An unusual coalition of Christian leaders met with the President about the debt-ceiling pleading with him not to balance the budget on the backs of the “least of these.” The Circle of Protection as they call themselves do not agree on much else but have been lobbying and holding prayer vigils and fasts to try to influence those who will decide. The Washington Post writes:
In Washington, when you’re in crisis mode, when your back is to the wall, when no solution is in sight, you .?.?. meet.
So every interest group in Washington is meeting these days — with President Obama, House Speaker Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Reid, House Majority Leader Cantor and House Minority Leader Pelosi, or with other groups, to influence the debt-ceiling debate.
Perhaps the most unusual of the meetings was one Obama had last week with a coalition of Christian religious leaders who urged him not to hammer the poor in trying to reduce the national debt.
It is, one participant said, “an unprecedented coalition,” including leaders from the Episcopal Church, the Salvation Army, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ.