First celebrated in 2001, World Refugee Day is held annually on June 20. The day marks a worldwide effort to raise awareness of the plight of refugees and recognize the contributions of forcibly displaced people. The annual commemoration is designated to honor “the strength, courage and resilience of refugees.” It is marked by events in more than 100 countries; in Raleigh it will include the screening of a documentary about Kenyan refugees, to be held at the Cameron Village Library at 6 p.m., sponsored by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. Many people are not aware of World…
Our Unceasing Prayer Must Be for Peace
The tragedy of gun violence in this country seems unending. We pray for those impacted, whether in a South Carolina church two years ago, a Florida club one year ago, or on a Virginia baseball field today, and in all of the other times and places where lives have been shattered. The Council of Churches encourages congregations to recognize all those impacted by gun violence during Stand Up Sabbath services this weekend. Beyond that, may we prayerfully and faithfully work toward a peaceful path where our sisters and brothers are no longer…
Update — GA Takes Up Dangerous Gun Law, June 7
Representatives in the General Assembly are scheduled to take up H.B. 746 this afternoon. Calls are still needed against this bill. As our friends at NC Policy Watch reported, the North Carolina Association of Police Chiefs and others in law enforcement have come out again H.B. 746 because of their concerns for public safety. Their article reads in part: House Bill 746 would, with a few exceptions, remove the state’s requirement for a concealed carry permit, allowing anyone 18 or older who legally owns a handgun to carry to conceal…
Rolling Waters
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I headed north for my sister’s graduation. Being only a few hours away from Niagara Falls at that point, we decided to make a weekend out of it since it would be a new experience for both of us. It is quite easy to see what makes the falls such an attractive place for tourists and nature enthusiasts alike. As cliché as it might sound, the pictures we had seen our entire lives really did not do it justice. As I sat…
Action Alert: May 31, 2017 — GA May Act on Guns
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…
The Plank in Your Eye
As followers of the Prince of Peace, Christians are not always particularly peaceful people, which is what makes North Carolina’s return to the national stage as a foothold for intolerance both unsurprising and deeply troubling. The ease with which a Christian group would condemn another religion denies our own legacy as well as the work we still need to do. For any Christian who needs help seeing past the plank in their own eye, some of our faithful friends have put together an excellent starting place. In addition, a piece…
2018 Budget Proposal is the Antithesis of our Call
Plenty of analysis is already happening around the 2018 budget proposal out of the White House. The Washington Post provides two helpful graphics here and here. More is being written than most of us can fully absorb, but Politico offers a key observation: On close reading, the budget is less a credible attempt to eliminate, or even pay down, the U.S. debt and more an ideological policy agenda disguised as a program of fiscal responsibility. If the proposal is, as such plans are often described, a place to begin discussion…
2017 Stand Up Sabbath — June 16-18
About this time two years ago, I accepted the offer to become the next Executive Director of the NC Council of Churches. We agreed that I would spend two weeks with the outgoing ED in June learning the ropes, and then I would really get to work in August. My first day in the office was June 18, 2015. I had heard the news from Charleston that morning when I woke and I knew that event would forever define my first day at the office. The NC Council of Churches…
Faith Leaders: Make Yourselves Heard on Juvenile Justice
A change in New York law earlier this month leaves North Carolina alone in a place 49 other states have found to be indefensible: only NC automatically prosecutes 16- and 17-year-olds as adults, regardless of their crime. There are many things our state will not let teenagers do because of their age, but it will punish them as an adult. And the impact on them, their families, and their communities can be staggering. Child advocates believe this may finally be the time to bring North Carolina in line with the…
No More of This
In the final hours of the first day of the Triduum, these intense three days when Christians rehearse the events between Maundy Thursday and the Easter Vigil, the juxtaposition of bombs in Afghanistan and swords in Gethsemane boggles the mind. In Gethsemane when they came out with swords and clubs to arrest Jesus and someone with him took out a sword and “struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear,” Jesus declared, “‘No more of this!’ And he touched his ear and healed him” (Luke…
Speak Out Against Anti-Climate Executive Order
This week, Donald Trump issued an executive order to turn back the clock on the climate progress we have made over the past decade. In addition to directing the EPA to dismantle the Clean Power Plan, this sweeping executive order also attempts to undo methane standards for oil and gas operations, stop federal agencies from considering the impact of climate change in their decisions, and open up federal lands for coal mining. The issues and impacts of climate change go to the heart of our spiritual values and our call to…
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…
2017 Legislative Seminar: Advocate in NC as well as DC
The political situation at the national level has occupied the time and attention of many faithful progressives. Each day has brought with it more reasons to be concerned for our most vulnerable sisters and brothers as well as for our democratic system of government. Right now, there isn’t much reason to believe things will improve. We must also be mindful of activity underway in the North Carolina General Assembly, where legislation is in the works that would significantly weaken our state’s safety net and would make it harder to right…
Ethical Debates on Industrial Agriculture
An ethical debate is a bit of a juxtaposition. As we know, ethics are a set of moral principles. It is how we understand right from wrong. So how can what is right and what is wrong be up for debate? In Carl Sigel’s post on the “Caring for Creation” section of the Church of the Nativity webpage he discusses the two main types of ethical practices in the agricultural world. Continuing with the use of Robert Zimdahl’s term “productionist ethic” and Aldo Leopold’s term “land ethic” we place in…
Answering your Questions about Sanctuary
President Trump’s recent executive actions impacting refugees and immigrants have faithful people increasingly interested in how they might support our sisters and brothers being impacted. Court decisions have offered a reprieve, but the administration’s determination to make many newcomers to our country scapegoats and the targets of misguided hostility has only emphasized their vulnerability. Jennie Belle, Program Director for Immigration and Farmworkers, has been fielding questions about the issue. To help those who want to learn more, she has developed a five-week e-course, beginning March 13, which she describes in…