Washington, D.C. – On this Sunday’s “State of Belief,” The Interfaith Alliance Foundation’s show on Air America Radio, Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy interviews the founder and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund Marian Wright Edelman.  She discusses the Children’s Defense Fund’s recent call to action for Mother’s Day to increase health care access for young children.

According to the website of the Children’s Defense Fund, 1,839 children will be born on Mother’s Day without health insurance.  Every 47 seconds another child is born without health insurance. Edelman tells Rev. Gaddy that these sad statistics should compel Congress to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program this year. 

Edelman’s message to Congress is simple: “You have a chance to do something sensible, smart, cost effective…and show that you can govern.”

The Children’s Defense Fund has also recently created a website for a presidential candidate named Susie Flynn.  Her platform focuses on health insurance for all children, an issue she understands the importance of because she is nine years old. Edelman says she started the campaign for Susie because children’s health seems to be lost as a national governmental priority.  The strain on the federal budget from the war on Iraq leaves children on the outside looking in.

But says Edelman, “We shouldn’t change the locks on the gates as children come up and say they need health care.”

Also on the show: Comedian Judy Gold on her book “25 Questions for a Jewish Mother;” Naila Bolus, executive director of the Ploughshares Fund, on an initiative to rediscover the roots of Mother’s Day.

Interfaith Alliance celebrates religious freedom by championing individual rights, promoting policies that protect both religion and democracy, and uniting diverse voices to challenge extremism. Founded in 1994, Interfaith Alliance brings together members from 75 faith traditions as well as those without a faith tradition to protect faith and freedom. For more information visit interfaithalliance.org.