Congressional hearings last fall have given the Workplace Religious Freedom Act a big boost of momentum. Now it is time to get this bill passed into law. WRFA is designed to strengthen existing civil rights laws to require employers to provide religious accommodation unless such accommodation would cause an undue hardship. It is expected to prevent much of the employment discrimination now suffered by people of faith, including thousands of Seventh-day Adventists, every year.

The Pacific Union Conference Department of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty is organizing a massive effort to visit every Congressional district office in our territory during 2006 in order to effectively communicate to our elected officials the need to support this bill. This effort will require the support and participation of pastors, religious liberty leaders and especially church members who have ever suffered workplace religious discrimination.

We need people willing to step up to the plate and volunteer to organize a lobby visit in your district. No experience necessary! You will not be required to conduct the lobby visit, just help to organize it. Professional staff will lead on the day of the visit.

We also need people who have suffered workplace religious discrimination who are willing to participate in a lobby visit. You should call Pat Silvia directly, at our Sacramento office, 916-446-2552. It doesn’t matter when the discrimination took place, recent or ancient. We are trying to reduce future discrimination. We want to stop employers from making employees choose between their faith and their job.

Those willing to organize a group to lobby will want to do the following:

• Recruit church members with work related Sabbath problems, either present or past. We need live bodies who have stories to tell. This is a real problem!

• Recruit one or more pastors who can also tell how real the problem is for actual people, not just in theory.

• Recruit clergy of other churches and faiths. Rabbis are especially supportive of this bill, but so are clergy of all other faiths. Don’t be afraid to call them and make an appointment to tell them about what we are doing. This is a wonderful bridge building opportunity. Ask your pastor to help you, since he should have some contacts with other pastors.

• Use the materials on the website, www.religiousliberty.info, to hand out to those interested or willing to visit, so they can learn more about the issue and the bill.

Volunteers should contact Pat Silvia, 916-446-2552, who will be coordinating this effort. She will schedule the visit with the local district office. Seventh-day Adventists are providing the grassroots momentum on this bill. If we don’t do it, it won’t get done. Thanks in advance for your prayers and your efforts in support of Workplace Religious Freedom.