State of Belief on AAR @ 5PM: Special on Federal Marriage Amendment

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(stream should be linked on the latest page's "Listen Now")

Washington June 1 – On this Sunday’s "State of Belief," The Interfaith Alliance Foundation’s show on Air America Radio, Rev. Welton Gaddy talks with the president of the Unitarian Universalist Association and hears from grassroots religious leaders about the Federal Marriage Amendment. Welton also talks to Rev. Dr. Marie Fortune about religious leaders’ recent declaration on violence against women.

The Federal Marriage Amendment is scheduled to go to the Senate floor next week for debate and a vote. The amendment has been called a “partisan tool” in election year politics as the Administration panders to its radical religious right base. Many people say the amendment writes discrimination into the Constitution without cause. One of those people is the Rev. Bill Sinkford, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
“This is not an arbitrary or theoretical discussion,” Sinkford says. “This is about real human beings.”
Sinkford has performed many same-sex marriages in his church and remembers the first one with pride.
“My overriding feeling was one of joy as it is with the celebration of any couple,” Sinkford says. “ pose no threat to other marriages and they pose no threat to the institution of marriage.”
Three grassroots clergy speak about coming to Washington, D.C. last week to talk to their senators about the amendment. Rev. Steve Copley, Rabbi Eugene Levy and Rev. Betty McCollum talk about the reasons many clergy do not support this amendment.
The Rev. Dr. Marie Fortune, founder and senior analyst for the FaithTrust Institute, joins Welton on the phone from Seattle to discuss the National Declaration by Religious Leaders to Address Violence Against Women, saying that religious leaders must acknowledge and confront such violence.
“There is a too common belief among our religious leaders that these things don’t happen in their faith community,” Fortune says.
State of Belief explores the intersection of religion with politics, culture, media, and activism. Through interviews with newsmakers and celebrities, reports from the field, and his own commentary, Welton shows how religion and radical freedom are best friends and how the religious right is wrong – wrong for America and bad for religion.


State of Belief
Religion and radio, done differently
Brought to you by The Interfaith Alliance Foundation
5:00 to 6:00 PM EST each Sunday
Air America Radio Network

To see where and when State of Belief is broadcast, go to www.airamericaradio.com/stations. (It is likely that State of Belief will be on the air this Sunday at 5 PM EST on your local Air America Radio affiliate. Or, you can listen online or on XM Satellite Radio, channel 167).

To listen online, go to: www.airamericaradio.com/listen

To stream or podcast State of Belief, go to www.StateofBelief.com


The Interfaith Alliance (TIA) is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to promoting the positive and healing role of religion in the life of the nation and challenging those who manipulate religion to promote a narrow, divisive agenda. With more than 150,000 members drawn from more than 75 faith traditions and 75 local activist groups throughout America, TIA promotes compassion, civility and mutual respect for human dignity in our increasingly diverse society.

www.interfaithalliance.org