# 276 Friday, January 5, 2007  - WHEN CHRISTIANS CALL CONGRESS:  Supporting
the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (H.R. 3, S. 5)

There is a new Congress in town.
On Thursday, January 11th, 2007, under Speaker Nancy Pelosi's leadership,
the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act will be brought to the floor of
Congress once again.
Remember the terrific battle we had to wage last year, just to get the Stem
Cell Research Act even considered? When finally muscled to the floor of
Congress by Republican Mike Castle and Democrat Diana DeGette, HR 810 proved
a superb example of bi-partisan cooperation. It overwhelmingly passed the
House and Senate-- only to be vetoed by President Bush.
Now, we are back again, and this time could be different. The same exact
bill, now called House Resolution 3, and Senate Bill 5, offers a
non-political way to increase the number of federally-funded stem cell
lines: all from microscopic blastocysts otherwise thrown away: turning
laboratory trash into a treasure of hope for our loved ones.
This time around, we may get a little more help from organized religion.
Throughout history, the Christian Church has been a powerful force for
social change; the success of the civil rights movement would have been
almost unimaginable without the positive involvement of the Churches of the
South, for example.
Too often portrayed as unblinkingly opposed to all scientific advances, even
the most conservative religions are made up of the same people whose
families visit them in hospital rooms, and push in wheelchairs. They too
want health. Change is coming. Across America, and the world, Christianity
and Christians are taking a fresh look at the burgeoning new science, and
they like what they see. Far from the Frankensteinian nightmares once
imagined, stem cell research is cells, cell, nothing but cells-and the hope
of cure.
Here are two ways forward-looking Christians can call Congress to support
the research which may one day lead to cure for millions of good and decent
folks across this planet.
One: if you belong to a church which supports stem cell research, as for
instance Episcopalian, LDS (Mormon), Presbyterian, or Methodist, please
consider calling the following members of your faith-and urging them to
support the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act-because they all voted
against it before.
Here is a list of the Episcopalian, LDS (Mormon), Presbyterian, and
Methodist members of Congress who voted against HR 810.
I must add here that I think of this as ­"Faye's List" because most of the
work of compiling it was done by stem cell research advocate Faye Armitage,
mother of Jason, a paralyzed young man.*.
Leave a message for the Representative of your faith: call after hours, if
you like.
You might say, for example: "Like Representative ___________, I am a
Presbyterian, and our Presbyterian faith supports stem cell research. I hope
Representative ______________ will vote yes on the Stem Cell Research Act
this Thursday, because it is my family's most important issue. Thank you."
If you are a constituent, be sure to mention that, and leave your phone
number-they will almost certainly not call you, but the phone number
verifies you are a constituent.

Episcopalian:
Jo Bonner, AL, 1-202-225-4931
Ander Crenshaw, FL, 1-202-225-2501
John Mica, FL, 1-202-225-4035
Adam Putnam, FL,  1-202-225-1252
Jack Kingston, GA, 1-202-225-5831
Dennis Rehberg, Montana, 1-202-225-3211
Michael Burgess, TX 1-202-225-7772

LDS:
Jeff Flake, AZ, 1-202-225-2635
Mike Simpson, ID 1-202-225-5531
Chris Cannon, UT 1-202-225-5629

Presbyterian:
Tom Tancredo, CO 1-202-225-7882
Candice Miller, MI  1-202-225-2106
Mike McIntyre, NC  1-202-225-2731
Jimmy Duncan, TN  1-202-225-5435
Mac Thornberry, TX  1-202-225-3706
Frank Wolf, VA   1-202-225-5136

Methodist:
John Linder, GA   1-202-225-4272
Richard Baker, LA   1-202-225-3901
Jim McCrery, LA    1-202-225-2777
Stephen Buyer, IN   1-202-225-5037
Lee Terry, NE    1-202-225--4155
Ed Whitfield, KY    1-202-225--3115
Paul Gillmor, OH  1-202-225--6405
Dave Hobson, OH    1-202-225--4324
John Peterson, PA   1-202-225-5121
Ralph Hall, TX   1-202-225-6673
Secondly, here is a list of the Catholic legislators who voted against the
Act, and who could benefit from a call from a member of their
faith-remember, statistically American Catholics overwhelmingly support
embryonic stem cell research-but all too often legislators only hear from
the conservative hierarchy.
I web-searched the phone numbers for the first group, but ran out of time
for the second, so am offering an all-purpose number, provided courtesy of
my buddy Rayilyn Brown, who says:  "Call your congresspeople 1-202-224-3121
and let them know you want them to support ESCR.  PD has pretty much
destroyed my voice, so this is very very difficult for me. Think how you'd
feel if you woke up tomorrow morning and learned there was a cure for PD.
Do you think there ever will be if  SCR is restricted to adult stem cells???
Ray"

If you are a Catholic, consider calling your state representatives, saying
something like:

"I am one of the vast majority of American Catholics who support embryonic
stem cell research. I hope Representative ______________ will remember me
and my family, and vote for the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. Thank
you."

Call 1-202-224-3121

The following Representatives are of the Catholic faith, and would benefit
from phone calls from fellow Catholics in support of embryonic stem cell
research.

Arizona
AZ-1 Renzi, Rick
California
CA-3 Lungren, Dan
CA-21 Nunes, Devin
CA-19 Radanovich, George
CA-40 Royce, Ed
Florida
FL-21 Diaz-Balart, Lincoln
FL-25 Diaz-Balart, Mario
Georgia
GA-8 Marshall, Jim

Illinois
IL-3 Lipinski, Dan
IL-18 LaHood, Ray

Iowa
IA-5 King, Steve

Kansas
KS-1 Moran, Jerry

Louisiana
LA-1 Jindal, Bobby

Michigan
MI-1 Stupak, Bart
MI-4 Camp, Dave
MI-5 Kildee, Dale
MI-9 Knollenberg, Joseph
MI-11 McCotter, Thaddeus

Minnesota
MN-8 Oberstar, James

Mississippi
MS-4 Taylor, Gene

Missouri
MO-9 Hulshof, Kenny

Nebraska
NE-1 Fortenberry, Jeff [

New Jersey
NJ-2 LoBiondo, Frank
NJ-4 Smith, Christopher
NJ-7 Ferguson, Michael

New York
NY-3 King, Peter
NY-23 McHugh, John
NY-25 Walsh, James

North Carolina
NC-3 Jones, Walter
NC-5 Foxx, Virginia
NC-10 Mchenry, Patrick

Ohio
OH-1 Chabot, Steven
OH-8 Boehner, John
OH-12 Tiberi, Patrick

Oklahoma
OK-1 Sullivan, John

Pennsylvania
PA-3 English, Philip
PA-17 Holden, Tim
PA-18 Murphy, Tim

Tennessee
TX-8 Brady, Kevin
TX-10 McCaul, Michael

Wisconsin
WI-1 Ryan, Paul

*"Faye Armitage is one of the original founders of Cure Paralysis Now and
also sits on the board of the Stem Cell Action Network. Her son Jason (now
17), became paralyzed during a soccer match when he was just 7 years old.
The only movement left to Jason was the blinking of his eyes. Faye spent
five years traveling with Jason and his four sisters to Cyprus, Poland,
Canada and several states in the US to try different therapies, including
hyperbaric oxygen, accupucture, muscle biofeedback, constraint induced
therapy, FTM, IMT, etc. She came to the realization that none of these
treatments would provide more than minor improvements and her hopes shifted
to stem cell research. She has spent the past three years as an ardent stem
cell activist and has been quoted in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Tampa
Tribune, St Petersburg Times, Orlando Sentinel, the Times Union, Folio
Magazine and the Wall Street Journal."

By Don C. Reed, Chair, Californians for Cures, www.stemcellbattles.com.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn