Sept. 17, 2014
DENVER - Saying “it goes too far and is too extreme,” 82 Colorado faith leaders today joined together in united opposition to Amendment 67, the proposed constitutional amendment to ban all abortions, including in cases of rape, incest and when the health of the mother is at risk. Among many of its far-reaching consequences, Amendment 67 would also restrict access to certain forms of birth control, and restrict access to in-vitro fertilization for women who want to have a family.
“This amendment would impose one religious viewpoint in our state constitution, when there are many religious perspectives on this issue, said Rev. Jann Halloran, president of the board of the Colorado Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which provides faith-based care and services to women. “We support the rights of conscience, and a woman’s capacity to make a personal decision with consultation from her doctor, her family, her clergy and her God.”
Signatories include representatives from Christian, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist organizations and denominations, including Rev. Dr. Thomas V. Wolfe, President and CEO of The Iliff School of Theology; Rabbi Joseph R. Blackof Temple Emanuel in Denver; Rev. Amanda Henderson, executive director of the Colorado Interfaith Alliance; Rev. Sue Artt of theRocky Mountain Conference-United Church of Christ; and Rev. Nancy Bowen, Pacific Western Region of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
“There are several things that are upsetting about Amendment 67,” said RabbiBlack, who heads the largest Jewish congregation in the state. “The manipulative use of language confuses voters to make them think they are voting on behalf of women’s rights, when in fact it’s exactly the opposite. While my tradition upholds the sanctity of life, the life and health of the mother is always more important than that of a fetus. To claim that a fertilized egg is anything other than a potential life is to go against Jewish values. It is a dangerous precedent.”
“This amendment goes too far in criminalizing women and doctors, and intruding on private decisions regarding family planning, birth control and fertility treatments,” said Rev. Amanda Henderson, executive director of The Interfaith Alliance of Colorado. “The Interfaith Alliance stands for freedom for all people to make decisions regarding their own faith and values, and we speak out when this freedom is threatened.”
A copy of the full statement follows.  Link here to the list of 82 faith leaders who have signed on. 

The Vote NO 67 coalition is broad-based, nonpartisan coalition of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals, faith and civil rights leaders, attorneys, Latina, African-American and Asian-American organizations, and dozens of community groups.
More information, including a list of organizations that have also endorsed the Vote NO 67 campaign, can be found at www.VoteNO67.com.

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Statement To Oppose Amendment 67 By Colorado Faith Leaders

As faith leaders, we stand in opposition to Amendment 67. By establishing fertilized eggs as persons, this amendment will in effect outlaw and criminalize abortion under any circumstance, including rape, incest and the life and health risks of the mother. Amendment 67 would effectively put into the Colorado Constitution one religious position, negating other faithful perspectives on this issue. It would, therefore, take away the religious freedom of many people of faith who respect the private rights of women and families to make personal choices based upon their own conscience.
We believe religious freedom is one of the foundations of our democracy, and one religious belief or doctrine should not be written into the state Constitution. There are many religious perspectives on this issue, and many Christian, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist and other people of faith agree strongly that a woman can make a faithful decision for an abortion under many circumstances, a decision that is loving, fair, and ethical based upon her own personal medical history, beliefs and needs.
These issues of reproductive justice are played out in public, but we know as clergy that individual women and their families are the ones who suffer in private. We have walked with women who have been abused and violated, and we have struggled with women and families who must make heartrending decisions about their own lives and the future of their families.
We respect open and public dialogue on these issues which affect public policy and the common good, and which include religious perspectives. We do not agree among ourselves as to where each line needs to be drawn, but Amendment 67 goes too far and is too extreme, leaving no ground for the protection of women nor their personal ethical agency to make decisions based upon advice from their doctors, support from their clergy, and their relationship with God.
Please stand with us and vote NO on Amendment 67.

Constitution Day is the one day a year when we take time to celebrate the signing of our Constitution — the supreme law of the United States — created by our Founding Fathers on September 17, 1787.
This monumental document bestows our rights and freedoms and provides the framework for our government — both federal and state — and the relationship between the two.  It incorporates pivotal concepts of separation of power and checks and balances to ensure that no one branch of government becomes too powerful over another.  It has been amended twenty-seven times since 1789 and continues to be interpreted and challenged 225 years later.  That’s something to celebrate!
Originally recognized as “I Am an American Day”, in 1953 Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a resolution to observe “Citizenship Day” on the actual day the Constitution was signed – September 17^th.  Constitution Day became an official holiday alongside Citizenship Day in 2004 when legislation introduced by Senator Robert Byrd passed through Congress.  Since 2005, all schools receiving federal funds are mandated to teach about the Constitution on September 17^th.
I can’t recall baking cupcakes for my children’s school’s Constitution Day party nor have I ever been invited to a Constitution Day barbeque.  So, how does one celebrate a holiday that doesn’t lend itself to balloons, streamers, and decorations?  We can make it a priority to teach and learn something new about this document and talk about it with our children, other family members, co-workers and friends.
Last year, ACLU of Colorado volunteers went into middle school, high school, and college classes to teach about the Constitution.  We will be doing the same this year but in addition, we would like to share with you resources on our website that you can use to learn and teach about the Constitution. You can take the ACLU of Colorado’s Constitution Word Search – a fun way to test your knowledge and learn some basic Constitutional facts.  Please also take a moment to sign our petition to President Obama to make Constitution Day an official federal holiday.
So, if you are a teacher, a parent, or a civic-minded citizen, please take a moment today to recognize and celebrate the Constitution and the rights and freedoms that it bestows.  We’ll keep fighting every day to ensure those rights are protected and extended to all people in Colorado.

Read this excellent Letter to the Editor, recently published in the Vail Daily, on the exoneration of a man who spent more than 30 years in prison facing the death penalty for a crime he did not commit.  George Mizner of Vail does an excellent job of laying out the many reasons that Colorado’s broken death penalty is part of an unjust system that does not deter crime and routinely executes innocent people:
http://www.vaildaily.com/opinion/12900699-113/death-penalty-murder-percent?utm_source=swift_rss&utm_section=Opinion

To read more about the recent exonerations of  Henry Lee McCollum and Leon Brown, read Getting it Wrong on the Death Penalty for 30 Years from the National ACLU Blog of Rights:
https://www.aclu.org/blog/capital-punishment-racial-justice/getting-it-dead-wrong-30-years