Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick

Louisville—Five leaders of mainline Protestant churches will call on the U.S. Congress this afternoon to urge legislators to reject President Bush’s federal budget for 2006.

The leaders, who have scheduled a press conference for 3:30 at the National Press Club in Washington, say the president’s budget proposal is unjust because it fails to adequately care for America’s poor.

The Protestant group, one member of which is the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly, will present a joint statement followed by individual addresses on specific areas of concern.

The leaders will focus on Biblical concepts of economic justice, arguing that churches can help alleviate some problems relating to poverty, but “faith-based initiatives” alone are insufficient to stem a rising tide of poverty in the United States.

The Presbyterian News Service will publish Kirkpatrick’s remarks in full as soon as they become available.

Others taking part in the press conference are the Rev. Frank Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA; the Rev. Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America; the Rev. Ronald Stief of the United Church of Christ; and the Rev. Jim Winkler, general secretary of the General Board of Church and Society for the United Methodist Church.