Liberal and conservative evangelicals set aside their political differences Wednesday to urge that President Bush do more to end the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The Rev. Jim Wallis, head of the liberal Sojourners/Call to Renewal, an evangelical social justice movement, and the Rev. Richard Land, head of the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, are among the leaders of the Evangelicals for Darfur campaign.
“I believe the president does care deeply about this,” said Land, a longtime Bush family supporter. “I see this as helping strengthen the president’s hand and enable the president to do what’s in his heart to do.”
The White House press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Religious groups from many faiths have been lobbying world leaders to help the Sudanese since rebel groups rose up against the Khartoum government in early 2003.
More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced since then, escalating the situation into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Wallis said world attention to the region has been sporadic, and evangelical leaders think time is running out to prevent what many consider government-backed genocide.
The Sudanese government is accused of letting the Janjaweed militia of Arab nomads commit atrocities against villagers.
Evangelical leaders said they are not calling for U.S. military intervention but instead want the United States to use its authority as a world leader to get a multinational force into the country.
