Today, Friday, August 18, 2017, South Main in Durham, NC, is closed to traffic. Civil employees have been sent home. Some banks and many businesses in the downtown area have closed early. And a group of people have gathered on the Courthouse lawn. All this because of the possibility that a group of White Supremacists would march there at noon today. That hasn’t happened yet and now the news is they will march at 4pm. The official news from City Hall is that no permit was obtained by anyone to…
Anti-LGBTQ Policies Impact Us All
Wednesday’s federal-policy-by-tweet announcement that children of God who are transgender could no longer serve in the military may have distracted attention from another action by the federal government. The Department of Justice, also on Wednesday, filed a legal brief in an ongoing court case in which the DOJ argued that Civil Rights protections do not extend to job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Sit with that a moment. There is plenty to be outraged about for all who are LGBTQ. Both actions should also be read as a…
Wages of War
Wartime profits are a thing — from the people who make the machines we use to kill other people to the garment factories that provide clothing for the people who do the killing, there is money to be made keeping the war machine equipped. Eisenhower, the retired Army general we elected president in 1952, warned against an economy fueled by war — the military industrial complex. Simply put, waging war requires stuff and stuff requires people to make it and making stuff provides jobs. Ergo, when there is a war…
Great to Meet You at Wild Goose!
We were delighted to meet many of you at the Wild Goose Festival last week. Council staff members enjoyed spending time with friends from across the country, hearing your stories, and discussing ways to work together for a more just society. Although Wild Goose 2017 may be over, opportunities for progressive people of faith to gather are not. We hope you will join us for a variety of Council events in the works across the state for fall.
Revised Health Care Bill, Same Devastating Effects
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…
America’s Role in Torture — Beginning the Path to Forgiveness
With so many issues confronting us, our nation’s involvement in acts of torture is fading from the public’s priorities for concern. Five years and $40 million in the making, the Senate Intelligence Committee 6,700-page report is the only official action to address the CIA’s 2001-2006 detention/interrogation program. Released in December 2014, the 500-page executive summary offers the following highlights of what is contained in the fuller version. According to the summary, the CIA: used techniques more brutal than the agency portrayed, was not subject to adequate oversight, misled members of…
Healing Miracles
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…
Let Us Show Love and Compassion on World Refugee Day
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…
Sanctuary as a Sacred Act
Photo courtesy of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. Under President Trump’s recent executive orders, many people’s lives have changed, especially the lives of those who have come to North Carolina from other countries or who have family members who do not have proper documentation. People are afraid to leave their homes to go to work, church, or the doctor. Children are afraid that their parents won’t be there when they get home. Victims of crimes are afraid to call the police. Our neighbors are living in a state of constant…
Now what? Staying Engaged and Grow the Interfaith Climate Movement
We were already living in a time of profound consequence. President Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement means that while the needs of our endangered climate are increasing, the response to global warming is diminishing at the national level. Our actions now, as climate conscious people of faith, matter more than ever. There are a few things you can do right now to help maximize our collective impact as North Carolina’s statewide multi-faith network committed to addressing climate change as a moral issue: Engage your interfaith climate conscious…
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…
What Gives Me Hope
Remarks delivered at the NC Justice Center’s 2017 Defenders of Justice Awards where the Council was recognized for Grassroots Empowerment. In 1960 Terry Sanford ran for Governor of NC. By all accounts, he should not have won. He was not as well-known as his opponent and he consistently mentioned raising taxes. But he did win because he convinced people across NC that their tax dollars would be used to benefit everyone in the state and especially used to empower through education. At one time — some of us in the…
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…
Special Interest Altar Calls
By now, most of us have read “Dark Money” or heard enough about the subject it explores to recognize that money is suffocating our democracy. Add to this styptic environment a potential new infusion of money, this time through the tax-free political contributions that could flow directly into nonprofit organizations and communities of faith across the country. The alarm bells went off in February at the National Prayer Breakfast when we heard the President promise to “get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of…