As was feared, some members of the General Assembly may be bringing back legislation that would roll back existing gun safety laws. A version of the previously introduced H.B. 746 is scheduled to be heard in the House Judiciary IV committee on Wednesday. A new version of the bill would likely eliminate North Carolina’s pistol permitting system, among other things. Calls to members of the NC House are urgently needed. This from North Carolinians Against Gun Violence: NCGV has learned that a bill being considered in committee tomorrow would eliminate…
Work for Just and Equitable Health Care is Not Finished
Every state legislator should be required to listen to the stories shared at a press conference organized this week by North Carolina advocates for health care. Anyone opposed to Medicaid expansion might learn something. Dr. Erica Pettigrew, medical director of the Orange County Health Department, shared four different cases from a single day’s work where patients did not get the follow-up care she recommended because they could not afford it. Martha Chaire explained how important Medicaid is for her son, Javi, who has complex medical needs in addition to Down…
GOP Mantra: Party Hearty!
They might not care for the image, but Republican members of the N.C. General Assembly act as though they were drunk with power. They have the votes not merely to set conservative policies on spending, taxes, education, health care, protection or misprotection of the environment — votes they’ve been only too happy to cast. They also have the votes to put their ideological stamp on North Carolina’s civic affairs in ways that could endure for many years and blight the state’s character – its self-proclaimed identity as a place where…
If a Budget is a Moral Document, Then What Does this One Preach?
The budget blueprint for 2018 released by President Trump on Thursday cuts a wide swath through programs that serve women, people of color, those of low income (for poor women of color, that would mean the same old same old), the arts, the environment, education, job creation, and science. Couple it with the proposed health plan released by Congress, and it feels like some elected leaders at the federal level want to freeze, starve, poison, under-employ, and un-inspire a significant portion of the country’s population. If a budget is a…
Raleigh Report — February 20, 2017
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director Newly Introduced Bills BUDGET AND TAXES S 75, Constitutional Amendment – Maximum Income Tax Rate of 5.5%. The Constitution currently sets a maximum rate for income tax at 10%. S 75, which would have to be approved by voters, would lower that maximum to 5.5%. (Currently the flat rate for personal income tax is 5.499%.) The practical impact would be to make it virtually impossible, regardless of the state’s financial circumstances, to raise income taxes over the current level or to return to a…
Sanctuary, Not Deportation
First in a series of three blogs. God calls people of faith to remember that they once were strangers in a strange land and they must, must welcome the stranger as an expression of covenant faithfulness. (Leviticus 19:33-34) For the past several weeks I have been working on organizing a webinar, “Loving Our Neighbors in a New Administration.” It was supposed to be focused on helping people of faith to be educated and organized about how they can help to protect immigrants, considering the extreme, potentially harmful promises that President…
Speak Out on Cabinet Nominees
Groups at the state and national level continue to mobilize around concerns about President-Elect Donald Trump’s stated policy objectives and choices for cabinet posts. The NC NAACP, Interfaith Power & Light, MomsRising, Faith in Public Life, and the National Council of Churches are just some of the organizations calling on people of conscience to speak out against nominees who have been described as: Representing and promoting “hateful ideals and policies.” (MomsRising) Having “questionable ties to foreign governments with anti-democratic leadership and human rights abuses.” (Interfaith Power & Light) Epitomizing “extremist,…
Beyond Gun Violence: A Conference for People of Faith and Conscience About Ending America’s Deadly Epidemic
Join us one month from today for a weekend of preaching and teaching about the cost of gun violence to our nation and how we can bring about change. Speakers will include: · Matthew Crebbin, Senior Minister of Newtown Congregational Church (UCC) · Mark Carman, American Coalition for Responsible Gun Ownership · James Atwood, theologian and author of “America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose” Events begin Friday, January 27 at St. Paul AME Church, 101 North Merritt Mill Road, Chapel Hill where Atwood will speak at 7 p.m. A…
Advent Guide Focuses on Peace
The NC Council of Churches has never taken peace for granted. Indeed, along with our work in opposition to violence, there has long been the recognition that peace manifests itself in many ways – in how we relate to one another, in the policies our elected officials put in place, in who has enough. For this year’s Advent Lectionary Guide, the Council’s staff chose to focus on peace. The reasons may be obvious, but even in the absence of a soul-sucking political climate, our reality is that we need to…
Speak Peace
Remarks delivered on September 21 by Executive Director Jennifer Copeland at a press conference marking the International Day of Peace. Words make a world. The words we use become embedded in the ways we think about the world around us. So, we have bullet points, target dates, and killer ideas. We shoot emails, fire off memos, and kill two birds with one stone. Using words that connote violence is second nature to us even when the sentiments we’re expressing are every day normal—sending an email. But when every day normal…
Gun Violence Prevention
May, 2017 Friends, Roughly two years ago we woke to the horrifying news of the terrorist attack at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC. One year ago, on the first anniversary of this massacre, the NC Council of Churches, along with many of our gun prevention allies, organized a Stand Up Sabbath weekend during which we encouraged people of faith across North Carolina to talk together about the preponderance of gun violence in our country. We offered worship and education resources as well as discussion points about…
Project NO REST Needs Your Input to Help Victims of Sex Trafficking
At the North Carolina Council of Churches, our work is often guided by Isaiah 1:17, which advises,“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” In my work I often focus on calling people to see the sacred worth in strangers and immigrants and farmworkers in their communities. Farmworkers are often at-risk for labor trafficking due to their immigration status, recruitment debt, isolation, poverty, and the lack of strong labor protections. Human trafficking is much broader than just labor trafficking — it can…
Veto Overriders Flex Their Muscles
North Carolina’s General Assembly has muddled through many undistinguished moments since conservative Republicans took charge four years ago. Now, with an ongoing cascade of wrongheaded decisions, it’s adding to that disappointing and even destructive list. Gov. Pat McCrory, also a Republican but one who wants to be seen as more of a moderate, relatively speaking, tried to save lawmakers from themselves by issuing two high-profile vetoes. The result? In one case, House and Senate members dismissed his concerns as if he’d been – gasp – a Democrat. They overrode McCrory’s…
Interfaith Call-in Day to Prevent Gun Violence April 9
The National Council of Churches, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and others are sponsoring an Interfaith Call-in Day to ensure that the voices of faithful Americans are heard throughout the halls of Congress on April 9. You can call NC Senators Hagan and Burr at 1-888-897-0174 and urge them to act to prevent gun violence. As the President of the Christian Conference of Connecticut wrote following the passage of historic legislation there last week, “It was an historic day in Connecticut as the legislative houses debated and passed the most comprehensive…
U.S. Senate Expected to Take Up Gun Legislation
Next week, the United States Senate is expected to take up legislation intended to curb gun violence. Given recent mass atrocities at the hands of gunmen along with the daily loss of life by those who turn to guns as a surrogate for civil disagreement, progress on the issue should be inevitable. But it’s not. Lobbying by groups like the NRA has been relentless and some politicians are wavering, either out of genuine conviction or fears about reelection. Faiths Against Gun Violence continues to urge people of faith to contact their elected officials on the…