A growing number Connecticut’s religious leaders are calling on Sen. Joe Lieberman to appeal to a higher power and change his mind about including a public option in a health care reform bill. On Sunday night, hundreds of health care reform supporters from congregations across the state held a candlelight vigil outside Lieberman’s home in Stamford, CT.

On Monday, a group of more than 70 religious leaders from Christian and Jewish congregations sent a letter calling on Lieberman to abandon his threats to filibuster any health care reform bill in the Senate that includes a public option.

“A lot of groups who have historically supported [Lieberman] are praying for him to come back home,” Rabbi Ron Fish, leader of the Concerned Clergy Of Connecticut, which sent the letter, told TPMDC.
Lieberman calls himself an “observant” Jew, and is often known to refer to his faith in policy situations. Fish said that he and a growing number of religious leaders in Connecticut are starting to see a disconnect between Lieberman’s devotion to faith and his opposition to a public option.

Fish said he generally feels that faith and politics should be kept far apart but said there have been times — he mentioned the Civil Rights movement — that faith leaders have been required to step into the political fray. He said the health care debate is another one of those times, and Lieberman’s public statements on a public option require him and other religious leaders to counter him.

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