In early May, 1998, five of us sat around a table at a Denver coffee shop to talk about a challenge issued by Steven Foster, Senior Rabbi of Denver's Temple Emmanuel at the first annual banquet of the Denver Area Interfaith Clergy Conference. Foster had called the audience to take a stand against the narrow, exclusive and divisive politics of the Religious Right that had become so powerful here. Now a dominant force in the state's Republican Party, Foster believed this well-funded and well-organized group was only going to become more influential and powerful unless the state's liberal/progressive religious community could dispute its claim to speak for all people of faith. The upcoming election, when the state would be electing a new governor and many state legislators would be forced by term-limits to give up their seats, seemed an opportune time to begin a counter-movement.

Our coffee-shop group was convinced that liberal people of faith were ready to be counted. Desiring a statewide coalition of clergy and laity representing a broad, interfaith spectrum of religious traditions, we took as our organizing model that developed by The Interfaith Alliance in Washington, D.C., itself a relatively new group, having been founded in 1994. We decided to call ourselves The Interfaith Alliance of Colorado (TIA-CO). And for our first initiative, we opted to engage the state political campaigns, already well underway. Our hope was to ensure that religion was not used as a weapon against or to demonize candidates.

Making use of resources developed by The Interfaith Alliance, we began by contacting every person running for office and asking them to sign a "Code of Civility," which asked them to conduct their campaigns with integrity -- to speak to the issues and not attack persons, and to refrain from using religion as a weapon against their opponents. Approximately 70 percent of the candidates signed the Code. The media coverage we received helped to begin making us known to people who identified with and supported our efforts. Many legislators, too, expressed appreciation for this first step in creating a new political climate.

After the election, TIA-CO began organizing a series of educational forums. In March 1999, we heard from four legislators, a senator and representative from each party, on the "State of the State." Highlighted were a number of "pro-gun" bills. One was a "preemption" bill that would have gutted Denver's strict gun control laws, including a ban on assault weapons. The second was a "conceal and carry" bill mandating that sheriffs give permits to anyone who qualified, thereby losing their discretionary control.

TIA-CO joined with the mayor's office, state legislators and other groups to hold a rally opposing these pieces of legislation. Soon after, on the morning of April 20, 1999, reports came out of Columbine High School of the worst school shooting in U.S. history. Within days, the state legislature pulled all gun-related legislation from consideration.

For many people in Colorado, Columbine galvanized a growing sentiment that ordinary citizens needed to take the lead if effective legislation around firearms safety and responsibility was ever to be passed into law. With that in mind, a bipartisan organization called SAFE Colorado was born. In the fall of 1999 SAFE brought together a number of organizations, including TIA-CO, the Police Chiefs Association, the PTA and The Colorado Children's Campaign, to work together in promoting reasonable gun control legislation.

As the new legislature convened this year, the governor and the state's attorney general, a Republican and a Democrat, proposed a five-point legislative package that was endorsed by SAFE, TIA-CO and others around the table. But although poll after poll shows that 80 to 90 percent of Coloradans favor more restrictive gun laws, our legislature remains unresponsive. As a result, SAFE Colorado, TIA-CO and others will be working together to place an initiative on the November ballot that will require background checks on individuals purchasing handguns at gun shows.

This year's legislative session also saw the introduction of a bill requiring both the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms and the observance of a moment of silence at the beginning of each school day. Since TIA-CO opposed this measure on constitutional and religious grounds, I was invited by the Anti-Defamation League to a luncheon debate with the bill's sponsor, a Republican Senator and Presbyterian Elder. In addition, I gave testimony against the bill when it came before the Senate Education Committee. But despite the overwhelming public testimony against the legislation, the bill passed out of committee to be debated and voted on by the Senate. In response, TIA-CO called a press conference to publicly state our opposition, which not only created a lively debate in the media, but also heated debate on the Senate floor, leading the sponsor to eventually withdraw the bill.

Reflecting on that coffee-shop gathering two years ago, I remember the trepidation with which the five of us, some of us meeting for the first time, considered Steven Foster's challenge to begin speaking up for a progressive religious perspective on the issues facing our state. We worried that we might not be able to make an impact. These past two years have shown us that we were wrong. Pray for us as we continue developing the organizational support so critical in sustaining our work for the long haul.

Michael Carrier is a Presbyterian minister at Denver's Calvary Presbyterian Church and the chair of The Interfaith Alliance of Colorado, <tiacolorado@tialliance.org>.