Interfaith Alliance is an interfaith organization in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 founded in 1994. Its stated goal is to protect faith and freedom by respecting individual rights, protecting the boundaries between religion and government, and uniting diverse voices to challenge extremism and build common ground.

Membership

Interfaith Alliance has 185,000 members from more than 75 faith traditions and belief systems, in addition to many persons who are irreligious.

Leadership

The president of the organization is Rev. Dr. Welton Gaddy, who serves as pastor for preaching and worship at Northminster (Baptist) Church in Monroe, Louisiana

Monroe, Louisiana

Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...

. Rev. Gaddy is also the host of "State of Belief

State of Belief

State of Belief is a weekly radio program on four U.S. radio stations and the Internet, hosted by Rev. Welton Gaddy, president of Interfaith Alliance....

", a weekly radio show formerly on Air America Radio, on which he said that "religion and radical freedom are best friends and how the religious right is wrong—wrong for America and bad for religion." Mahdi Bray

Mahdi Bray

Wright Mahdi Bray , a Black American convert to Islam, is a civil and human rights activist who serves as Executive Director of the Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation based in Washington, DC...

 has served on the board of directors.

Partner organizations

Interfaith Alliance and its partner organization, Interfaith Alliance Foundation, work out of their main office in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

. The group has local chapters around the United States.

Views

Interfaith Alliance realizes the powerful role that religion plays in America, and it values the positive impact that religious belief can have on American politics

Politics of the United States

The United States is a federal constitutional republic, in which the President of the United States , Congress, and judiciary share powers reserved to the national government, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments.The executive branch is headed by the President...

. However, Interfaith Alliance's concern is that religion

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

 and the United States government are becoming dangerously entangled. Interfaith Alliance believes that religion is being manipulated as a tool to influence policy and advance political strategy. Interfaith Alliance works to ensure the sanctity of religion and the integrity of politics. The group also supports an end to discrimination based on sexual orientation

Sexual orientation

Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...

.