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Inform the Vote

VOTER EDUCATION

Faithful Democracy does not take any stands on public policy issues, including legislations related to voting. We do, however, encourage you to seek out issue discernment and discussion from our partner organizations.

We all have a responsibility to cast INFORMED votes, so seek out information on issues that are important to you. The links below are offered as a resource and should not be interpreted as Faithful Democracy's endorsement of any particular organization or policy stance.

Resources to help you get started:

Activate 2008

Posted March 25th, 2008
Sub-Title: 
MPAC's Policy Guide to the 2008 Election
From: 
Muslim Public Affairs Council
Year: 
2008
Additional Description: 
Activate 08: MPAC's Policy Guide to the 2008 Elections examines five key issues in the election and provides Muslim Americans with the presidential candidates' position in their own words. The issues include national security, healthcare, civil rights/civil liberties, the Iraq war, and U.S.-Muslim World relations. The guide also provides campaigns with key information on engaging Muslim voters.
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Called To Be A Public Church

Posted December 28th, 2007
Sub-Title: 
2008 ELCA Voting and Civic Participation Guide
From: 
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Year: 
2008
Additional Description: 
A resource guide to encourage, empower, and equip Lutherans to engage responsibly in the 2008 election cycle.

"Called To Be a Public Church" is intended to encourage congregations to participate in voter registration drives, voter mobilization campaigns, and poll monitoring. This guide also contains nonpartisan issue briefs on issues related to the ELCA social statements.

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Elections Matter

Posted June 10th, 2008
Sub-Title: 
A Handbook for Participating in the 2008 Elections
From: 
Bread for the World
Year: 
2008
Additional Description: 
We are serving God when we raise issues of hunger and poverty in an election year. As people of faith, it is our moral calling to be politically engaged. Hunger is a profoundly political issue. Practicing faithful citizenship is our right under the U.S. Constitution.

The year 2008 will bring the culmination of a long election season during a contentious time in American politics. It is our responsibility to engage in the processes that remind all candidates to make relief for hungry and poor people a priority. To convey this message, concerned people of faith can and should be involved in all aspects of electoral campaigns. Americans will elect a president in 2008. Voters will also select 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 35 Senators and 11 governors.

Bread for the World Institute, which provides analysis on hunger policy issues, developed this handbook to help Christians and other people of faith concerned about hunger and poverty to become involved in these elections. We especially hope that the tools offered here will help shape efforts to educate congressional candidates. These aspiring leaders must know that Americans are deeply concerned about hunger.

 

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Navigating the Intersection of Religion & Politics

Posted April 7th, 2008
Sub-Title: 
Video resouce
From: 
The Interfaith Alliance
Year: 
2008
Additional Description: 
TIA's Election Year program - One Nation, Many Faiths - analyzes and interprets the role that religion plays in an election year and seeks to establish a partnership between religion and government that preserves the autonomy of houses of worship and ensures that religious institutions are not held accountable to the priorities and interests of political candidates.  TIA has now created a resource in video form that will further aid houses of worship in their understanding of how people of faith should engage themselves in nonpartisan election year activities. 
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Religion and Politics

Posted January 10th, 2008
Sub-Title: 
Campaign Season Guide for Houses of Worship
From: 
The Interfaith Alliance
Year: 
2008
Additional Description: 

"Religion and Politics: A Guide for Houses of Worship"

This resource helps religious leaders during the campaign season understand:

  • The importance of encouraging their members/congregants to vote.
  • Why they should never tell members/congregants whom to vote for.
  • That a partnership between religion and government can and should preserve the autonomy of houses of worship and ensure that religious institutions are not held hostage to the priorities and interests of federal, state, or local governments.
  • That religion's powerful healing force in politics can be severely compromised when America's shared values are replaced by values that advance only particular sectarian interests.
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The Catholic Vote

Posted April 24th, 2008
Sub-Title: 
Guide for the Perplexed
From: 
Maryknoll
Year: 
2008
Additional Description: 
Authors Clarke E Cochran and David Cochran remind us that Catholic teaching cannot be reduced to a single issue in their latest book, The Catholic Vote: A Guide for the Perplexed. It is an easy-to-understand guide to current issues, including the economy, poverty, health care, family crime, war, race and ethnicity, immigration, the environment and the protection of all human life. The book is written for Catholics who want to participate in their country's political life while putting into practice the Catholic values of life, dignity, solidarity ad proper stewardship.

Its five chapters cover the importance of participating in the political life of a community; the extent to which catholic values influence catholic voter choices the significant issues; how to evaluate candidates for office; and how the catholic tradition can transform our political landscape.

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U.S. Elections 2008

Posted March 25th, 2008
Sub-Title: 
Loving our Neighbor in a Shrinking World
From: 
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Year: 
2008
Additional Description: 
Foreign policy decisions made in the United States reverberate around the world, in positive and negative ways. To educate voters in the U.S. about how the decisions made by their legislators and leaders can affect our brothers and sisters in other countries, the Maryknoll Global Concerns Office has prepared an election guide based on the principles of Catholic social tradition and gospel teachings, and inspired by the deep and long experience of Maryknoll missioners around the world.
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