Source: Think Progress | Jack Jenkins
A sweeping coalition of Catholic leaders is calling on lawmakers to embrace President Barack Obama’s proposed deal with Iran to scale back the country’s nuclear program, insisting the plan is a good one and asking Congress to back off attempts to kill the agreement.
In a letter sent to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on Monday, Bishop Oscar Cantú, Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), praised President Obama’s tentative agreement with Iran, which would lift economic sanctions in exchange for limitations on their ability to create a nuclear weapon.
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Catholics supporting the Iran deal were joined by a diverse group of faith leaders on Tuesday evening, more than 50 of whom signed onto a letter speaking out in favor of the agreement.
“As Christian leaders in the United States, we welcome and support the Framework Agreement, announced by seven nations on April 2, to dramatically restrain the capacity of Iran to acquire nuclear weapons,” the letter read. “We believe this diplomatic path and process should be ardently pursued and given a chance to succeed.”
The letter included the names of leaders hailing from a broad selection of Christian groups, such as Bishop Mary Ann Swenson of the United Methodist Church, Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Rev. Dr. Thomas R. De Vries of the Reformed Church in America, Ronald J. Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action, and author and activist Shane Claiborne. The statement, which quotes Pope Francis, was organized by Sojourners, a Christian advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.