Showing results for cash bail
Approved unanimously on June 7, 2022 by the Governing Board of the North Carolina Council of Churches. Updated September 12, 2023. Considerable empirical evidence demonstrates that the cash bail system is inequitable and ineffective. The […]
Cash Bail Reform
As part of the N.C. Bail Reform Working Group, the Council has created a network of faith leaders (lay and clergy) across the state who are taking a dual approach […]
Cash Bail Study Guide for Faith Communities
The information in this electronic folder is the initial information on Money Bail Reform Efforts prepared by members of the North Carolina Council of Churches and representatives of the Bishop’s […]
Backpack Full of Cash Documentary Screening – Raleigh
Narrated by Matt Damon, Backpack Full of Cash explores the growing privatization of public schools and the resulting impact on America’s most vulnerable children. This 90-minute documentary takes viewers through […]
Backpack Full of Cash Documentary Screening
Narrated by Matt Damon, Backpack Full of Cash explores the growing privatization of public schools and the resulting impact on America’s most vulnerable children. This 90-minute documentary takes viewers through […]
Judges and Campaign Cash
The law setting up the North Carolina Public Campaign Fund is clear about its goals. Chapter 163, Article 22D of the General Statutes aims “to ensure the fairness of democratic […]
From Jerusalem to Jericho: Christian Witness on the Tax-Sustained Road
Few of us, I imagine, like to pay taxes, whether it’s income tax withheld from your paycheck or a sales tax added on at the cash register. Yet, taxation provides for public services that benefit us all and that contribute to the well-being of communities. Whether public education, safety, roads, mental health care, or agricultural research, we take a lot for granted in a culture that often asserts a “don’t tread on me” ethos, a proclamation that ignores the importance of tax policies while all too often neglecting the most vulnerable voices in our midst.
2015 Faith & Immigration Statewide Summit
Saturday, March 21, 2015 9am-1:30pm First Presbyterian Church 305 East Main St., Durham, NC 27701 Cost: FREE to attend (We do ask for a donation to help with the […]
The Spread of Toxic Immigration Laws
NC Policy WatchI can certainly understand that the nation is clearly frustrated with Congress’ dysfunction, partisan gridlock, and seeming inability to deal rationally with the many major policy issues facing our communities. I am too. And immigration reform is now seen as one of the most challenging political battlegrounds, thanks in large part to partisan wrangling. Now a handful of conservative legislators are using fear and misinformation to position immigration as a political wedge issue, cashing in on Washington’s inaction and the down economy to pursue a fierce anti-immigrant agenda
Welfare Reform
The biblical prophet Amos declared "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream." In the Hebrew Scriptures, conm1unity responsibility for the poor was built into community structure. Landowners were required to leave a portion of their crops in the field, and the poor and needy were entitled to glean fields for food God's disapproval falls not on those who are poor, but on the kings, the unjust owners, and the oppressors: "God will defend the poorest, God will save the children of those in need and crush the oppressor God will free the poor man who calls on him, and those who need help. God will have pity on the poor and feeble, and save the lives of those in need" (Psalm 72).
Legislative Advocacy
Legislative advocacy is an important part of the Council’s work because we recognize that much of our state’s legislation has been rooted in a legacy of racism. By centering the […]
Confederate Monument Removal
In our role as partners we often share leadership with other organizations focused on a particular justice issue, such as our partnership with the N.C. Commission on Racial and Ethnic […]
Criminal Justice Reform
The teachings of the Gospel challenge us to engage the realities of our world in ways that take us beyond the surface. As we reflect on the realities of our […]
Raleigh Report – February 21, 2013
Payday Lending What It Is, How It Harms People, Why We Don’t Need It Back Payday lending, sadly, could be coming back to North Carolina. It was banned […]
About
The North Carolina Council of Churches educates, inspires, and mobilizes faith communities to advocate for justice. Our Mission We enable denominations, congregations, and people of faith to impact our state […]
Paid Sick Leave / Paid Family Leave
We know low wages disproportionately affect People of Color and women. The Council continues to advocate for living wages, paid sick leave, and paid family leave in concert with other […]
Donate
Donate Online Now If you would like to donate using a donor-advised Fund, see below. Spring 2023 Medicaid expansion is about to become a reality in North Carolina, confederate monuments […]
Racial Justice
We believe now is the time when America can break free from the cycle of reform, restraint, and retaliation that has defined our existence, at least since the Emancipation Proclamation, […]
Resources
We offer our resources for free because we want everyone to have access to them. But it takes a lot of time and effort to create these materials. If you’re […]
Dare to Dream: Ecumenical Educational Conference on Peace and Justice in the Middle East
Friday, March 24, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Dinner and Presentation by the Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb White Memorial Presbyterian Church, 1704 Oberlin Rd, Raleigh NC REGISTRATION is March 1 […]
Hard year’s signposts in quest for justice
Even for those of us who found a measure of joy during the year whose end we now mark – taking delight from a child’s birth, perhaps, or from a […]
Lenten Guide – Ash Wednesday
Excerpted from Power Made Perfect in Weakness, a Lenten Guide for Lectionary Year A from the North Carolina Council of Churches. Isaiah 58:1-12 Shout out, do not hold back!Lift up […]
Raising Wages
2008 was the last time the minimum wage was raised, but it’s been more than 60 years since the minimum wage was a living wage. We know low wages disproportionately […]
Giving Thanks for Christmas Trees
This time of year we give thanks for many things — including our families, our health, and our churches. We often overlook our decorations, however. Putting up the Christmas tree […]
Baptists Release New Immigration Documentary Focused on NC
I had the pleasure of gathering with folks at First Baptist (Greensboro) last week for the local premiere of the film. We were lucky enough to hear directly from Robert Parham, executive director the Baptist Center for Ethics, who produced Gospel Without Borders. Dr. Parham spoke powerfully about his experiences in making the film and in seeing how these stories are already connecting with audiences across the U.S. After watching the film together, we heard from three great panelists: Hector Villanueva, pastor of Iglesia Bautista La Roca in Siler City and a featured story in the film; Mike Aiken, executive director of Greensboro Urban Ministries; and Rabbi Fred Guttman, Temple Emanuel (Greensboro). Each connected the messages of the film with their own contexts.
Raleigh Report — April 26, 2017
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director [The deadlines for the introduction of most new bills have now passed, and we are in Crossover Week. By the end of the week, […]
Be Different.
Sermon on II Kings 6:8-23 delivered Sunday, July 28 at First Presbyterian Church in Durham.Audio from Jennifer’s sermon Who would pass up the chance to preach on this marvelous little […]
Rule to Harass, or Punish, the Jobless
Even while North Carolina was still in the grips of the Great Recession, with thousands of residents suffering the slings and arrows of joblessness because they were caught in the […]
The Virus and the Vulnerable
The image of a perfect storm conveys a rueful irony – the storm whose components are so intertwined, so synchronized, so mutually reinforcing as to make it “perfect” in its […]
Voices of Moral Mondays: It Takes A Village to Eat Breakfast by Stephen Boyd
The NC Council of Churches is proud to publish a brand new e-book collection of testimonies from Moral Mondays. With 32 short vignettes from North Carolinians across the state, Voices of […]
Voices of Moral Mondays: It’s Personal by Jonathan Kotch
It has been very gratifying to meet fellow health-care reform advocates, including Physicians for a National Health Program and Health Care for All NC members, on Halifax Mall on the several Mondays I managed to make it. Some of you helped hold our banner. Others, like our treasurer, Robin Lane, addressed the 1,000 or so participants from the podium. My own experience, when I was arrested on June 3, was very personal.
Be Different.
Sermon on II Kings 6:8-23 delivered Sunday, July 28 at First Presbyterian Church in Durham. Who would pass up the chance to preach on this marvelous little story in Second […]
Push, shove on public school spending
A momentous clash between North Carolina’s General Assembly and the state’s judicial system looks to be coming to a head. At stake is the ability of the state’s public schools […]
Who decides on ‘sound basic’ spending? Stay tuned
Like it or not – and there are plenty of reasons to worry amid the familiar end-of-summer bursts of excitement – another school year will soon get under way. The […]
You Can’t Blockade Hope in Cuba
Join Witness for Peace Southeast and the North Carolina Council of Churches at First Presbyterian Church in Durham to hear from Alicia Sevila Hidalgo with the Martin Luther King Center […]
Immigrant Families Fear Proposed Public Charge Rule
Earlier this year, a draft of the “public charge” rule was leaked. The final version from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was published in the Federal Register (October 10) […]
It’s Only 40 Days
Sermon delivered by Jennifer Copeland yesterday, Sunday, February 18 at Millford Hills United Methodist Church in Salisbury, NC. The lectionary texts were Genesis 9:8-17 and Mark 1:9-15. 40 days–rain! 40 […]
Let Loving One Another Become Our Norm
Yesterday morning, the Sandra P. Lerner Jewish Community Day School in Durham received a bomb threat. This was the most recent in recurring waves of bomb threats against Jewish centers […]
Lenten Guide — Fifth Sunday
Excerpted from the NC Council of Churches Lenten Guide, “Love One Another: Reflections on Race, Power, and Privilege” Fifth Sunday in Lent —John 12:1-8 Six days before the Passover Jesus […]
Job Posting: Executive Director
The NC Council of Churches has begun the search for its next Executive Director. The Council is a statewide organization, based in Raleigh, and working on issues of justice, peace, […]
Resource on Tax Fairness
From Jerusalem to Jericho: Christian Witness on the Tax-Sustained Road Click here to download. This compelling 13-page document draws current tax policies into conversation with Scripture passages, Church theologians, and […]
The Case for Fair Taxes
The challenge of faith communities is not to deduct a set of moral principles from scripture that houses a model for a fair tax system. There are no formulas or bureaucratic maps that arise out of biblical texts that we might apply to our current context and tax system that will magically make the system fair. Rather, the biblical texts provide a framework to understand the Christian witness towards the common good and a Christian ethic of love and care for the vulnerable and exploited.
Sacred Potluck Challenge — Enter by Nov. 10
Entering into fall, notions of harvests and feasts abound. As people of faith, we are called to make our eating decisions, our “foodscapes,” as sacred as possible. We must ask […]