Michigan Interfaith Coalition calls on lawmakers to ‘listen to their heart’ and support auto crash victims
Michigan Interfaith Coalition calls on lawmakers to ‘listen to their heart’ and support auto crash victims
Coalition represents more than 35,000 individuals and organizations
BRIGHTON, Mich.—(April 19, 2022)—Michigan leaders last week received a letter from a interfaith coalition representing more than 35,000 individuals and organizations, calling on legislators to fight for vulnerable auto crash victims who need their support.
“Michigan legislators celebrated Easter, Passover and Ramadan this past weekend—but instead of applying the ‘golden rule’ and loving their neighbors, they have yet to take action to protect the most vulnerable among us,” said Tom Judd, president of the Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council. “Since the 45% cut in catastrophic care went into effect last July, lawmakers have demanded ‘data’ showing its impact. That data represents people’s lives—lives that are being unnecessarily destroyed. The legislature must listen to Michigan’s spiritual leaders and end this care crisis before more people die.”
The letter was written by Dr. Bonnie Anderson, founder of the Michigan Interfaith Coalition, which seeks to focus attention on the moral responsibility of elected legislators and demand respect for the dignity of the catastrophically injured, suffering survivors.
“As an elected representative in the Michigan State government, you are responsible to consider the welfare of Michigan citizens and to weigh the ethics and morality of legislative decisions,” the letter reads. “We ask you to imagine someone that you love, or even yourself, in the same situation as those who have lost their care, their access to a safe place to sleep comfortably and to be safely cared for by trained people while in their home. Without these necessities, the dignity of those catastrophically injured people is gradually and tragically diminished.”
The letter continues:
“We pray that you will continually draw upon your own spirituality, and, coupled with your responsibility as legislator, we pray that you will continue to do the work that God has called you to do:
speak the truth
call upon your courage
in every way possible, fight for the vulnerable people who need your support, many who have no power or ability to speak for themselves
listen to your heart.”
To date, legislative leadership has ignored the statistics provided through non-partisan, neutral parties such as ROI Institute, MPHI, and the University of Michigan Poverty Solutions—along with hundreds of news stories—chronicling the disruption of services and displacement of care across the state. Several bills that would fix the crisis have been introduced but none have received a committee hearing or floor vote.