| Vaccine Access, Reparations, Voting Rights, & the Hagia Sophia
NCC Newsletter July 23, 2021 |
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We gather here not only to mourn and remember the more than four million people who have died around the world due to covid related illnesses but to insist, to demand, that vaccines be provided immediately to everyone around the world.
Presently, there are entire nations that do not have access to these vaccines. That is unacceptable.
Lord, we lift up those to whom we assign numbers but who are real people—family, friends, loved ones. I invite you now to lift up names of those you have lost to the pandemic.
Let us pause to remember those who have lost their lives to covid-19. These are real people. If you love someone, you miss them your whole life.
The pandemic is not an African or an Asian or an American problem; it is a global problem. Because our movement for global vaccine distribution is deeply spiritual, we are connected to everyone in the world.
As president the NCC, I hear directly from faith leaders around the world regarding the terrible toll covid continues to take on their nations. While we in this nation have the luxury of plentiful access to vaccines and many actually refuse—for a variety of reasons—to avail themselves of the opportunity to protect themselves from the virus, countless millions around the world are desperate for the protection the vaccine affords.
I thank the scientists who quickly created the vaccines that have saved many lives. Once those vaccines were created, the formulas, the knowhow, the methods, should have been shared widely across the globe. When we are in the midst of a pandemic those vaccines should be owned by the human family not by corporations who profit from them. That is simply selfishness and greed.
Power is the ability to provide or withhold. We are standing today on the National Mall of the most powerful nation in the world. This nation possesses the power to provide vaccines or withhold them. We stand between the Capitol and the White House as people of faith to state that this is an easy choice: we must provide the vaccine to everyone, and we must do it now.
We have been in the streets countless times over the years as people of faith insisting on justice because, as William Sloane Coffin once said, “The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.”
Yesterday, a few blocks from here nearly 100 of our sisters were arrested at a women’s march while advocating for legislation to protect voting rights and demanding relief for marginalized and impoverished Americans.
Our struggle today is linked with theirs. This is direct action during a desperate worldwide crisis. We’re not messing around. When we as people of faith show up it sends a message.
We’re here to drive the narrative. We’re here on serious business, life-saving business, holy business.
The pandemic is still raging. It is not over. Hospitalizations are surging here and around the world. And yet there are many who won’t even wear masks, who will engage in fistfights on airplanes, and who will protest against mask mandates while hundreds of millions of our sisters and brothers are pleading for help that we can provide.
Are we indifferent? Are we beyond caring? We here today say “no” and we will not cease. We will not give up.
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| | | NCC Statement Decrying the Recent Rise in Antisemitism |
| | The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) is saddened and disturbed by the increase in incidents of antisemitism in recent months. With the uptick in hate crimes against ethnic minorities and communities of color in our country – whether Black, Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander, Indigenous, or others – and against faith communities – including Muslim and Sikh – it is not surprising that the Jewish community is also being attacked by bigoted individuals and hate groups. For this, we grieve and together with the Jewish community, we pray:
But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.
With your faithful help rescue me
from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
Psalm 69: 13-14 (NRSV)
The National Council of Churches issued a statement against antisemitism in December 2019, after our National Jewish-Christian Dialogue convened in Pittsburgh to commemorate the one-year anniversary of another hate crime, the killings at the Tree of Life Synagogue, and to mourn the victims of that shooting. Today, we deeply deplore the spread of hateful invective and hostile acts that target our Jewish brothers and sisters in ways large and small. It is not lost on us that the perpetrators of such evil are often Christian, if not in genuine faith, then in self-identification.
Antisemitism does not stop with obvious words and acts of hostility directly aimed at Jews. Sometimes, it underlies the pronouncements made in other areas of our civic life. Who can separate out the sentiments of demonstrators who chant “Jews will not replace us!” from the thoughts of government leaders who have the audacity to characterize the Covid-19 vaccination program in terms rooted in the Holocaust? These shameful instances must be publicly rejected by all.
Some of the recent upsurge in antisemitism appears to be based on the armed conflict a few months ago between Israelis and Palestinians. But while persons may disagree on the causes and outcomes of such conflict, the disagreement is not a reason to allow our worse angels to emerge and our civic discourse to degenerate into hatefulness and violence.
Our Jewish friends and neighbors know we have them in our hearts, and that we hold them in prayer, during these difficult days. Today and always, we will continue to stand with them, and with all people of goodwill, against the serious danger of antisemitism in our society. |
| | | Watch This Week's Episode of Faith & Fire
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| | | The Faith and Fire Conversation 2.0 recorded on Wednesday, July 21, 2021 addressed Faithful Democracy, US Voting Rights, and DC Statehood with panelists Quincy Howard, OP, Government Relations Advocate for NETWORK; Bo Shuff, Execcutive Director of DC Vote; and Breon Wells, Founder of the Daniel Initiative. Moderator: Minister Christian S. Watkins, NCC Justice Advocacy and Outreach Manager. |
| | | Reparations: A Moral & Spiritual Responsibility |
| On Thursday, July 22, 2021, NCC co-hosted a webinar with Religions for Peace USA, entitled Reparations: A Moral & Spiritual Responsibility, which featured Rev. Dr. Michael C.R. Nebors who spoke about the reparations program in Evanston, IL, first U.S. city to pay reparations to Black residents.
Rev. Aundreia Alexander, Esq., NCC Associate General Secretary for Action and Advocacy for Justice and Peace, participated and spoke about where we are on the issue and why this is a spiritual and moral call.
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| | | | A year after the Hagia Sophia of Istanbul was officially converted to a mosque by Turkish government leaders, NCC President and General Secretary, Jim Winkler, and NCC Governing Board member, Archbishop Vicken Aikazian of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, spoke at Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC. During the service, NCC Governing Board member, Archbishop Elpidophoros Hierarch of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America gave prayers. The Armenian Mirror Spectator reported on "Remembering the Hagia Sophia." |
| | | NCC Advocacy Letters Signed This Week |
| Faith-based Letter to President Biden on Global Vaccine Access LINK
Joint Statement and Call to Action on the Crisis in Haiti LINK
Letter to President Biden Calling for the protection of part of the Tonto National Forest held sacred by the San Carlos Apache Tribe and also the Yavapai, Hopi, Zuni, and many other Tribes in the Southwest. LINK
Letter to President Biden Calling For new path forward in U.S.-Cuban relations published in the New York Times LINK |
| | | COVID-19 Pandemic Response: |
| | Joining Together to Encourage Vaccinations |
| | From a rural area of New York state to the entire state of Missouri, local church leaders are coordinating efforts and jointly issuing letters that ask all Christians to get vaccinated.
Working together in the face of vaccine hesitancy in Oswego, NY, local church ministers published a guest editorial in The Owego Pennysaver that was signed by Gospel Chapel, First Presbyterian Union Church, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, and First Baptist Church.
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| | | | United Church of Christ on Palestine |
| | The United Church of Christ’s 33rd General Synod, held virtually from July 11-18, adopted a resolution, “Declaration for a Just Peace between Palestine and Israel.” The resolution is described as establishing "a new plumbline (a theological concept used by the prophet Amos) for the UCC’s engagement with the issue of Israel/Palestine." The committee that considered the resolution had recommended delegates approve an amended version after debate over the use of “apartheid” and “sin.” |
| | | | Conference of European Churches on Flood Response |
| | In the aftermath of severe flooding that struck a number of European countries in mid-July, general secretary Dr Jørgen Skov Sørensen of the Conference of European Churches stated, “To our member churches in the flood affected countries, we convey our prayers and solidarity, especially to those mourning their loved ones, as well as rescue teams, striving to help people in need.” The CEC has shared information on what churches are doing and how people can help (German). |
| | | Middle East Council of Churches On Lebanon |
| | Dr Michel Abs, secretary general of the Middle East Council of Churches, spoke about living conditions in Lebanon. In a video interview with the World Council of Churches, he "honestly shared his deepest concerns about the current socio-economic crisis in his nation, and how churches are helping." |
| | | Circle of Protection Letter to President Biden and Congress |
| Dear President Biden and members of Congress:
We write to you as the Circle of Protection, a coalition of church bodies and related ministries representing the diversity of Christianity in this country - Historic Black Churches, Hispanic Churches, Protestants and Evangelicals, Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Orthodox Churches, Pentecostals, and Peace Churches. Together, the church bodies in the Circle of Protection have close to 100 million members. We are united across theological, sociological, and political differences by our shared Christian faith and the motivation it inspires to make our nation and world more consistent with the fact that God loves all people, with a special concern for the poor and vulnerable, as our Scriptures remind us.
We welcome the announcement of a bipartisan infrastructure framework. Bipartisan collaboration and overdue investments in infrastructure are both good for the nation, and we are especially excited about the components of this package that would disproportionately benefit low-income people – such as universal broadband access, the replacement of the lead pipes that are poisoning many of our children, and improvements in public transportation. These are investments in the health and productivity of struggling communities. Many of our church members live and work in these communities. We are also struck by the fact that 90 percent of the jobs financed by the bipartisan infrastructure framework would not require a college degree. As faith leaders, we wholeheartedly support the focus on rebuilding infrastructure in a way that advances economic and racial equity for low-income people and families.
We also want to reiterate continued and deep support for a broad, ambitious recovery package that focuses on our human infrastructure (including housing, education, nutrition, health care, family care, and international aid) and addresses the systemic issues laid bare by the pandemic. We won’t all agree on every provision in the legislation that is being crafted, but we all see the need for major investments in the lives of low-income families. We are thrilled by how this year’s expansion of the Child Tax Credit will substantially reduce child poverty and want to see its expansion continued in future years. We continue to support strengthening nutrition programs and investments in affordable housing, rental assistance, and funding for tribal housing. We also, as a broad coalition of faith leaders, support financing these investments in our nation’s future with increased taxes on corporations and high-income individuals. We believe that asking the wealthiest in our society to support those families and children on the low end is both fair economically and right morally. This is a controversial point, but the God of the Bible urges nations to care for people in need and objects to extreme concentrations of wealth. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Jesus himself spoke out against the contrast between luxury for some and the neglect of people in poverty.
We also feel compelled to speak up together for voting rights legislation. One of the most fundamental and cherished rights in our American democracy is the right to vote. Faith communities are united in defense of democracy. Making voting accessible to all eligible voters is far more than a political issue. It has profound theological implications because this civil right affirms the inherent dignity and value of each person made in the image of God – imago dei. Election laws should make voting easier, not harder, while protecting the transparency and integrity of the voting, counting and certification processes. Attempts to restrict voting rights often disproportionately impact communities of color. We hope and pray that legislators from both parties can again work together on this issue of basic justice and theological conviction.
The Hebrew prophets taught that nations are sometimes called to make big changes, and we have come to prayerful agreement that now is such a time for our nation. We are still recovering from the pandemic, and we can do so in a way that also expands opportunity for all our people and helps protect our environment at the same time. We see this opportunity as a call from God. We pledge to pray for our leaders as they carry out their God-given responsibilities.
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| | | | Job Listings
Ecumenical Advocacy Days is hiring a Conference Coordinator for the April 2022 Virtual Advocacy Days event. The Conference Coordinator will build on the dynamic tradition established by previous annual meetings and be committed to facilitating an ongoing exploration of ways to make the 2022 event and future conferences even more exciting and powerful, with the goal of expanding our impact on the domestic and international policies we address. Experience in working with ecumenical relations and faith-based organizations, and a working knowledge of the denominational church world and familiarity with Christian theology is a plus. The EAD Conference Coordinator is a contracted position from September 1, 2021, through May 31st, 2022, with the possibility of an extension for future conferences as the budget allows and the contractual payment for this period is within the range of $55,000 – $70,000, depending on experience. Application deadline is August 13. Full job description for the Conference Coordinator
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| | | | Mark your calendars! NCC's annual Christian Unity Gathering (CUG) will be held virtually on October 11 - 12, 2021 with the theme, "In New Wineskins: From Pandemics to Possibilities to Promises," based on the scripture in Luke 5:37-39. |
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