Government Relations Internship Program Receives a Facelift
Episcopal News Service. November 2, 2004 [110204-2-A]
• Government Relations internship program receives a facelift
• To Read: RELIGIOUS GOODNESS & POLITICAL RIGHTNESS: Beyond the Liberal-Communitarian Debate by Yong Huang
• To Read: IS THAT A POLITICIAN IN YOUR POCKET?: Washington on $2 Million A Day by Micah L. Sifry and Nancy Watzman
Government Relations internship program receives a facelift
[ENS] The Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations (OGR) has recently revamped its legislative internship program to provide participants with the opportunity to learn about the American political process, the art of political advocacy, and the ways in which the Church communicates its social justice message.
OGR is the Church's advocacy voice in Washington, D.C., carrying the General Convention's social policies to leaders in Congress and the federal government. They are able to react quickly, often in a matter of hours, to the rapidly-changing Congressional agenda, rally support from a grassroots network of some 12,000 Episcopalians, and work with elected leaders to influence legislation and policies as they are being written.
The internship program is open to volunteers, college juniors and seniors, seminarians, bishops, laity and Anglican partners.
During his sabbatical in 2002, Bishop Neff Powell of Southwestern Virginia and his wife Dorothy were interns. Powell said it was a lot of work but "it was a wonderful experience." He said the experience taught him how Washington works and how his ministry could have an impact.
OGR brings attention to the needs of our sisters and brothers in the Anglican Communion, as well as fighting for environmental protection, universal health care, and equal rights at home. Its next challenges include renewing the recently expired assault weapons ban, ensuring adequate childcare for working families, and fighting for funding to combat HIV/AIDS.
For more information visit the EPPN website at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/eppn
Note: The following titles are available from the Episcopal Book/Resource Center, 815 Second Ave., New York, NY 10017; 800-334-7626; http://www.episcopalbookstore.org/.
* To Read: RELIGIOUS GOODNESS & POLITICAL RIGHTNESS: Beyond the Liberal-Communitarian Debate by Yong Huang (Trinity Press International, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 2001; 279 pages; $28.00.
From the publisher: In Religious Goodness & Political Rightness, Yong Huang offers a timely examination of the liberal and communitarian approaches to the conflicts between people's religious ideas of the Good and their political ideas of the Right. He criticizes the liberal idea that we should first construct a political idea of the Right and then bring our religious ideas of the Good into conformity with that. But he also criticizes the Communitarians, who believe that we should first determine a religious idea of the Good and then try to construct a political idea of the Right, based on the Good.
Yong Huang is assistant professor of Philosophy of Religion at Kutztown University in Kutztown. Pennsylvania. He is currently president of the Association of Chinese Philosophers in America.
* To Read: IS THAT A POLITICIAN IN YOUR POCKET?: Washington on $2 Million A Day by Micah L. Sifry and Nancy Watzman (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, 2004; 227 pages; $12.95
From the publisher: Every day corporations and other wealthy special interests pump another $2 million into the coffers of our elected officials in Washington and their party committees. For their money they get an estimated $160 billion a year in tax breaks, subsidies, and other sweet deals.
Micah L. Sifry is a Senior Analyst and Nancy Watzman is Research and Investigative Projects Director at Public Campaign. Their articles have appeared in the New York Times, Harper's magazine, The Nation, the New Republic, and Salon.com.