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Because of Jesus

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When the news reporter approached me, I was milling about in the grass, adjusting my pastoral stole, preparing to be present with some of our local teachers at a press conference. He wanted to know why I was there. I answered with a simple affirmation of our public schools and the teachers that serve in them. But he was asking a different question, and he persevered: but why? Why are you here, as a faith leader, in support of public education? I stared at him for a moment, summoning all…

The Perfect Gift for Mother’s Day

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As Mother’s Day approaches, we honor, remember, and celebrate all of the strong women in our lives. Women have proven throughout history that they are the backbone of society. Eleanor Roosevelt served as head of the U.N. Human Rights Commission and played a key role in drafting the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. Michelle Obama has proven to be a trailblazer in her work as a lawyer and in leading the federal initiative to reverse childhood obesity. After centuries of achieving seemingly intangible goals, how is it that women are…

PHW Faith and Health Summit: Thank You

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It has been a little over a week since our third PHW Faith and Health Summit, themed “Making Connections: We’re Worth It.” The day began with worship and a keynote address by The Reverend Richard Joyner. We were inspired and challenged to see the world through relationships, and to embrace the possibilities and calling of God even when it does not fit our desires, comforts, or plans. It was a truly powerful word and a remarkable, energy-filled way to begin our day. From there we attended workshops, shared a meal,…

Blessed Are the Dreamers

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This week, the Trump administration announced it will end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an Obama initiative protecting hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants from​ deportation. This protection allows them to work, study, get a driver’s license, and more easily afford college. Unless Congress acts in the next six months to save the program, the individuals protected will lose their current legal status. This announcement immediately impacts nearly 800,000 young DREAMers whose futures are now uncertain. The Bible tells us a lot about dreamers and God’s care for…

Opposing the RAISE Act

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Two weeks ago, the President endorsed a new bill in the Senate designed to cut legal immigration levels in half over a decade, a potentially extreme change to policies that have been in place for more than half a century in our country. The RAISE (Reforming Immigration for Strong Employment) Act would reduce the annual distribution of green cards awarding permanent legal residence to just over 500,000, a decrease of​ more than 1 million. These cuts would include reductions to family-based immigration programs, eliminating the ability of United States citizens…

Supporting Young Immigrants’ Dreams

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Five years ago, President Obama created the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program to enable young people brought to this country as children to come out of the shadows and live their lives fully. This entailed granting them the ability to obtain a driver’s license, get a job, or pursue higher education. This newfound sense of security was transformative for the lives of thousands of young people and for their potential contributions to this country. Now, the DACA program has come under threat of repeal by the Trump Administration.  If DACA is…

What the Senate’s Motion to Proceed Vote Means for Health Care

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The U.S. Senate’s vote this afternoon moves the debate forward to potentially repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. What that will look like is anybody’s guess. Senators Burr and Tillis both voted to proceed, but it is unclear what they will be proceeding to. Every proposal to come forward this summer would leave tens of millions more of our sisters and brothers without insurance. Some hybrid of those proposals seems likely, but Senate leaders do not appear to have assembled enough votes yet for any of the plans being…

July 25 Update — Senate Health Care Vote Appears Likely Today

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It appears that the U.S. Senate will vote today on some sort of health care action. What they’ll be voting on, however, is unclear even to some of them. This appears to be a race so that the Senate can say that they got something done. Please call Senator Tillis and Senator Burr today. Ask their offices if they know specifically what they’ll be voting on and how they plan to vote. Remind them that none of the plans presented so far to repeal the Affordable Care Act actually helps…

Senate May Still Vote on Health Care; Please Keep Calling

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No one seems completely clear on whether the Senate will vote next week on health care or what they will vote on if they do. That might be deliberate in part — an effort to reduce the pressure on their members who will be home this weekend. Or it could be because the Senate leadership plans to move forward with whatever seems likeliest to be approved, and that decision won’t be made until the necessarily deals are struck. What we know about every plan that has been proposed, however, is…

Revised Health Care Bill, Same Devastating Effects

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Yesterday, the Senate unveiled a revised version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act. According to a report from our friends at the North Carolina Justice Center the changes, and their effects, include: Allowing consumers to use health savings accounts to pay insurance premiums, which would disproportionately benefit higher-income earners, doing little to make insurance affordable for consumers with low and moderate incomes. Offering a little more money to states for stabilizing premiums—especially when the state has to contribute a significant match up to 35 percent—does not offset the massive cuts…

Healing Miracles

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Just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”  — Luke 13:11-12 The House health care plan would leave nearly 24 million people without health insurance; the proposed Senate plan “only” 22 million. The numbers are so staggering we lose sight of their meaning, but consider the Research Triangle Region (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) has…

Doomed Veto Spotlights Budget Flaws

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Presented with a new state budget that, whatever its occasional virtues, is mainly about easing tax burdens on the well-off while grinding opponents of legislative Republicans into the dirt, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper had little choice but to wield his veto stamp. Those Republicans who crafted the budget tried to taunt Cooper into signing it, noting that it includes raises for teachers and some tax breaks for middle-income earners – priorities he favors. But the governor kept in mind the larger picture and refused to endorse a budget fundamentally shaped…

Health Care CBO Score Proves Potential Harm

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Late yesterday afternoon the Congressional Budget Office released their score of the Senate’s proposed health care plan and the numbers are extremely troubling. As our friends at the North Carolina Justice Center report the so-called “Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017” would: Take health coverage away from 22 million Americans, especially low-income older adults. Slash Medicaid funding by 26 percent with back-loaded cuts that deepen over time (leading to even deeper cuts and more Americans uninsured outside of the ten-year period measured by CBO). Increase deductibles so much that “few…

Senate Health Care Plan Released: Would Make the Most Vulnerable More So

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Members of the United States Senate have released their proposed health care plan, all 142 pages of the “Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017” developed in secrecy, with a score from the Congressional Budget Office expected early next week. Meanwhile, we know it will reduce Medicaid significantly more than the House bill while cutting taxes for the nation’s wealthiest. A plan that endangers the vulnerable while benefitting the powerful goes against our most fundamental beliefs as people of faith. As experts analyze the bill’s potential impact, calls to Senators Tillis…

New Budget with Old Agenda Falls Short

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By now the strategy is familiar – the strategy used by the N.C. General Assembly’s Republican chiefs to try to make a fundamentally flawed state budget appear, well, not that bad. Or at least tolerable. Or better than it could have been and perhaps even worth supporting. Here’s how it works: The Senate proposes a budget that, it almost should go without saying, carries on the Republican campaign to cut taxes. Economic growth allows for some slight spending increases, but on the whole spending is held tightly in check. Meanwhile,…