Successes

Faith in Public Life (FPL) has achieved many early successes in increasing the visibility and effectiveness of faith movements for justice and the common good. FPL has assisted partner groups in launching important new initiatives at the local, state, and national level. Through consistent media monitoring, FPL also has identified critical faith-related issues in current news cycles, and conducted extensive media outreach to ensure religious voices for justice and the common good are included for comment.

INITIATIVES

Mapping Faith: A National Directory of Faith Groups for Justice and the Common Good

Faith in Public Life has “mapped” 3,000 faith groups in 50 states and the list keeps growing!

Mapping Faith is a unique resource that allows users to sort diverse leaders and organizations by geography, policy specialization, and faith affiliation. FPL has compiled this information through research and personal interviews with faith leaders on the ground in each of these states. Read the Mapping Faith research report here.

We Believe Ohio: A Local Clergy Movement Goes Statewide

Faith in Public Life recognized a distinct opportunity to assist with the public launch for We Believe Ohio. While mapping the state, FPL identified potential in a diverse coalition of 150 faith leaders in Columbus called We Believe. Seeking to be a positive public voice of faith for the social justice in their state, We Believe stood in contrast to the exclusive and divisive voice of Religious Right. Drawing on a partnership with the Field Director for the Catholic Alliance for the Common Good, FPL assessed the coalition’s strengths and challenges. We Believe had vision and leadership, but little communications expertise or national connectivity.

FPL assisted in all aspects of We Believe Ohio’s public launch, including hands-on support in the execution of the public launch and the creation and implementation of a comprehensive media outreach strategy. FPL provided communications support, including: counsel on communications planning, message development and media outreach; a full-day speaker training session for ten We Believe Ohio spokespeople; and tactical counsel concerning press conference strategy, press kit materials preparation, and website and logo development.

The We Believe Ohio launch earned more than 50 media hits in print, TV and radio, including the Associated Press, Ohio Public Radio, local NBC and CBS affiliates, Columbus Dispatch and Dayton Daily News.

Building on the success of We Believe Ohio in Columbus, FPL helped initiate a state-wide effort. Inspired by the successful launch of We Believe, a Cleveland-based clergy coalition committed to the same goals as the Columbus group contacted FPL for guidance, consultation and support in launching We Believe in Cleveland.

FPL assisted in all aspects of We Believe Ohio’s launch in Cleveland, including organizing and executing a press conference attended by 116 clergy members and a standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 supporters. FPL also provided communications support, including: media outreach; press kit materials preparation; and on-site media coordination.

The We Believe Ohio launch in Cleveland generated substantial media coverage: multiple articles in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, including a column by Sam Fulwood titled “Rescuing God from the right”; local television and radio coverage, including NPR affiliates; and multiple blog sites, such as Street Prophets, Buckeye State Blog and Ohio 2006.

National Religious Campaign Against Torture: Launching an Interfaith National Campaign

Faith in Public Life helped the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) spread its message that any U.S. policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are morally intolerable. Media efforts were centered on its statement “Torture is a Moral Issue,” which appeared in the New York Times op-ed page and included an unprecedented list of signatories, including Purpose Drive Life author Rick Warren; Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel; Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; and former President Jimmy Carter. FPL helped coordinate a teleconference with key representatives from NRCAT, including Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, D.C, Rabbi David Saperstein, Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Dr. Glen Stassen, Professor of Christian Ethics, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Dr. Sayyid Syeed, National Director, Islamic Society of North America.

FPL conducted substantial media outreach efforts around the teleconference and in the days leading up to the statement’s release. NRCAT received substantial media coverage, including articles from, United Press International, The Washington Post, Religion News Service, Roll Call and an Associated Press Broadcast article, which was included on 42 television station Websites across the country. Multiple blog sites wrote about the statement, including Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish. FPL also assisted Rev. Jim Wallis prepare for an interview on Fox New’s The O’Reilly Factor to discuss the NRCAT statement.

Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. Katrina National Justice Commission Hearings: Supporting a National Social Justice Campaign

Faith in Public Life coordinated media efforts surrounding the first round of nationwide hearings by the Samuel Dewit Proctor Conference, Inc. to determine the successes and failures in the national, state and local response to Hurricane Katrina. The Commission is the first national independent body of African-American faith leaders to investigate the events preceding and following Hurricane Katrina. FPL guided the press strategy for the hearings, assisted in writing a media alert and press release to draw attention to the two-day conference, and conducted targeted media outreach to national and local reporters. The conference was well-attended, including reporters from the Associated Press, Scripps Howard, Vanity Fair and Religion News Service. Articles have appeared in The Times-Picayune, Scripps Howard Foundation Wire and the Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch Website.

Progressive Faith Blogger Conference-July 2006: Supporting a Critical Growing Online Community

Faith in Public Life’s staff has conducted extensive consultations with leading religious bloggers to determine the needs and opportunities within this crucial and rapidly expanding community. To build the infrastructure of this community, FPL is partnering with various bloggers to plan a Progressive Faith Blog-Con in July 2006. This event will be a crucial beginning to building cohesion within the progressive religious blogger community, and fostering ties between this community and established faith groups that have yet to work effectively with the blogging community. After the conference, FPL will promote promising new blogger voices through the FPL website. FPL will also disseminate media advisories and rapid response announcements about the progressive faith movement to the blogger community.

CrossWalk America: Expanding the Reach of a Grassroots Effort

Faith in Public Life reached out to CrossWalk America – a group planning to walk 2,500 miles across America to promote core Christian values of compassion, tolerance, and love – to provide counsel on their Easter Sunday launch and media relations efforts throughout the walk. FPL worked with CrossWalk America to craft a compelling media advisory and press release and conducted extensive media outreach to push the group’s message out to a broad national media audience at launch, and targeted outreach continued locally in key markets as the CrossWalkers made their way across the country. CrossWalk has already earned extensive media coverage, and their lead minister has been interviewed on two on conservative Christian radio programs with large audiences.

The CrossWallkers plan to end their journey in Washington, DC in September, and FPL will be involved in planning their final press conference.

TABOR Faith Leaders Workshop: Bringing Policy Briefings and Message Development to the Grassroots

Faith in Public Life worked in conjunction with national policy experts and local partners, We Believe Ohio, to plan a private policy briefing and messaging session for Ohio faith leaders around the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) ballot initiative. This session empowered faith leaders with the policy knowledge they need to confidently address this complicated issue, and challenged them to develop faithful messages that speak to the impacts that TABOR will have on their state. FPL worked with 25 leading state and local clergy at this event. This template (blending policy briefings with message development) will be improved upon and replicated in other state-based settings in which clergy can have substantial impact on public debates.

MEDIA CAMPAIGNS

Faith in Public Life consistently monitors media coverage to identify news stories of relevance to the faith community, and opportunities for faith leaders for justice and the common good to respond to these issues and promote balanced coverage.

“War on Christians” Conference: Ensuring Balanced Coverage

Faith in Public Life aggressively reached out to media surrounding Vision America’s “War on Christians” Conference in March, offering faith leaders available to comment on the rhetoric coming out of the conference, including Rev. Rick Scarborough’s comment comparing Rep. Tom DeLay’s recent legal troubles to Jesus’ Crucifixion. A Washington Post article quoted two spokespeople pitched by FPL -- Rev. Robert M. Franklin, a minister with the Church of God in Christ and professor at Emory University, and K. Hollyn Hollman, general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

Countering Family Research Council: Proactive Media Monitoring

When Family Research Council’s (FRC) Vice President stated in the Washington Post that issues “such as helping the poor, the death penalty, views on war…aren't tenets of the Catholic Church,” Faith in Public Life alerted one of its partners, the Catholic Alliance for the Common Good, that correcting the FRC VP’s mischaracterization of the tenets of the Catholic Church was an opportunity to promote Catholic social justice teaching. FPL Director of Communications Strategy assisted Catholic Alliance staff in writing a response press release, and distributing and pitching the release to national media. The press release earned media coverage in a range of outlets, including a column titled “Moderate Christians Appear to Have Awakened”, on OpEdNews.com and was picked up by the Catholic PRWire.

FPL also booked Brent Walker to oppose Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins on an ABC News NOW segment devoted to discussing a bill proposed in Missouri to make Christianity the state’s official religion.

“War on Christmas”: Creative Messaging

Working with Rev. Jim Wallis’ press secretary, Faith in Public Life encouraged Wallis to use the so-called “War on Christmas” – a concept earning hours of cable news coverage in December 2005 – as an opportunity to discuss concerns about the budget and the poor. Wallis’ effective use of this angle resulted in national print media coverage, including a Chicago Tribune article titled “‘Christmas scandal’ outcry.” Wallis’ “Christmas scandal” messaging also appeared in AP, Washington Times, Washington Post, and Religion News Service articles.

Intelligent Design: Making an Important Faith Voice Heard

Faith in Public Life circulated a source pitch notifying producers that Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty’s Brent Walker was available to discuss the ruling in Pennsylvania against teaching intelligent design in the science classroom. Walker drew FPL’s attention because of an op-ed he wrote the day before the ruling entitled, “Religion vs. Evolution: A false dichotomy.” As a result, Walker was booked on numerous radio programs.

Budget as a Moral Document: Promoting a Message by Demonstrating Impact

Faith in Public Life compiled background information illustrating the impact of religious organizing around the federal budget on members of Congress. This research was used to successfully compel press coverage of a the year-long lobbying efforts of the Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, and United Church of Christ denominations in opposition to budget cuts to programs for the poor.

FPL also circulated a source pitch notifying producers that Rev. Jim Wallis was available to discuss the Capitol Hill protest he led in opposition to immoral cuts in the federal budget, which resulted in the arrest of more than 100 religious leaders. As a result, Rev. Jim Wallis was booked on numerous radio programs.