27 religious leaders attack Bush budget

Twenty-seven leaders of Utah's diverse religious communities — including Jews, Christians, Muslims and Buddhists — have signed a letter calling for a rejection of President George Bush's proposed 2006 federal budget, saying that it fails to protect "the least among us."

The letter comes on the heels of a press conference this past week in Washington, D.C., where leaders of five mainline Protestant denominations criticized Bush's budget cuts as "unjust."

The 27 Utah religious leaders asked voters to contact Sen. Orrin Hatch and Sen. Bob Bennett, both R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Rep. Rob Bishop and Chris Cannon, R-Utah. "Tell them that if there is one thing the Hebrew prophets, the Prophet Mohammed, and Jesus Christ agreed upon it was helping the poor," the letter urged.

"We are the richest country on this planet and we still have children who go to bed hungry every night, if they have a bed," the letter continued. "We have people standing in line at our food pantries who work one and sometimes two jobs but still do not have enough money for food, rent or medicine."

Those signing the letter include the Rt. Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah; Masood ul-Hasan of the Islamic Society of Salt Lake; Rabbi Joshua M. Aaronson of Temple Har Shalom in Park City; Needra Nanayakara of the Sri Lankan Buddhist Community; Peggy Cook of the Roman Catholic community in Sandy; and the Rev. David A. Henry of Wasatch Presbyterian Church.

The proposed $2.5 trillion budget, which Bush sent to Congress in early February, would eliminate or cut back funding for 150 programs, some of which would affect the poor. Those programs include Medicaid, low-income housing, food stamps and community development block grants that provide curb cuts and home modifications for the disabled.