Subject: IWG Inquirer Activist Clergy Letter Date: Sat, 21 Sep 1996 09:59:27 -0400 (EDT) From: Chris Purdom The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 2 congregations, 5 religious organizations and 35 clergy from 12 faiths and denominations. If you are in the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in other areas. Visit the web page at http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/. September 19, 1996 The Philadelphia Inquirer PO Box 8263 Phila., PA 19101 Dear Editors: We are glad that Claude Lewis appreciates activist clergy, and believes that his neighborhood would have been better and that he might have stayed in church had his local clergy been more active. Unfortunately Mr. Lewis has chosen for his example of activist clergy someone who has tried to restrict access not only to abortion, but also to birth control and comprehensive sex education, and who has fought against equal rights for women within the church and sexual minorities in society in general. There are clergy who defend the entrances to women's health clinics, who help organizations that make birth control and sex education available, and who otherwise assist women and sexual minorities in their ongoing struggle for equality. Hopefully Mr. Lewis will come to appreciate their activism just as much. Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators