build bridges between faiths; provide common space for discussion; encourage collaboration and the formation of non-traditional alliances; and offer non-finite communications and organizing tools and services. Faith in Public Life aims to build a nationwide infrastructure designed to ensure faith communities are actively engaged and included in public discourse.

Why Justice And The Common Good?

Our faith traditions share the call to work tirelessly for justice and the common good, to protect and care for the most vulnerable in our society. Final justice may come only from God, but we share a call to work toward that goal here and now. As the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children! Our shared call to pursue the common good is rooted in our shared humanity and our equality before God, regardless of religious affiliation.