Greetings JPANet Advocates,
It has been another fast-changing legislative year, full of twists and turns, and it is only August! There is no doubt that your voices, messages, action and faithful witness for justice have made a difference! Over the last several months of 2022, you have taken action on climate justice, gun violence prevention, criminal justice reform, immigration, LGBTQ equality, defense of human rights around the world, reproductive justice, hate crimes and federal budget policy, to name but a few.
Read MoreFor the UCC’s next Creation Justice webinar, our special guest will be Lynn Thorp who serves as the National Campaigns Director for Clean Water Action. She will discuss how we can make effective and equitable strides in reducing water pollution, including exposure to toxic substances such as the highly toxic “forever” chemicals found in almost everyone’s blood in the U.S.
Even if you can’t make the scheduled time of 1 pm ET on Wednesday, August 10th, still sign-up, and we will send you a recording. Register now!
Read MoreIs Your Church “Willing to Respond” in a Disaster?
Does your congregation desire to be more prepared for disasters, both to protect yourselves and to extend love to your neighbors in time of crisis? Then Willing to Respond is for you!
Willing to Respond will help your congregation review its experience, available resources and community context; discern your growing edges, and get ready to respond when disaster strikes. The Willing to Respond network helps your congregation get connected to collaborate.
Read MoreWe are calling on Congress to pass H.R.1185, “Embracing the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).” The TPNW is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons with its goal being their total elimination.
This resolution calls on the United States to take concrete steps toward reducing the threat of nuclear war, like taking our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert as well as working with other nuclear-armed states to eliminate our nuclear arsenals. This resolution is only a first step, but it’s an important one towards a just and peaceful world for all. Take action now and contact your legislators.
Read MoreWalk, roll, run, jog, advocate, or spiritually sprint wherever you are! You may choose to do the dash with your neighbors, friends, family, church, or on your own. You’re encouraged to do the 5K anytime between August 1 and August 31, 2022.
Make plans to join us today! Register now.
Check out the daily action calendar, too.
Read MoreWe must continue to demand that all our leaders take immediate and bold action to address the climate crisis. They must pass legislation that transitions us fully to a renewable energy-fueled economy so that we can reduce our emissions by 2030. This should be done by including the climate change investments in the reconciliation bill. Congress must also ensure environmental justice while doing so and pass the Environmental Justice For All Act (H.R. 2021).
Now is the time for us to come together and lift our collective voice to hold Congress to account to meeting the needs of the people. We must also call on our neighbors to join us. There is simply no time to waste.
Read MoreHope House of Sedona has found a new house manager, and have interviewed families that are ready to move in.
"The dream is becoming a reality." -Gale Lothrop
Read MoreMission Dash is a virtual 5K that you can complete any time during the month of August. We encourage you to run, walk, roll, or spiritually sprint while raising money for our global partners working on climate justice projects. In addition to the 5K, we will also have a daily action calendar of just a few things you can do at home, in your community, in our country, and around the world to support climate justice. Not every person will be able to do every action, but we hope you will take the actions you can during August and then turn those actions into habits.
Read MoreThe Southwest Conference hosted Now What? Informing, Educating, and Mobilizing Progressive Churches for Reproductive Rights on Saturday, July 9. You can view the video recording, chat, and a written summary.
Panelists included:
Frank Fox, SWC Attorney
Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson, National Staff/Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Joan Lamunyon Sanford, Executive Director/NM Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Karen Richter, Our Whole Lives Educator
Rev. Dr. Barbara Doerrer-Peacock, Associate Conference Minister
Read MoreThe Southwest Conference is welcome to attend. Register here.
Read MoreClick here to read the July 2022 newsletter from the UCC’s Justice & Peace Action Network.
This month UCC Washington D.C. Office Domestic Policy Advocate, Katie Adams, offers a helpful overview of the monumental decisions made by the Supreme Court this month.
Read MoreOklahoma v. Castro-Huertas overturned decades of jurisprudence and practice in concluding that “the Federal Government and the State have concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by non-Indians against Indians in Indian country.” This cuts to the heart of tribal sovereignty, which asserts that only the native tribes or the federal government can prosecute alleged crimes committed on tribal land (often called “Indian Country” in legal documents).
Read MoreStories this week from the national setting. To subscribe, go here.
Read MoreA smattering of upcoming UCC digital programming.
Read MoreHere’s a list of resources including stories, advocacy actions, and theological and liturgical grounding for prayerfully considering the issues around reproductive justice. There are worship resources to use in your congregation as we process this news and in preparation for the next part of this struggle, a social media and messaging toolkit, and links to past UCC actions on reproductive health access. We hope this will complement the work many of you are already doing and that these resources can be shaped and molded to suit your particular needs and community.
Read MoreMany are rightly shocked by the Supreme Court’s repudiating the constitutional right to reproductive choice. Less surprising is the Supreme Court’s recent history of saying anything, however contradictory, to get to a desired result. Because issues of constitutional law are not always easily understood, some explanation is helpful, but it is also likely to cause further shock over the Supreme Court’s disingenuous philosophies of legal interpretation called “originalism” and “textualism.”
Read MoreConference Minister Rev. Bill Lyons will be the emcee for the July 7 press conference to be held in the Rose Garden of the AZ State Capitol and would be overjoyed to introduce you as we stand together that day to protect Arizonans from predatory debt collection.
Read MoreThe Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice put together this stunning video of our Associate Conference Minister Barb Doerrer-Peacock's poem.
She writes, "Thank you all who added your voices to my words! It's very humbling. Let us not be narrowed by our own fears, misunderstandings, our "small" selves that seek control. But let us be open to how intertwined are the great inseparable gifts of BOTH life AND choice, and persevere to preserve them."
Read MoreA pop-up shelter for asylum seekers being dropped off by ICE in Phoenix will open July 5. This shelter is needed to increase capacity and relieve over-crowding at the Welcome Center already operating. This is a cooperative effort. Immediate needs include 125 twin blankets, a full-size washer and dryer, and monetary support to purchase water bottles, towels, hygiene products, snacks, and undergarments for women, men, and children.
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