ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, left, and U.S. Rep. Amo Houghton Jr., (R-N.Y.), talk about the religious leaders' initiative at the National Press Club.
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington (D.C.), said failure to achieve peace in the Middle East impacts the world.
Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader, United Methodist Church, said the time is now to speak publicly to political leaders about the Middle East.
The religious leaders are united despite their own deep convictions about the region, said Rabbi Paul Menitoff, Central Conference of American Rabbis.
Public engagement around the Middle East issues require religious voices, said Iman Feisel Abdul Rauf, American Sufi Muslim Association.
Evangelicals will praise the Bush Administration if it achieves a just and lasting peace for all in the Middle East, said David Neff, Christianity Today magazine.