God wants you to stop smoking

An interesting press release caught my attention today.

A group of Pennsylvania religious leaders are planning a press conference Wednesday at the state Capitol to urge lawmakers to move quickly on a smoking ban in public places.

The coalition is urging state legislators to "protect all of Pennsylvania's workers from secondhand smoke" by enacting the stalled smoking ban.

More from the press release: Pennsylvania Faith United Against Tobacco, a diverse coalition of faith leaders from across the state, will hold a press conference at 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, March 12, at the State House to call on the Legislature to enact a comprehensive smoke-free law that covers all workplaces and protects all Pennsylvanians from secondhand smoke. The legislative conference committee that was appointed in November has scheduled public hearings Monday and Thursday to resolve differences in the two versions of the legislation that were approved separately by the House and the Senate last year.

Faith leaders who are scheduled to attend the event include: Rev. Sandra Strauss, Policy Director, Pennsylvania Council of Churches; Dr. David Clevenger, Pennsylvania Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church; Mary Hafer, Church Women United; La Vaida Owens-White, Faith Community Nurse, Health Ministries Association; Vincen DeMarco, National Coordinator, Faith United Against Tobacco.

The Legislature has been discussing a statewide smoking ban for years and legislation has been shuffled around for more than a year. It's one thing to stand up to lobbyists, but these religious leaders are on a mission from God to ban smoking in Pennsylvania. I don't think lawmakers should be messing around. Pennsylvania Faith United Against Tobacco answers to a higher authority.