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Seeking Justice


| Ecology, economy, empire | Human trafficking |


Ecology, economy, and empire

 

Churches consult on long-term response to Haiti devastation

The National Council of Churches has called its member communions to consult on April 6 on "pressing needs of Haiti and the deep sense of call to respond." The consultation will be held in the Washington D.C. church where Rosemari Sullivan is rector; she is under joint appointment by the National Council of Churches and the Episcopal Church to coordinate Haiti recovery work on behalf of the NCC.

People of faith remain on climate issues

After the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen the outcome has been pronounced disappointing and the message is, "We're not done yet." Jesse Mugambi, a Kenyan theologian and ecologist, warns that vulnerable communities have been left own their own to adapt to climate change or perish, with only God to count on, because of the conference's failure to agree to legally-binding commitments (ENI #10-0004). Now the World Council of Churches (WCC), World Vision, and Religions for Peace are among the major organizations that are partners in a continuing campaign by TckTckTck. The "hub" global alliance uses the model of offering branding and a toolset that can be used by others in their campaigns to educate and encourage supporters to demand action.

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People of faith were actively present in Copenhagen throughout. The World Council of Churches delegation got a hearing at its plenary on the last day. Desmond Tutu and activists from around the world earlier presented a global petition and pledges for climate change with over half a million signatures. On the Sunday of the conference, churches around the world rang their bells as an accompanying call for prayer and action; the archbishop of Canterbury preached at an "ecumenical celebration for creation" in Copenhagen's cathedral. At a public seminar on "creation and climate change," attended by the churches' representatives to the summit, speakers looked at theological insights in the face of the current ecological crisis. Among the contributors was Barbara Rossing (pictured), a professor at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

Note a statement by the WCC executive committee in February 2010. See materials of the "350 movement" on climate change, an interfaith effort also related to TckTckTck. Examine multiple statements on climate change made by religious organizations that have been collected together by the National Religious Campaign for Creation Care (NRCCC). Listen to interviews and presentations posted by the WCC, as well as looking at their videos and extensive reporting. See also resources from Church World Service and other faith groups, Green Faith: Interfaith Partners for the Environment, Britain's Operation Noah, the Lutheran World Federation (for youth and others) as well as PC(USA) resources.

Social networking site helps religious leaders hold "no fly" conference

Social networking technology on the web has helped religious leaders hold a "no fly" conference a month after the Copenhagen UN climate conference to discuss the practical role that faith, and in particular sacred texts, can play following the disappointment of Copenhagen. Taking information from a poll that showed a large percentage of their adherents want religious leaders to set an example and fly less, the conference was held entirely online, at FaithClimateConnect. The brainchild of the [British] Bible Society, the summit had a variety of speakers, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim. The public was able to view and participate. Faith Climate Connect is supported by Odyssey Networks, a U.S. coalition of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith groups dedicated to building bridges of understanding through media. Betty Elam, a one-time staff person of the Presbyterian Church, is an Odyssey board member.

Student writes prize essay on Calvin, ecology, and economy

A Yale Divinity School student from Korea, Eun Young Hwang, has won the World Alliance of Reformed Churches' (WARC) Lombard Prize for his essay examining today's environmental crisis in light of Calvin's theology. He described the self-regulated market as a "satanic mill" that transforms nature and humans into commodities, whereas Calvin, he said, proposed a different model in which individuals and creation should be treated as the "image of God."

"Change, Not Chains" pushes for responsible lending, debt cancellation

"Change, Not Chains," a campaign of the Jubilee USA organization, is urging the Obama administration to support expanded debt cancellation and to press Congress to pass the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation. Its web site provides "everything needed to help pass the Jubilee Act of 2010" — a flyer, postcards, suggestions for organizing communities, and a resource guide for churches' Sunday use. There is a place to send a message to members of Congress. Jubilee USA's network is an ecumenical mix including the Church World Service, the National Council of Churches, and the PC(USA).

World Council of Churches looks toward North American consultation

A North American consultation on "Poverty, wealth and ecological debt" will convene on November 5-9, 2011. It comes at the end of a process that has involved various regions globally in response to an action of the WCC 8th Assembly (1998) known as AGAPE ("Alternative Globalization Addressing People and Earth"). The background paper for the WCC's study process is "Poverty, wealth and ecology: The impact of economic globalization." See also a paper that comes out of a 2004 consultation held at the Stony Point conference center, "What does God require of us? A declaration of jus Puleng LenkaBula t trade in the service of an economy of life."

U.S. religious coalition advocates concerning the national budget, jobs

The Interreligious Working Group on Domestic Human Needs (DHN), an issue-based tables under the Washington Interreligious Staff Council, has recently issued a statement calling for the U.S. federal budget to address the deep issues of poverty and sent a letter calling on Congress to create jobs legislation. Its statement lists as "shared values" the meeting of the immediate needs of the most vulnerable, economic opportunity for all, and intergenerational responsibility. Groups issuing the most recent statement include the National Council of Churches, Church Women United, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; the PC(USA) Washington Office has also signed on. DHN had first addressed Obama when he was still president-elect of the U.S. and issued a faith reflection on the federal budget in mid-2009, which the PC(USA) also endorsed.

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Online curriculum helps churches examine economic justice

The North American Working Group for Covenanting for Justice, a grouping of churches related to the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, has prepared a curriculum available online. It contains five workshop modules that can be downloaded, complete with a facilitator's guide and online videos for use. The modules looks at globalization, climate change, farmworker wages, environmental justice and human rights, and faithful purchasing and the global sweatshop economy.

Additionally, a book written by a South African academic, Choose Life, Act in Hope by Puleng LenkaBula, is now available for use throughout the world. It is available through contacting the WARC offices by e-mailSeveral documents remain available:

See also the resolution on just globalization approved by the 217th General Assembly (2006) of thePresbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  

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Extensive materials for study of global ethics are available

An August 2008 statement, “Exploring the Reality and Theological Challenges of Ecology, Economy and Empire from Feminist Perspectives,” offers several recommendations. U.S. Presbyterians Rebecca Todd Peters and Margaret Aymer Oget attended the WARC/WCC consultation that produced the document.

The Geneva-based online Globethics.net network has amassed a large digital library particularly intended to assist persons in the global South who reflect on ethical issues, with attention to developing countries and countries in transition. Founded in 2004, the network's board members include PC(USA) member Heidi Hadsell (pictured left). Those who heard him when he was a part of an Interfaith Listening team will recall another board member, Muhammad Muchasin of Indonesia (pictured right).

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Christian Churches Together has offered forty biblical texts that highlight God's love for the poor.

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An evangelical environmental movement stays the course

The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) reaffirmed its policy priorities -- including the environment, human rights, and poverty -- when it rebuffed leaders of the Christian right who called it to silence its involvement that could shift emphasis away from the "great moral issues" of our time. Among environmental statements evangelicals have signed are:

Human trafficking

Human trafficking was recently highlighted

Victims of human trafficking are defined as those who are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of forced labor or sexual exploitation. An ecumenical conference at the end of September 2008 highlighted specific programs that can be used locally to counter this abuse, preferrably by ecumenical groupings. Conference participants included Presbyterians Una Stevenson, Betty Jones, Ann Hayman, Martha Bettis Gee, and Jon Chapman.

Ecumenical resources include:

* National Council of Churches (NCC) links to resources online, including a bulletin insert and a new hymn titled "People Held in Bondage"
* The NCC governing board's 2008 resolution on human trafficking

* A World Council of Churches (WCC) memorandum adopted several years ago

* Articles on human trafficking in the May 2007 issue of Contact, a WCC magazine

* A statement of a December 2007 international group organized by the WCC, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Council for World Mission with recommendations about both modern forms of slavery and the continued legacy of the former transatlantic trade

* The March 2008 issue of Reformed World, a publication of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), on "Do not submit again to the yoke of slavery" (guest editor PC(USA) associate stated clerk Robina Winbush)

See also a presentation by Siddharth Kara through the auspices of the Carnegie Council in which he presents material from his experience of writing a book, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. * In Horizons, the magazine for PC(USA) women, find an article on sexual exploitation by Una Stevenson (May-June 2008 issue) and another on U.S. farm workers by PC(USA) staff woman Noelle Damico (November-December 2008 issue). Look for additional Horizons articles in its March-April 2010 issue.

The PC(USA) has offered to make human trafficking awareness training available to presbyteries. See the story of a recent event. See a downloadable bulletin insert for congregations.

Trafficking connected to tourism

One action and advocacy group, ECPAT-USA (or End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), is an outgrowth of an Asian ecumenical effort to End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism. Presbyterian Perry Woottten (pictured) has served on the ECPAT-USA board. A workshop on the exploitation of children was conducted at the 2009 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women in Louisville, Kentucky on July 11-15.

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