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 is a network of people of diverse faiths and beliefs from across the country working together to build a resilient democracy and fulfill America’s promise of religious freedom and civil rights not just for some, but for all. We mobilize powerful coalitions to challenge Christian nationalism and religious extremism, while fostering a better understanding of the healthy boundaries between religion and government. We advocate at all levels of government for an equitable and just America where the freedoms of belief and religious practice are protected, and where all persons are treated with dignity and have the opportunity to thrive. For more information visit interfaithalliance.org.