U.S. Religious Leaders Meet with Members of Congress to Urge Dialogue with Iran
For immediate release: March 8, 2007
Washington…U.S. religious leaders who traveled to Iran in late February met with members of Congress and their staff this week to urge legislators to support direct negotiations between the U.S. and Iranian governments. The religious leaders shared their impressions of meetings with President Ahmadinejad and other Iranian political and religious leaders, and they encouraged members of Congress to support legislation that would require a public debate and congressional approval before the U.S. takes military action against Iran.
The delegation participated in over three dozen meetings on Capitol Hill this week and found among legislators great concern about a possible war with Iran and a desire to pursue a diplomatic resolution. The religious leaders voiced support for a bill (H.J. Res. 14) introduced by Rep. Walter Jones (NC) that would require the administration to seek Congress’s approval before launching an attack on Iran.
During the visits, the delegation also spoke of the need for the U.S. and Iranian governments to promote more people-to-people exchanges, including religious leaders, government officials, and civil society. The U.S. religious leaders encouraged members of Congress to send a delegation of congressional staffers to Iran and proposed that the U.S. government invite a delegation of Iranian religious leaders to visit the United States.
The religious delegation; which includes representatives of Mennonite, Quaker, Episcopal, Catholic, and United Methodist churches, as well as the National Council of Churches, Pax Christi, and Sojourners/Call to Renewal; traveled to Iran from February 17-25 to encourage a dialogue in the hope of averting war. During the trip, which was organized by the Mennonite Central Committee and the American Friends Service Committee, the group met with Muslim and Christian leaders, government officials, and other Iranian people. The final day included a meeting with former President Khatami and current President Ahmadinejad. The group returned from Iran convinced that meaningful negotiations with Iran are possible and necessary in order to avoid further escalation of the current confrontation.
This week’s lobby visits were organized by the Friends Committee on National Legislation. The Quaker lobby’s Executive Secretary, Joe Volk, was part of the delegation to Iran. The religious leaders were encouraged to learn from their meetings that members of Congress had the same desire to prevent war that the delegation found in meetings with Iranian leaders.
For more information on FCNL’s Initiatives on Iran go to www.fcnl.org/iran
For more information on the delegation go to http://irandelegation.org
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The Friends Committee on National Legislation, the oldest registered religious lobby in Washington, is a non-partisan Quaker lobby in the public interest. FCNL works with a nationwide network of tens of thousands of people from every state in the U.S. to advocate for social and economic justice, peace, and good government. For more information: http://www.fcnl.org
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