On the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote a commemoration for the event. He wrote:
May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government… All eyes are opened or opening to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few, booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others; for ourselves, to let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.
Though the Founding Fathers were not perfect, I still admire them for giving us the ideals of freedom and equality that future generations of radicals and reformers expanded upon. The ideals that Thomas Jefferson espoused were the building blocks that later day abolitionists, women’s suffragists, civil rights workers, feminists and gay rights activists used to change society’s views on race, gender and sexual orientation. Our Founding Fathers set up this democratic republic that worked only with the participation of an informed and active citizenry, an ideal that the Everyday Citizen blogsite exemplifies. Some activists work to better our society as individuals, some work with other like-minded citizens in groups. One of the groups that has worked to make this country live up to its ideals of freedom and equality are the Gray Panthers.
The Gray Panthers formed in 1970, when Maggie Kuhn and group of five friends, all of whom were retiring from national religious and social work organizations, created an organization for older Americans to fight for progressive causes like their opposition to the Vietnam War, their fight against age discrimination and their support of universal health care. Among the issues that the Gray Panthers currentlysupport are a national single payer health care system; the development of renewable, clean energy sources; the regulation and oversight of environmental industries to ensure that the people are protected from environmental hazards; policies that preserve civil rights and that do not discriminate against people based on age, religion, class, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnic background, or disability; and an economic system that provides safety net services for those in need, invests in the development of its children, supports a thriving middle class, allows people to benefit from their efforts, encourages adults to contribute to the greater good of the country, and ensures economic security in retirement including strengthening Social Security.
I looked at youtube for some videos of activities of the Gray Panthers. Here are a few. If you wish to become active with the Gray Panthers, you can go to this website and volunteer at a local chapter. Here is a link to their Facebook page.
A panel celebrating the Gray Panther’s fortieth anniversary as a social and economic justice advocacy organization challenging ageism, racism, and sexism
Gray Panthers recently joined teachers, students, hotel workers, union members, and neighbors in a spirited rally in Chicago’s Hyde Park against property taxes that are being used to fund the construction of a luxury hotel — while public schools face millions of dollars in cuts
Gray Panthers own Judy Lear on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court talking about the ACA decision and the Gray Panthers stance on healthcare
Deetje Boler of the Gray Panthers talks in a San Francisco meeting against the police use of tasers
Judy Lear of the Gray Panthers speaks out in a Brooklyn rally in 2007 against war
A Gray Panther forum in Austin, Texas in 2008 on “Rehabilitation Not Incarceration”
Gray Panthers founder Maggie Kuhn addresses Vermont seniors and members of what is now called the Community of Vermont Elders (COVE) in this archival video shot in 1991
Last September, when I visited Washington D.C., I encountered a small gathering at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial organized by a group called the National Council of Elders. The National Council of Elders is a group that was founded by Rev. James Lawson, Dr. Vincent Harding and Rev. Phil Lawson that consists of veterans of the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, the environmental movement, the immigrant rights movement and the gay rights movement and their goal is to continue their work in social justice and to impart the wisdom of their experiences to a new generation of social justice activists. The representatives of the National Council of Elders were presenting their Greensborough Declaration, which urged the country to resolve to help the poor and working class in their struggles during this economic recession.
Among the members of the National Council of Elders are many of the icons of the great social justice movements of the past 60 years. It includes respected activists like Dolores Huerta, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Marian Wright Edelman, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Reverand Mel White, Reverand Nelson Johnson, and Dr. Grace Lee Boggs. They have shown their support of the Occupy Wall Street movement and had created a Greensborough Declaration to influence the Presidential elections to focus on the issues of economic inequality and the struggles of the middle class and poor.
One of the things that I most admire about the National Council of Elders is the ecumenical nature of the participants. There are Christian ministers, Jewish rabbis, and Muslim ministers who are a part of the group, and I’m sure that Buddhist and other religious clergy also participate. To me, this shows that the fight for social justice is an integral part of many religions, especially the Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. I’ve always disliked Karl Marx’s statement that religion the opiate of the masses. If you look at the history of American reform, for instance, many of America’s great grassroots social movements, from the Abolitionists, to the women’s suffragists, to the labor movement and the civil rights movement, drew many of its leaders and supporters from Christian churches. In the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Koran are many references that testify to the Abrahamic God’s concern for the poor and the marginalized.
An example is Proverbs 31:8-9 in the Old Testament, which states:
Open your mouth for the mute,
For the rights of all who are destitute,
Open your mouth, judge righteously,
Defend the rights of the poor and needy
The Koran states in the 177th verse in Chapter 2:
Righteousness is not that you should turn your faces to the East and the West;
rather, the righteous are those who believe in God and the last day,
and the angels and scripture and prophets;
and who give material gifts out of love for God,
even of what they care for,
to relatives and orphans,
and the poor and the traveler and the needy,
and for the purpose of liberating the enslaved;
and who pray regularly and give alms;
and who fulfilled their promises when they promise;
and those who are patient in misfortune, affliction, and hard times:
they are the ones who confirm the truth, and they are the conscientious.
Matthew 25:31-40 of the New Testament reads:
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothed you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?”
And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.”
I end this blog with the National Council of Elders’ Greensborough Declaration, then with a few youtube videos of the work of the group. To go to their facebook page, you can go to this link.
The National Council of Elders show their support of the Occupy Wall Street protests and emphasize the need for any social movement to be intergenerational
A meeting on November 20, 2011 between members of Occupy Wall Street and the Council of Elders
Youtube videos of the National Council of Elders releasing the Greensborough Declaration on September 12, 2012
Shane Claiborne grew up as a typical Evangelical Christian. While he was at college, however, he participated with a group of his classmates in a protest to prevent homeless squatters from getting kicked out of an abandoned cathedral at the inner city of Philadelphia. His exposure to these homeless people led Claiborne to reevaluate his conception of Christianity and this led Claiborne worked alongside Mother Teresa during a 10-week term in Calcutta. He spent 3 weeks in Baghdad with the Iraq Peace Team (a project of Voices in the Wilderness and Christian Peacemaker Teams), where he took daily trips to sites where there had been bombings, visited hospitals and families, and attended worship services during the war.
All of these experiences led him to develop a radical Christian philosophy of living and working with the poor, fighting nonviolently for social justice causes, and creating a community of like-minded Christians to shed a light to their neighbors of God’s love. Among his intellectual influences were Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Soren Kierkegaard, Dorothy Day, and Tony Campolo. While he was in college, Claiborne had studied sociology at Eastern College with Tony Campolo, the founder of a movement called the Red Letter Christians, which focuses on Jesus’s social teachings.
To make his ideas into concrete form, Shane helped to found The Simple Way, a faith community in inner city Philadelphia. Inspired by Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker communities and Houses of Hospitality, The Simple Way community has given out free school supplies to the poorer children in the neighborhood, created community gardens to provide fresh fruit and vegatables for poor families, built parks for children to play in, provides a hospitality house for visitors to stay in, and has a residency program to bring highly educated and skilled people to share their expertise to help improve the lives of the residents of inner city Philadelphia. They have also organized performing arts programs for local children, provided homework help for struggling students, provided donated clothes to the homeless, renovated abandoned houses, and nonviolently protested police brutality. This is all in keeping with the Simple Way philosophy of building community through relationships with the people they are trying to help.
In their website is a description of the social justice philiosophy of The Simple Way:
We acknowledge with sorrow the brokenness of the world at personal, national, and international levels, and we seek justice, reconciliation and transformation in all arenas of life. In these politically, economically, socially, and religiously decaying times, justice is needed to bring hope, wisdom, and grace. We also realize that the evils of poverty and oppression exist on two levels, the individual and the structural, and we work for justice in both facets
We believe that there is enough. Those with plenty can meet the needs of the poor, if s/he who can gather much will not gather too much (2 Cor. 8:13-15). We believe that the Kingdom of God is free of poverty and oppression. We echo and attempt to live out Christ’s prayer that the “Kingdom come and will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We believe that begins now, with Jesus’ followers, and continues throughout eternity.
The Simple Way community has tried to keep in the spirit of Jesus’s love of social justice. All of these Christians that I have written about in December, The Simple Way community, The United Methodist Women, the Detroit pastors, and the Catholic Workers are emulating Jesus’s love of social justice. This love of social justice is found in the spirit of Luke 4:16-21:
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Youtube videos on Shane Claiborne explaining his concept of The Simple Way communities
A youtube video of The Simple Way community growing gardens in the North Philadelphia neighborhood of Kensington to address hunger and malnutrition in the neighborhood
Youtube videos of The Simple Way giving out free school supplies to children in the area
A youtube video of The Simple Way community building a park out of an empty lot
A youtube video by Jamie Moffett of a vigil for a murdered teen who was shot Thursday Feb 4th, 2010 on the 3200 block of Potter Street in Kensington, Philadelphia. The Simple Way community helped organize the vigil for neighbors and friends
Originally published on the March 4, 2009 entry of the website Everyday Citizen
One of the things I look forward to at the beginning of each month is to receive in the mail the latest issues of the Catholic Worker and Z Magazine. When I read both periodicals, I get information on activists and read about information in the grassroots that I don’t find in any other periodicals. Though I don’t always agree with every opinion that I read, I’ve learned a lot about different perspectives on the effects of globalization on the poor and marginalized in this world. Especially nowadays, as our country and the world struggles through hard economic times, it is easy to turn inwards to our national problems and forget the problems in the rest of the world. In my cartoon, I based some of the dialogue of the Facebook friends on articles that I’ve read in the latest issues of the Catholic Worker and Z Magazine.
The cartoon character Jasper is based on my own cat named Jasper. He’s a bit of a fat cat, around 18 pounds or so, and he’s a really nice if lazy cat. He’s spends most of the time sitting near the window, soaking up the sun. In the mornings, he scratches the door to get me to wake up to feed him food. So we’ve put Jasper and the other cat, Gracie, in the other room with food and water and closed the door so he can’t wake me up. Everyone in the apartment complex seems to know him well. The other cats sometimes hiss at Jasper, but Jasper just stares and doesn’t really take the other cats seriously. Since he’s about twice as big as those other cats, I don’t think he feels threatened.
In the January-February edition of the Catholic Worker, Felton Davis wrote an article about the harassment that immigrants, and especially Latinos, have been facing recently in this country. On December 7, 2008, Jose Sucuzhanay, an immigrant from Ecuador, and his brother Romel were beaten by 4 young men with baseball bats in the Bushwich section of Brooklyn. Community activists, elected officials, and member of GLOBE (Gays and Lesbians of Bushwick Empowered) held a rally to protest the killings of the Sucuzhanay brothers, as well as the killings of Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez in July and Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero on November 8.
The December 2008 edition of the Catholic Worker has an article by Cathy Breen about the situation of Iraqi refugees who have fled to Syria. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Syria has over 1.2 million Iraqi residents with valid valid visas. Approximately 220,000 Iraqi refugees have been registered by the UN High Commission for Refugees. Breen found many Iraqis living in destitution, struggling to come up with the money to meet the rent and pay for food, as well as pay for the Syrian visas. Finding work to earn a livelihood is among the greatest challenges that many refugees face.
James Petras wrote in the March 2009 issue of Z Magazine of the practice of many agricultural companies in the industrial countries to buy vast tracts of fertile lands from poor countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America with the help of often corrupt local governments. The result of this is that the numbers of landless peasants are growing, as small farmers are being forcibly displaced as they face debt and a lack of affordable credit. Those of the poor that try to gain some cultivable land are often harassed and jailed for their efforts. Petras notes that Arab petroleum companies have focused on purchasing land in Southeast Asia; the Asian “economic tiger” countries focused on Africa and Latin America; while the U.S. and European companies focus on exploiting the former communist countries of Eastern Europe, as well as Latin America and Africa.
This type of information that I’ve found in the Catholic Worker and Z Magazine is unavailable in most of the other magazines. Both periodicals focus on the work of grassroots activists, and they give a different viewpoint from the more well known political writers and politicians that one finds in Time magazine and Newsweek. Though I don’t always agree with some of the political views of the two magazines, I respect their views and it helps to expand my view on various issues. If we look at the past, there has always been a fruitful influence between the more radical and the more moderate segments of the political Left. Many of the programs of the New Deal, like Social Security and the National Labor Relations Act were influenced by the ideas of Norman Thomas and the Socialist Party of the 1920s. The reforms of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson in the 1900s and 1910s were influenced by the Populists, by progressives like Eugene Debs and Emma Goldman, and by the muckracking newspapers. The radicals are the first to see the problems of the country because of their view from the grassroots and come up with the radical ideas for change. The liberals take those ideas and water them down so that they are palatable to the mainstream American society. Jules Feiffer, the radical cartoonist who worked for many years in the Village Voice, said:
“I’ve always seen liberals as people who’ve taken radical ideas, whether from socialists or communists, finding ways to redefining them, relabeling them, reforming them, compromising them, and then improving the society with them. And the liberal’s job generally has been to process and homogenize the more radical notions out there for some time and make them acceptable to the mass society. And to that extent, liberals have played an important part. That liberals innovate anything is questionable. But that they innovate anything worth innovating is doubtful. The innovation comes from more radical sources generally.”
If you enjoy this cartoon, take a look at these links for more of my political cartoons at Everyday Citizen:
Christmas time was created to celebrate the birth of a man named Jesus who had a profound effect on our religious and moral views. This Christmas, I thought I’d do a few blogs on some Christian groups who are fighting for social justice causes. Randy Leer wrote a blog with various quotes from the Bible showing how God wants people to be concerned and helpful to the needy and the poor. I just recently did some blogs about the work of the Catholic Worker and the the American Friends Service Committee. Another group that I recently discovered that does great work for social justice is the United Methodist Women.
The United Methodist Women has a membership of over 800,000 and its mission is to foster spiritual growth, develope leaders and advocate for justice. Each year they raise over $20 million for programs to help women, children and young people in the United States and 100 countries. This group was formed in 1869, when Mrs. William Butler and Mrs. Edwin Parker and the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society first organized in Boston in response to a lack of women’s health in India. Through the merger of various women’s missionary societies, the United Methodist Women took its modern shape.
On December 11, 2012, the United Methodist Women has done an action alert on the problem of child marriages, where 10 million girls will be forced to become wives, said a report by the Global Partnership to End Child Marriage. Southeast Asia has a rate of 48 percent of girls married before 18; in Africa that number is 42 percent; and in Latin America it is 29 percent, according to NOW. It is illegal for anyone to marry before the age of 18 in India, yet India still has one of the highest rates of child brides in the world – 18 percent of the girls in India were married by the time they were 15, and 47 percent were married by the time were 18. According to the PBS documentary Child Marriage: What We Know, child brides are more likely to suffer both mental and physical domestic abuse; more likely to show signs of child sexual abuse and post traumatic stress; have lower status in the household; and become isolated from their peers or support networks. The United Methodist Women urges you to urge your representative to support H.R. 6087: The International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2012.
You can follow the United Methodist Women on their facebook page. The United Methodist Women are doing their best to keep in the spirit of Isaiah 58, which reads in part:
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Here are some youtube videos that I found showing the work of the United Methodist Women.
On October 15, 2012, the United Methodist Women protest against an anti-Islamic transit ad campaign that denigrates Muslims
On October 9, 2011, the United Methodist Women join an Occupy Wall Street protest
On May 1, 2010, the United Methodist Women conduct a March and Rally for Justice for civil rights, human rights, and an end to racial profiling
Harriett Jane Olson, chief executive of United Methodist Women, and Inelda Gonzalez, president of United Methodist Women, speak at an immigrants rights rally in 2010
On Feb. 28, 2012, Beatrice Fofanah, United Methodist Women coordinator in Sierra Leone and United Methodist Women-sponsored delegate to to the 56th Commission on the Status of Women, spoke at “Voices of Rural Women,”
Lynda Turet from the Center for Social Inclusion discusses structural racism at the 2010 United Methodist Women Legislative Event
Here is a short list of some individual Christian women who have worked for social justice. Most of these Christian women, though not all, represent a more progressive, social activist type of Christianity. Like today’s Leadership Conference of Women Religious, many of these strong Christian women clashed with their church hierarchy in their fight for social justice.
Lucretia Mott was an American Quaker, abolitionist, women’s rights activist, and social reformer. Here is a youtube video of Lucretia Mott
Anna Howard Shaw was an American suffragist, the first woman minister of the Methodist Church, a physician and served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Here is a youtube video of the Anna Howard Shaw Foundation
Sojourner Truth was an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. Truth spoke about abolition, women’s rights, prison reform, and preached to the Michigan Legislature against capital punishment. Here is a youtube video of Sojourner Truth
Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch Christian, who helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. After the war she set up rehabilitation centers to help concentration camp survivors and shelter the jobless Dutch who previously collaborated with Germans. Here is a youtube video of Corrie Ten Boom
Jane Addams was a Presbyterian, the founder of Hull House in Chicago, a sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace. She was national chairperson of the Woman’s Peace Party, president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and one of the cofounders of the NAACP. Here is a youtube video of Jane Addams
Dorothy Day was a devout Catholic and Christian anarchist who established the Catholic Worker movement, a nonviolent, pacifist movement that combined helping the poor and social activism.
Pauli Murray was a civil rights and women’s rights activist, lawyer, and the first black woman ordained as an Episcopalian priest. Here is a youtube video of Pauli Murray
Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation, which in 2012 consisted of over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries. The Missionaries of Charity served in hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children’s and family counselling programmes, orphanages and schools. Here is a youtube video of Mother Teresa
Coretta Scott King was a leader of the struggle for racial equality, the anti-apartheid movment, and women’s equality. King also was a strong advocate for the Peace Movement and for LGBT equality.
Here are more Christian women fighting for social justice and women’s rights that I discovered:
The Evangelical & Ecumenical Women’s Caucus (also known as the Christian Feminism Today, or EEWC-CFT) is a Christian feminist organization founded in 1973 who believe that the Bible supports the equality of the sexes in the Christian Church. EEWC welcomes members of any gender, race, ethnicity, color, creed, marital status, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, age, political party, parental status, economic class, or disability. Their facebook page is here
A vimeo video on a Waneta Dawn discussion of domestic abuse in the church for the Seneca Falls 2 Evangelical Women’s Rights Convention, July 24, 2010
A youtube video of Shirley Taylor and Jocelyn Andersen criticizing the Danver Statement, which told Christians to live in rigid sex roles for men and women, in a discussion at the Seneca Falls 2 Evangelical Women’s Rights Convention
A youtube video of Jocelyn Andersen talking about the history of Christian history of supporting women’s rights in the Seneca Falls 2 Evangelical Women’s Rights Convention
Christians for Biblical Equality is a nonprofit Christian organization who believe that the Bible, properly interpreted, teaches the fundamental equality of men and women based on the teachings of Scriptures such as Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”. Their facebook page is here
A vimeo video of Christians for Biblical Equality president Dr. Mimi Haddad speaks on “Wisdom from the Early Evangelicals” at Fuller Theological Seminary on January 26, 2012
A youtube video of Christian women sharing their journey in believing in gender equality
A youtube video of Rev. Dr. Katie Hays–pastor and speaker at the 2012 Conference “A New Creation. A New Tradition. Reclaiming the Biblical Tradition of Man and Woman, One in Christ” in Houston, TX–endorsing Christians for Biblical Equality
A youtube video of Shirley Taylor criticizing the Counsel on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood statement that “Women are equal, but different.”
Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation UUWF was formed in 1963 through consolidation of the Association of Universalist Women and the Alliance of Unitarian Women. It aims for justice for women and promotes their spiritual growth. Their facebook page is here
In the past few months, the big news in the Christian world has been the clash between the Vatican and the American nuns over the issue of social justice. In April, the Vatican reprimanded the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which has challenged church teaching on homosexuality and the male-only priesthood, for deviating from some aspects of Catholic doctrine. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents about 80 percent of the United States’ 57,000 nuns, decided they could not accept the Vatican’s verdict, and sent their president and executive director to Rome on June 12 to open a dialogue with Vatican officials. In the meanwhile, several nuns decided to organize a Nuns On The Bus tour around the nation to emphasize their commitment economic justice and to persuade Congress to consider the poor and the struggling middle class when deciding on budget issues. The American nuns are just the latest examples of Christian women who have made great contributions to the great Christian tradition of fighting for social justice for the poor and marginalized in society.
Nuns On The Bus traveled through 9 states on June and July to support the poor and struggling families and to criticize the proposed budget cuts to social programs that Republicans in Congress support. The Nuns on the Bus journey was sponsored by NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, and the NETWORK Education Program. In their webiste, the nuns stated their goals:
Every hour of each day, Catholic Sisters stand in solidarity with all who live in poverty, and we confront injustice and systems that cause suffering.
We cannot stand by silently when the U.S. Congress considers further enriching the wealthiest Americans at the expense of struggling, impoverished families.
As part of our campaign for budget fairness we are taking a bus trip. Our bus will travel to places in many states where Sisters actively serve people in need. For they are our best witnesses to the suffering our federal government must not ignore.
We ask all who visit this website to join us in prayer and to support our work to defeat government actions that would add to the suffering of already struggling families.
As Catholic Sisters, we must speak out against the current House Republican budget, authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). We do so because it harms people who are already suffering.
The Ryan Budget would:
Raise taxes on 18 million hardworking low-income families while cutting taxes for millionaires and big corporations.
Push the families of 2 million children into poverty.
Kick 8 million people off food stamps and 30 million off health care.
The introduction of industry is a necessity for economic growth and human progress; it is also a sign of development and contributes to it. By persistent work and use of his intelligence man gradually wrests nature’s secrets from her and finds a better application for her riches. As his self-mastery increases, he develops a taste for research and discovery, an ability to take a calculated risk, boldness in enterprises, generosity in what he does and a sense of responsibility.
But it is unfortunate that on these new conditions of society a system has been constructed which considers profit as the key motive for economic progress, competition as the supreme law of economics, and private ownership of the means of production as an absolute right that has no limits and carries no corresponding social obligation. This unchecked liberalism leads to dictatorship rightly denounced by Pius XI as producing “the international imperialism of money”. One cannot condemn such abuses too strongly by solemnly recalling once again that the economy is at the service of man.
Christian women have always been involved in the fight for economic justice. St. Clare, Dorothy Day, Mother Theresa, Pauli Murray, Corrie Ten Boom, Sojourner Truth and countless Christian women have reached out to help the poor and the marginalized in keeping with the spirit of Jesus’ saying in Matthew 25:31-46:
Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, `Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, `Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, `You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, `Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, `Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Here are other Christian women’s groups involved in social justice ministry.
The United Methodist Women has approximately 800,000 members and they aim to support spiritual growth, developing leaders and advocating for justice. They have raised up to $20 million each year for programs and projects related to women, children and youth in the United States and in more than 100 countries around the world. You can visit their facebook page here
A youtube video of United Methodist Women at Occupy Wall Street
A youtube video of a United Methodist Women rally for justice
Presbyterian Women in the PC(USA) is the women’s organization of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Numbering around 300,000 members, the Presbyterian Women are committed to prayer and Bible study, mission work of the church worldwide, working for justice and peace, and building an inclusive, caring community of women that strengthens the PC(USA) and witnesses to the promise of God’s kingdom. You can visit their facebook page here. A subgroup of the Presbyterian Women is the The Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns
Youtube videos of the history of the Presbyterian Women
Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America work to combat commercial sexual exploitation, human trafficking and support families with special needs. They also advocate for racial and cultural equity through anti-racism training and cross-cultural programs. Their facebook page is here.
A youtube video of the Women of the ELCA working at a food pantry
A youtube video of the Women of the ELCA quilting ministry
The Episcopal Women’s Caucus was formed on October 30, 1971, as a justice organization dedicated to Gospel values of equality and liberation and committed to the incarnation of God’s unconditional love. Their facebook page is here.
The Christmas season has always been a time to be with family members and close friends for me. This year especially, it’s a time to rest and recover from a lingering cold. It’s also a time for me to reflect and think of the birth of Jesus and to think about this Christian church that I’ve called my home for all of my life. I first became passionate about my faith when I was fourteen years old, when I was taking my confirmation classes in a Roman Catholic church. I would read books and articles about Vatican II, St. Francis and an itinerant Jewish preacher named Jesus who lived two thousand years ago and preached a message of loving God and loving our neighbors. Since that time, I’ve attended several churches from several different denominations and have had wonderful experiences and some painful conflicts. These various experiences have given me a love/hate relationship with Christianity, as I’ve strugged with the church’s various contradictions, as well as my own personal struggles and doubts about God. Yet I still feel it is important to go to church and I still consider myself a Christian.
About a month ago, I listened to a sermon on Christian orthodoxy, about its use and misuse in church history. After the service, I attended a sermon discussion, and in the middle of the various conversations, it began to hit me that I’m not a very orthodox Christian. I’m not for or against church orthodoxy. But over the years, I’ve developed a real fear of the word “orthodoxy” as I’ve seen too often groups of Christians do some cruel things to individuals to maintain their vision of what orthodoxy is. I’ve witssed many individuals get hurt by that and never return to church. Through out my life, I’ve tended to have the most trouble with people who have a black and white view of the world, and this has been most pronounced in the various conflicts that I’ve had in churches. These experiences have led me to be very wary of certain types of Christians and it has led to a deep dislike of the Christian Right.
Balancing some of these bad experiences though, are the good encounters that I’ve had with Christians who sincerely try to follow their Christian precepts and lead a life of humility and prayer. They have their human faults, but they also try to transcend their own weaknesses to try to love their neighbor as they love their God: they try to love their enemy, they try to forgive seventy times seven, they try to reach out to their community and help the poor and marginalized, they take time for prayer and quiet reflection. I’ve met these people in Catholic churches, in Evangelical churches, and now in Episcopalian churches. These Christians make it impossible for me to stereotype all Christians as being hypocrites or being all bad, as I know too many good Christians and have witnessed their struggles to lead good Christian lives.
So when I look at the Christian church, I see a lot of good and a lot of bad. The people in these churches are just people, no better and no worse than any other group of people, struggling with their own issues, trying in their own ways to understand and get closer to God. I’m in the same boat. I’m not all good or all bad. Sometimes I’ve done really good things and have had the courage to take strong stands to help people out. Sometimes I’ve hurt people and have been a real coward. I have struggles with faith and have real doubts about God. Then I think of Peter and his denial of Jesus. I think of St. Paul struggling with the thorn at his side. I think of Moses’s doubts and Jeremiah’s frustrations in being listened to. I think of the book of Ecclesiastes and Habukuk. And it makes me realize that even the people in the Bible struggled with God. I’ve grown to believe that being a truly religious person, means just being persistent.
Many years ago, when I attended an evangelical small group study, I learned that Christians naturally gravitate towards one of 4 different areas, based on what spiritual gifts that they are blessed with. Some Christians gravitate towards a more contemplative tradition, where they have a deep desire to live a life of prayer and spirituality. Some Christians are moved to a more analytic tradition, where they feel most at home studying the Bible and learning about theology. Some Christians are talented in the hospitality tradition, where they enjoy welcoming people to church and have a gift of evangelism. And some Christians are moved by the social justice tradition, where they feel a desire to fight for justice for the marginalized and the poor. All four of those Christian traditions are valid avenues for the Christian life.
The social justice tradition includes Christians like Martin Luther King Jr., William Sloane Coffin, Bayard Rustin, Dorothy Day, Mother Theresa, St. Francis. A person cannot read Jesus’ parables or look at who Jesus associated with or read the Old Testament prophets without concluding that God has a deep empathy for the suffering of the poor and the marginalized. Throughout my life, I’ve been most attracted to the social justice tradition of Christianity.
I think Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers were correct to put up a separation of Church and State in our country. Ken Poland is a Christian who has been very eloquent in arguing in his Everyday Citizen blogs on the necessity to keep our government a secular government, to not impose a Christian litmus test on office holders and to respect the diversity of nonChristian religions that make up the American landscape. I am deeply worried about the attempts by some conservative Christians to make our nation a “Christian nation”.
On the other hand, Christians have played important roles in many of the social movements that have made our nation a fairer, more democratic country. Christians played important roles in the abolitionist movement, the women’s suffragist movement, the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement. These Christians collaborated with Jews, atheists, Muslims, agnostics, socialists and others who shared a passion to fight injustice. They were able to fight for social justice without having to impose their religion on other people.
This Christmas I’m grateful for Jesus’ birth and for the life that he led and the people that he touched. I’m a Christian because there is still that fourteen year old inside of me who grew to love this Jesus who loved his enemies and reached out to the poor and the outcasts. This Jesus had a lot of courage to challenge the religious authorities and to accept the company of the type of people who would usually have been shunned by respectable people. He talked to rich people and poor people, he accepted fishermen and tax collectors, he showed sympathy to Roman officers and prostitutes. This egalitarian outlook on his part is one of the most appealing things to me. I think an egalitarian outlook is a truly religious outlook. It says that God loves all people, that we are all equally valued in God’s eyes.
Isaiah 58
(Dedicated to Jonathan Daniels, an Episcopalian priest who was killed while participating in the Freedom Summer civil rights campaign in 1964)
““Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Psalm 2:10-12
(Inspired by the Arab Spring in Egypt, where Coptic Christians and Muslims joined in protest)
Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear
and celebrate his rule with trembling.
Kiss his son, or he will be angry
and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Matthew 13:1-9
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Psalm 68:1-10
May God arise, may his enemies be scattered;
may his foes flee before him.
May you blow them away like smoke—
as wax melts before the fire,
may the wicked perish before God.
But may the righteous be glad
and rejoice before God;
may they be happy and joyful.
Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him—his name is the LORD.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families,
he leads out the prisoners with singing;
but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.
When you, God, went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness,
the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain,
before God, the One of Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
You gave abundant showers, O God;
you refreshed your weary inheritance.
Your people settled in it,
and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor.
Matthew 5:1-12
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
As the “Occupy Wall Street” protests have continued in the last couple of weeks, more religious people from many different religions have begun to join and make their presence felt. This is important, as religious people have made important contributions to past movements for social change, such as the civil rights movement, the woman’s suffrage movement, the abolition movement, and the labor movement. The three Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, have especially have a historic concern for the plight of the poor and the marginalized that fits well with the concerns of the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters. Religious figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Rabbi Joshua Heschel, Malcolm X, Bayard Rustin, James Farmer, William Sloane Coffin, Pauli Murray, and others have all fought for similar economic justice issues that the “Occupy Wall Street” protests are fighting for today.
Religion might not fit into the movement seamlessly, but activist Dan Sieradski, who’s helped organize Jewish services and events at Occupy Wall Street, said it must fit somewhere.
“We’re a country full of religious people,” he said. “Faith communities do need to be present and need to be welcomed in order for this to be an all-encompassing movement that embraces all sectors of society.”
Religious imagery and events have been common since the protests began. In New York, clergy carried an Old Testament-style golden calf in the shape of the Wall Street bull to decry the false idol of greed. Sieradski organized a Yom Kippur service. About 70 Muslims kneeled to pray toward Mecca at a prayer service Friday.
A Chicago group, Interfaith Worker Justice, has published an interfaith prayer service guide for occupation protests nationwide.
Clergy who support the protests say they are a natural fit with many faiths, because they share traditional concerns about economic injustice. They also point to history, including the civil rights movement and abolition.
“Every movement for social change that has really made a difference has included the power of God, the power of the spirit and the power of people of conscience,” said the Rev. Stephanie Sellers, one of the Episcopalian “protest chaplains” praying with protesters at different sites.
Occupy Wall Street and its regional cohorts, Suskin said, are an “American movement for justice, and as far as I can see the people around us recognize that Jews are Americans just as they are, and there isn’t, as far as I can tell, any evidence that the 1% term is any kind of coded message about Jews.”
In fact, organizers said, the protests afford American Jews an opportunity to rethink their relationship to their own religion. One of the organizers of Occupy Judaism, Daniel Sieradski, was involved in putting together the New York Kol Nidre service by the protest site which attracted between 700 and 1,000 participants last week. Siedradski called such services “civil disobedient davening (praying).”
“It started with one Tweet and got 1,000 people,” Sieradski said, adding that New York’s Kol Nidre Occupy service was traditional egalitarian, and included secular and ultra-Orthodox Jews alike.
Sieradski called the Occupy movements “one of the most exciting things to happen in American Judaism.”
“We’re giving people an outlet through which to express their Jewish values that no other Jewish institution has been able to provide them with,” Sieradski said, adding that he hopes that the long-term momentum of the movement will lead Jews to “occupy our own Jewish institutions, rendering them responsive and accountable to the needs of the community.”
“Most Jewish institutions are dominated by their wealthiest donors, whose views might not be in line with that of the wider Jewish community,” Sieradski said. “It’s our community and our tradition as much as it is anybody’s, and they need to make space for us.”
Ideally, Sieradski said, the Occupy Judaism movement will have the effect of “making our tradition a living, breathing justice movement.”
Joining the ranks of fellow Americans in protesting economic inequality, US Muslim groups have thrown their weight behind the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest movement against social injustice in the United States.
“We as Muslim New Yorkers are here today because we are in solidarity and support of Occupy Wall Street,” said Linda Sarsour, director of the Arab-American Association.
A number of Muslims associated with the New York Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the local Islamic Leadership Council have gathered earlier this week to support the protest movement against social justice and economic inequality in the US.
Here are some videos of religious people and groups involved in the Occupy Wall Street protests around the country.
A VIDEO OF AN INTERFAITH GATHERING AT THE OCCUPY WALL STREET LOCATION
A VIDEO OF A CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT JOINING OCCUPY ATLANTA
A VIDEO OF PASTOR WILLIE AND THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY AT THE OCCUPY THE HOOD AND OCCUPY TROY GATHERINGS.
A VIDEO OF A JEWISH GROUP GATHERING IN A SUKKAH IN OCCUPY LOS ANGELES
A VIDEO OF A JEWISH GROUP AT A SUKKAH IN ZUCCOTTI PARK FOR OCCUPY WALL STREET
A VIDEO OF MUSLIM GROUPS AT OCCUPY WALL STREET
A VIDEO OF MUSLIMS HOLDING A PRAYER DAY AT OCCUPY WALL STREET
A VIDEO OF BISHOP ANDREW GENTRY OF OCCUPY ASHEVILLE
A VIDEO OF CAMPUS CHAPLAIN ROGER WOLSEY AT OCCUPY DENVER
TWO VIDEOS OF THE PROTEST CHAPLAINS AT OCCUPY WALL STREET AND OCCUPY BOSTON
The cartoon character Jasper is based on my own cat named Jasper. He’s a bit of a fat cat, around 18 pounds or so, and he’s a really nice if lazy cat. He’s spends most of the time sitting near the window, soaking up the sun. In the mornings, he scratches the door to get me to wake up to feed him food. So we’ve put Jasper and the other cat, Gracie, in the other room with food and water and closed the door so he can’t wake me up. Everyone in the apartment complex seems to know him well. The other cats sometimes hiss at Jasper, but Jasper just stares and doesn’t really take the other cats seriously. Since he’s about twice as big as those other cats, I don’t think he feels threatened.
The December 2008 edition of the Catholic Worker has an article by Cathy Breen about the situation of Iraqi refugees who have fled to Syria. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Syria has over 1.2 million Iraqi residents with valid valid visas. Approximately 220,000 Iraqi refugees have been registered by the UN High Commission for Refugees. Breen found many Iraqis living in destitution, struggling to come up with the money to meet the rent and pay for food, as well as pay for the Syrian visas. Finding work to earn a livelihood is among the greatest challenges that many refugees face.
