The Rev. C. Welton Gaddy is president of the Interfaith Alliance and author of numerous books, including First Freedom First: A Citizen’s Guide to Protecting Religious Liberty and the Separation of Church and State. Gaddy serves as pastor for preaching and worship at Northminster Baptist Church in Monroe, La. The alliance is based in Washington, D.C.

Mark J. Pelavin is associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. The group has previously criticized federal budgets for not reflecting the value of compassion.

Sister Simone Campbell is executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobby in Washington, D.C. She has organized several “Nuns on the Bus” trips, raising awareness of issues like immigration reform and economic justice. Contact her through Lee Morrow.

Sojourners magazine is a progressive evangelical magazine in Washington, D.C. Its commitment is to faith in action for social justice. Jim Wallis is CEO and editor in chief of Sojourners.

William Beach, director of the Center for Data Analysis at the conservative Heritage Foundation, says an ethical budget calls for effective spending. Contact James Weidman.

Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, professor of religious art and cultural history at Georgetown University, wrote about “re-viewing” Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and images of women in contemporary religious film.

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (formerly the American Jewish Public Affairs Committee), based in New York with offices in Washington, represents the organized American Jewish community, particularly in protecting the rights of Jews everywhere and in supporting a just and pluralistic American democracy.

Zionist Organization of America advocates for Israel, in Washington, D.C., on college campuses and in communities. It also counters anti-Israel bias in media and on campus. It was started in 1897 to help found a Jewish state in Palestine. Past presidents have included Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver. Contact ZOA […]

Read “Demographic study sparks debate,” a Sept. 20, 2000, Jewish Telegraphic Agency article posted at Zipple.com. It discusses findings of a team of scholars from Hebrew University, predicting that in the next 80 years, America’s Jewish population will decline by one-third to 3.8 million if current fertility rates and migration patterns continue.