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Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches (NCC)
Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

Washington, DC – Friday, April 22, 2005 at 11:00 am major religious leaders from across denominational lines hosted a conference call to discuss their joint concerns regarding Senator Frist’s planned participation in the Family Research Council’s (FRC) Sunday, April 24 “Justice Sunday: Stop the Filibuster Against People of Faith” telecast.

Friday’s call provided a forum for major religious leaders to comment, as people of faith, on Senator Frist’s participation in the “Justice Sunday” event.  Speakers included:
Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches (NCC)
Bishop Mark Hansen, presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Bishop Vashti McKenzie, first female bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church  
Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

About the Speakers:

Rev. Dr. Robert Edgar is general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, the leading U.S. organization in the movement for Christian unity. Thirty-six Protestant, Anglican, and Orthodox member communions, to which approximately 50 million congregants belong, work together in the Council to promote unity and to serve churches and people worldwide.  

Bishop Mark Hanson is the presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). In 2003, Hanson was elected president of the Lutheran World Federation, a role which he serves concurrently with his role as ELCA presiding bishop. He serves on the executive council on the executive board of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Hanson is author of Faithful Yet Changing: The Church in Challenging Times.

Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick is the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The Stated Clerk is the senior continuing officer of the General Assembly charged with communicating the actions of the Assembly, representing that body in a wide variety of settings both within and beyond the church, and giving overall leadership for the spiritual well being of the church.

Bishop Vashti McKenzie is a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church.  Her historic election in the year 2000 represents the first time in the over 200-year history of the A.M.E. Church in which a woman has obtained the level of Episcopal office. This year, she again made history as the first woman to become the titular head of the denomination, as the president of the Council of Bishops, making her the highest-ranking woman in the predominately Black Methodist denominations.

Rabbi David Saperstein directs the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the Washington, D.C. office of the Union for Reform Judaism whose 900 congregations encompass 1.5 million Reform Jews, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, whose membership includes more than 1,800 Rabbis.  Rabbi Saperstein also holds a degree in Law and instructs courses on Jewish Law and the Separation of Church and State at Georgetown University Law Center.