The Minnesota Republican has been roundly criticized by faith groups, elected officials, media outlets and leaders of her own party in the past few weeks for her attempt to intimidate and demonize Huma Abedin, Deputy Chief of Staff at the US Department of State. Bachmann has called on the Inspector General of the State Department to investigate Abedin’s background and ensure her loyalty because of fears Bachmann has raised about Abedin’s Muslim faith and her family’s ethnic background.

“Michele Bachmann claims she’s not the new Joe McCarthy,” said CFAC’s senior political adviser Jack Quigley. “But she’s using the same tried and true tactics that brought us the Red Scare in the 1950′s. Accuse, threaten, intimidate and conduct a witch hunt. We’re going to make sure the people of Minnesota’s 6th District know what’s she’s been up to in Congress. ”

“Michele Bachmann has been saying lots of outrageous things for years that she wraps in her Far Right style of Christianity and her warped view of patriotism,” said Roger Smith, Treasurer of Christians for A Change. “This time, she’s gone too far. Congresswoman Bachmann needs to be held accountable by her colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the US House of Representatives. It needs to be clear that we won’t allow this kind of abuse of power in 2012.”

“Congresswoman Bachmann is demonizing Mrs. Abedin and her family because of their religion, plain and simple,” said Reverend Mark Sandlin. “It’s wrong when we have victimized Jews or Catholics or Mormons in the past. It’s wrong today for Congresswoman Bachmann to be targeting Muslim Americans. No person of faith– and certainly no Christian leader– should tolerate it.”

“Fundamentally, what Michele Bachmann is doing is un-American and un-Christian,” commented Charles Toy, CEO of The Christian Left and board member of Christians for A Change. “Progressive Christians are tired of just talking about this type of Far Right hypocrisy. With the arrival of Christians for A Change, now we’re going to hold people like Michele Bachmann politically accountable.”

Christians for A Change launched an online petition yesterday calling on the US House of Representatives to censure Congresswoman Bachmann.  Within a few hours, nearly 500 people had signed on and hundreds of others had shared the petition in social media networks with their friends.

The organization intends to begin outreach to Members of Congress about censuring Bachmann in the coming days while continuing to build public support and pressure for the effort.

“This is just the beginning of our Christian Change Campaign in Michele Bachmann’s district,” CFAC Treasurer Roger Smith concluded. “We’re going to work to make sure the people of Minnesota’s 6th District know just how far off the deep end their Representative has gone. Bachmann is a 21st century Joe McCarthy.  She must be stopped.”

Christians for A Change is the political arm of The Christian Left, a 501c(4) non-profit organization and online community with nearly 90,000 members. Christians for A Change is an independent expenditure political action committee (commonly known as a SuperPAC) registered with the Federal Election Commission. The new organization seeks to reclaim Christianity from conservative and right-wing politicians and political movements in the US and show the full range of progressive Christian political thought and practice in America today.

For more information, contact 312-860-0112 or email media@faithinvoting.org

Over 1000 Americans from across the nation, signed the Declaration in the first two weeks and over 6000 people joined in the new organization’s social media campaign on Facebook.

Christians for A Change is the political arm of The Christian Left, a 501c(4) non-profit organization and online community with nearly 90,000 members. Christians for A Change is an independent expenditure political action committee (commonly known as a SuperPAC) registered with the Federal Election Commission. The new organization seeks to reclaim Christianity from conservative and right-wing politicians and political movements in the US and show the full range of progressive Christian political thought and practice in America today.

“We’ve been encouraged by the outpouring of support and by the excitement we’re hearing from progressive Christians that they finally have a place to call home,” said Roger Smith, Christians for A Change Treasurer and a founding board member of The Christian Left.

“Hundreds of people have offered powerful statements in this first few weeks on why they are tired of their Christian faith being hijacked by the Far Right,” said Reverend Mark Sandlin, CFAC founding board member and co-founder of The Christian Left. “People are ready to step forward and take their faith and their politics back.”

“I believe the combined impact of The Christian Left with Christians for A Change is going to change politics and public discourse in this country for the better,” said Charles Toy, CEO of The Christian Left and founding board member of Christians for A Change. “This new organization is going to take forceful, direct action in the electoral realm and push back on the right-wing bullying and hypocrisy that’s been cloaked in the veil of Christianity.”

“The CFAC Board has been very clear that they want this new organization to be forceful, effective and highly strategic in its approach to electoral politics,” said Jack Quigley, senior political adviser to Christians for A Change. “This isn’t a flash in the pan that will be here for a few months and then gone when the Presidential election is over.”

“We’re building a political organization for the long-term to stand up to the hijacking of Christian images and values by the Far Right in American politics,” Quigley concluded. “Our goal is to neutralize the political power of the Christian Right.”

Initial fundraising efforts are focused on grassroots, online support from progressive Americans across the country. Strategic partnerships with other progressive organizations and interfaith, community and labor groups may also be part of the group’s action plan. CFAC is getting ready to unveil its first 2012 Christian Change Campaign in the coming weeks.

For more information, contact 312-860-0112 or email media@faithinvoting.org

“The American Right has left us behind,” said Reverend Mark Sandlin, a board member of the new organization. “We are independent of their corporate agenda. We reject their worship of the free-market and we don’t want to be part of their cynical attempts to divide Americans. We are progressive Christians and we want to make sure our voices are heard clearly in the American political debate from now on.”

Christians for A Change unveiled its new website (www.faithinvoting.org) and launched social media campaigns on Facebook and Twitter. Grassroots promotion and online sharing are driving the group’s initial efforts. As grassroots fundraising begins, CFAC will unveil its initial electoral goals and invite supporters to help fund citizen campaigns.

“For too long in American electoral politics, there has really only been a voice on the Christian Right,” said Charles Toy, Christians for A Change board member. “Thousands of people of faith in this country fundamentally disagree with the agenda that right-wing groups like the Christian Coalition of America, Family Research Council, the Traditional Values Coalition and the American Family Association have been pushing.  They have been mouthpieces for conservative politicians and profit-driven, corporate policies. They have misrepresented many of the basic values Jesus taught us.”

Christians for A Change will seek to be a credible voice for progressive Christians to ensure that a more balanced agenda reflecting the true range of American Christian teaching and belief is being represented in our nation’s electoral politics. “The reality of social media and the Twitter age is that progressive Christians know that they are not alone,” said political strategist Jack Quigley who is advising the start-up organization. “Progressive Christians can find each other online in communities, congregations and interest groups across the nation. CFAC is going to make sure they are organized to have a direct electoral impact this November.”

“This is the beginning of a new movement for social justice in this country,” concluded Roger Smith, Treasurer of Christians for A Change. “We refuse to be misrepresented and have our Christian identity hijacked any longer by the American far right. It’s time to bring a united, progressive voice of Christianity to the political debate.”

Christians for a Change (CFAC) premiered on Facebook and Twitter this afternoon and will be promoted through various online progressive groups starting this evening.

The official online kick-off of the organization will be on Independence Day, July 4, 2012.

“Thousands of Christians across the United States are ready to declare their independence in this critical election year from the right-wing politicians and mean-spirited organizations that have attempted to hijack their faith,” said Charles Toy, co-founder of The Christian Left and board member of Christians for A Change.

“Whether it’s the Nuns on the Bus or the people in the pews, Christians all over this nation are sick and tired of the twisting of Jesus’ message to rationalize dangerous public policies and polarizing political stunts that hurt poor people, children and senior citizens,” Roger Smith, CFAC Treasurer stated.

The group unveiled an Independence Day petition that will be distributed through grassroots networks beginning tonight. “This is our 2012 Declaration of Independence from the narrow ideas, failed policies and dangerous political philosophies of right-wing politicians and organizations across this country,” said Reverend Mark Sandlin, CFAC board member. “We’re going to give progressive Christians a new outlet to prove their independence from conservative economic and social policies that go against their basic values and beliefs.”

The petition will be launched through the group’s website (faithinvoting.com), Facebook page and Twitter feeds as well as being distributed by email.

“They can’t drown these folks out or ignore this group of Americans anymore,” commented political strategist Jack Quigley, an adviser to the new organization. “This election, the Right isn’t going to get away with trying to corner the market on Christianity.”

“Every election, it seems the far right tries to claim its candidates and policies are the only acceptable choice for faithful Americans,” concluded Reverend Sandlin. “Tens of thousands of voters from every part of this country, every race, every ethnic group and every denomination disagree. Christians for A Change is about giving those progressive followers of Jesus a strong, clear voice in this year’s political debate.”

For more information, contact 312-860-0112 or email media@faithinvoting.org

Christians for A Change is an independent expenditure political action committee (commonly known as a SuperPAC) registered with the Federal Election Commission.

Christians for A Change is seeking to reclaim Christianity from conservative and right wing politicians and political movements in the US and show the full range of progressive Christian political thought and practice in America today.

“The truth is there are millions of Christians who see things in a very different way than Pat Robertson, Rick Santorum or Tony Perkins,” said Reverend Mark Sandlin, one of the group’s executive board members. “We’re not going to be silent and allow divisive politics and bigoted policies to advance in this country in the name of Christianity any longer.”

Christians for A Change is launching its website and online campaign on Independence Day to establish a new, independent voice for  progressive Christians and will be announcing its first strategic targets soon. Initial fundraising efforts will be focused on grassroots, online support from progressive Americans across the country. Strategic partnerships with other progressive organizations and interfaith, community and labor groups may also be part of the group’s 2012 action plan.

For more information, contact 312-860-0112 or email media@faithinvoting.org