Human Services News

Let Justice Roll:

As Congress continues to stall on raising the minimum wage, the national Let Justice Roll Campaign will hold hundreds of rallies, workshops, religious services and prayer breakfasts in October to build support for raising the minimum wage at the state and federal level.

Let Justice Roll, a fast-growing nonpartisan partnership of more than 80 faith and community groups, is working to pass minimum wage ballot measures in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana and Ohio.

"We've long seen scorecards from the Christian Coalition and others show how members of Congress vote on so-called social issues, but not on help for the poor, which the Bible mandates hundreds of times.

But millions of 'values voters' care about fair wages for the people who do some of the hardest, most important jobs in our society -- from childcare teachers we entrust with our children to healthcare aides we entrust with our parents," said the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches USA, a leading member of Let Justice Roll.

"It's a moral abomination they are paid a wage that traps them in poverty," said Edgar, a former six-term member of Congress and author of the new book, "Middle Church: Reclaiming the Moral Values of the Faithful Majority from the Religious Right" (Simon & Schuster).

"Let Justice Roll members know that talking about values is no substitute for valuing hardworking men and women all across this nation who need a higher minimum wage," said Rev. Dr. Paul Sherry, Let Justice Roll Campaign National Coordinator.