Latest News - California Council of Churches

Join a Community Discussion on Hate Crimes in our area - Thursday, October 19 from 6-8 pm

10/12/2017

Dear Friends,

There is no doubt we live in tense and dangerous times. The rise of hate crimes and incidents has escalated to unprecedented levels.

Recent and ongoing events in Elk Grove have created fear and anxiety in many people, and it is upon us in the faith community to find ways to address these events, call upon authorities to take hate crimes and incidents seriously, and to end the hate where and when we can.
Please be invited to a community discussion and forum Thursday, October 19 from 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Speak Up and Out Against Racism and Injustice.
Elk Grove United Methodist Church
8986 Elk Grove Boulevard
Elk Grove CA 95624

Discussion leaders will be LaKenya Jordan, MPH and Addie Ellis, PhD, both experienced problem solvers and discussion facilitators within our community.

From vile messages and vandalism at an Elk Grove African American hair salon to racist graffiti scrawled on a local home, hate incidents and crimes have not mobilized the authorities to take action on these obvious hate crimes. Too often authorities have dismissed these hate crimes as acts of juveniles as if that makes a difference. It doesn’t.

Such acts are a warning – the canary in the coal mine – that tell us something is terribly wrong in our town. They too often are precursors to greater and more deadly violence. We cannot allow this to escalate! Our public safety officials and government leaders must take these incidents seriously!

Please join us even if you’re not from Elk Grove to lift voices of concern and possible solution to this danger that confronts us. Please also come to assure the victims they have our care.

This event is sponsored by California Council of Churches, Elk Grove UMC, Sacramento NAACP, and California Church IMPACT, and the South County African American Coalition. Please join us for this important community action.

Hope to see you there!

This is not over - faithful witness for a just America

8/16/2017

Dear Friends,

Charlottesville was not the end. It was the beginning.

The vicious hate we saw displayed last weekend began Friday night with events largely unmarked by media – groups of peaceful people of faith, standing in witness for justice and equality, were assaulted, spat on, jeered. A synagogue with Friday night celebrants, faced an armed group standing across the street, intentions unknown.

The events on Saturday repeated the violence. A death occurred – a hate crime as it is now being investigated – and two police officers died when their helicopter crashed while monitoring the events unfolding below. Both officers also died.

And into this yesterday we had our president affirm his acceptance of and support for this vicious display of racism, anti-Semitism, fascism.

This is not over. These are not normal times. This is not normal American politics.

We are being called on as rarely before to bear witness for American values of inclusion, equity, anti-fascism, and democracy. It is terribly scary since we tend not to be violent people and have scant knowledge of how to confront violence.

But we cannot be silent. We cannot turn away.

We turn to an excellent ecumenical statement from Called to Resist (calledtoresist.org) that laid out our role as people of faith:

As Martin Luther King Jr. put it, “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state but rather the conscience of the state.”

Yes, Call to Resist is a direct critique of our president, but if we do not call out the perfidy of his dreadful racism, xenophobia, proto fascism, and other sins, then who will?

But we must remember he did not cause the racism – he is a manifestation of it. The sin of racism and hate of “the other” is as much a part of our history as is the dynamic of inclusive and loving change. Those exist, side-by-side and always have in America.

We are thus called to stand against the hate, the fear, the selfish greed that drives the rage against fully inclusive democracy.

You don’t have to put your body on the line to make a difference. You don’t have to be a part of a dangerous situation. You do have to speak out, make your views on loving inclusiveness manifest.

We recommend that an excellent guide from the best anti-racist, anti-hate group we know, the Southern Poverty Law Center, become part of your personal and congregational discussion on what to do and how to do it.

You can find the link here

We urge you to find your own voice and strength, however it works – from continued phone calls to care for victims of hate such as scrubbing off hateful graffiti, to quiet but forceful presence at city council and county meetings.

Whatever you do, however you do it – do something. Be silent no more. Our survival not just as a nation but as a nation of justice is at stake.

We need you. America needs you.

Thank you.

Join our webinar July 12 on the impacts of overturning separation of church and state

7/3/2017

Dear Friends:

One crucial and under-scrutinized component of President Trump's tax reform package concerns the Johnson Amendment, which guarantees that nonprofits — including churches and religious organizations — cannot endorse candidates for election.

This law, named after then-Senator Lyndon Johnson and signed by President Eisenhower, protects nonprofits from being pressured by donors to support particular candidates in any election. (Nonprofits can take positions on propositions, but not on candidates.)

On Wednesday, July 12th at 10AM (PDT), CalNonprofits and the California Council of Churches will be presenting a fast-paced webinar to educate church and nonprofit members, staff, and board members about who supports and who opposes repeal of the Johnson Amendment, and what the arguments are on each side.

We’re pleased that the National Council of Nonprofits — which is tracking the issue closely in Washington — will be on hand to explain the specifics of the Johnson Amendment and give an up-to-the-minute status report.

Key topics:
• What is the Johnson Amendment and why is it so important to the nonprofit community?
• What are the various groups supporting and opposing repeal, and what are their reasons?
• What are the projections for whether repeal will succeed?
• What steps are nonprofits, religious organizations and foundations taking?

Speakers:
Nancy Berlin, Policy Director, CalNonprofits
The California Council of Churches (speaker to be announced)
David L. Thompson, Vice President of Public Policy, National Council of Nonprofits
Tiffany L. Gourley, State Policy Counsel, National Council of Nonprofits

To register for this important webinar as either a Cal Nonprofit member or non-member, please click here

https://calnp.memberclicks.net/webinar71217#/

We hope you will join us for the important and timely look at an issue critical to us all.

Thank you.

Blessed Ramadan - download and print or buy a sign of affirmation

5/24/2017

Dear Friends:

With another horror of extremism in our midst, we are also coming up on the blessed season of Ramadan, the holiest time for our Muslim neighbors. Extremism is on the rise both globally and in our own human family as people use the acts of the few to target the many. Hate crimes and distrust of our Muslim allies and neighbors have increased over 1000%.

We need to show that not all of us hate. We need to offer support to our Muslim neighbors, even those unknown to us personally. Therefore we are sharing some of the work of our state ecumenical ally, the Minnesota Council of Churches who give us a simple way to do this. There is also a story attached from one of their clergy that shows how much such actions can change people's hearts and minds.

Ramadan begins at sunset this Friday night, May 26. Never was there a better moment to put love ahead of hate.

A #BlessedRamadan sign is a catalyst

"To our Muslim neighbors, Blessed Ramadan." It's just a lawn sign. Yet it is a door to so much more. Last year one person who posted a Blessed Ramadan sign in their front yard had a relationally transformative experience with his delivery man as a result. Read the story here. Learn how to acquire a sign here.

https://mncouncilofchurches.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/a-blessedramadan-conversation/

A Blog from the Minnesota Council of Churches

A #BlessedRamadan conversation
June 20, 2016

This story, stemming from a Blessed Ramadan sign, brought tears to audience members at a luncheon last week. It came to us from a metro area clergyperson:

Today I wasn’t home when our groceries were delivered. My husband was home.
When he answered the door, the delivery man asked, “Is that your sign?”
My husband said yes, although to be honest he most likely wouldn’t put up a sign if I weren’t here to ask him to because he likes his privacy and prefers not to draw attention.
My husband and the delivery man had a 20 minute discussion – with the delivery man first challenging the sign in light of what happened in Orlando over the weekend. My husband explained that our Muslim neighbors are as horrified as we all are by that act of hate and violence. He explained that his wife is a pastor and that in our family we focus on loving people, honoring that people believe different things, and being good neighbors. And none of our neighbors think it’s okay to kill 50 people.
By the time the man left to deliver the rest of the groceries in his truck, he asked my husband if at our church this weekend we would be talking about how to love people even when you are kind of afraid or confused. My husband said, probably since in some way we talk about that most weeks. The man asked where our church is and said maybe he’ll stop by. He said, “God bless you AND your neighbors,” as he walked away.
May God offer continued blessings on your ministry.
http://mnchurches.org/respectfulcommunities/interfaithprogramming/BlessedRamadanSigns.html

Blessed Ramadan is Back!
Now, more than ever, it is time to speak up. Join the Minnesota Council of Churches in showing respect for our Muslim neighbors, as we wish them a #BlessedRamadan.
Extend your goodwill with a #BlessedRamadan lawn sign.

How can I get a lawn sign?
Order or print your own lawn signs locally.
Download our design from the links above and send it to a local printer near you or do your own. They do best on 11 x 17 paper.

Order signs directly from Impact Printing in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The 18 x 24-inch signs are $8 each, including the accompanying metal stands, and the buyer can either pick up the signs directly or pay for shipping. Call Impact Printing at (651) 489-0803, or visit their website.

Fill out our online form to request signs and donate to the Minnesota Council of Churches today!
We suggest a donation of $16 for each sign (including the stand), plus $11 for the cost of shipping, if applicable. Signs are available for pick-up or delivery.
Are you requesting signs on behalf of a congregation or organization? Click on "Promotional Tips" on the sidebar for some helpful hints for your congregation.
Have questions? Maybe we already answered them--visit our Frequently Asked Question page to find out.
We at the California Council of Churches thank our Minnesota friends for sharing this information.

Please take advantage of this simple way to make a powerful statement of humanity.

Thank you!

Follow the advice of the real Mother Jones!

3/20/2017

Dear Friends:

What we have heard today from a Congressional investigation may be one of the most troubling things our nation has ever faced. It matters not at all how you voted or whom you supported. We have evidence that another nation systematically tampered with our 2016 election, and that is a danger to our entire nation and its basic democratic process.

To preserve justice, we are now called to increase the momentum and depth of our work as people who believe in a just, moral, and democratic society. We know these revelations are shocking and painful, especially if, down the road, we find there was collusion between Russia and Amrican citizens. That would be horrific.

The must not let this defeat us in sorrow. We need to keep going, keep working, keep believing in our nation's essential justice.

We believe first in the example of Christ's courage. He knew, walking into Jerusalem knowing that he faced violence, opposition, even death. And he did it anyway. That profound courage is our guidestar.

We have examples in our modern life of those who put everything they had on the line for justice.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew he "may not get to the promised land" but kept on fighting for human and civil rights anyway. Dolores Huerta lost her spleen standing for farm workers while Cesar Chavez damaged his health with long fasts to send a message about the importance of justice for immigrant and local workers.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, having followed a largely quiet scholarly life and just finding the love of his life, nevertheless gave up his own life to oppose Hitler and the horrors of genocide.

In 1980 three nuns, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, and Dorothy Kazel plus Catholic lay worker Jean Donovan, were raped and murdered as they stood for justice for the poor in El Salvador.

The "Miner's Angel", known as Mother Jones, lost her entire family in one week, taken by Yellow Fever. She turned her incredible personal sorrow into action for miners whose life was despicably hard.

And it is from her we take an important rallying call:

"Pray for the dead. Fight like hell for the living!"

We likely will never be called to sacrifice our lives as our heroes and heroines have done. But this moment in history calls us to commitment nonetheless.

We at the Council and IMPACT won't stop, no matter what the issue, whatever the opposition. We hope you will do the same.

This time in our nation's history is critical. We could lose all we cherish of our democracy, or we could win it, improve it, enlarge it, make our nation finally more inclusive and just. It's really up to us. We can mourn, or we can act. We hope you will choose the latter, howsoever you can.

It is a time of worry and sorrow, but it's also a moment for spiritual renewal and recommitment to justice.

We hope you will continue to stand with us, strong in the conviction that we can keep our nation's promise, keep the dream and hope alive.

Thank you!

Sanctuary Trainings in Northern CA

2/15/2017

From our Friends at Interfaith Mobilization 4 Human Integrity:

Two months of opportunities for discussions, trainings, and actions to protect immigrant families and preserve our democracy!

Please feel invited and join in when and where you can.

Dear Friends!

Here are several upcoming training and workshop opportunities for ways we can be prepared in the face of increased Immigration Enforcement.   Please scroll below for workshops taking place for faith and community members in Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward. There will be more of these in the months to come.

1) A Workshop on Accompanying Newly Arrived Migrant Families. Hear from several of our seasoned "accompaniment teams" and new migrant youth and families....what they've learned, offered and received in the process.

2) A Dynamic Popular Theater Workshop on Faithful Nonviolence and Deportation Defense...for people engaged in Sanctuary, Accompaniment, Hospitality and Rapid Response

Please spread the word! We look forward to seeing you soon.

Sunday, February 19th 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Workshop on Accompaniment Teams
Learn how you can support newly arrived migrant families and youth.
Location: Kehilla Synagogue 1300 Grand Avenue, Piedmont, CA 94610

Faithful Nonviolence & Deportation Defense
(Know Your Rights) Interactive Training & Popular Theater
(Bilingual - translation provided)
February 26th - 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Location: Primera Iglesia Presbyterian Hispana,
1941 High St., Oakland

Hands-on training- what to do in case of ICE
Practicing scenarios of Sanctuary and Nonviolent resistance
Spiritual resources in a time of fear and oppression.

For people engaged in: Sanctuary, Accompaniment, Hospitality & Deportation Defense
Light dinner will be provided. (donations accepted)

Please RSVP to sanctuary@im4humanintegrity.org

Other Upcoming Events & Actions

Friday, February 17th, 9:30 -11 - Walnut Creek
Multifaith Immigration Coalition for Action- Contra Costa County Organizing Mtg.
Mt, Diablo UU Church, 55 Eckley Lane, Walnut Creek

Monday, Feb. 20th, 9:30 am -3 pm - Berkeley
United Methodist Conference with Bishop Minerva Carcaño
Forum on Immigration: Advocacy, Sanctuary Today
Epworth United Methodist Church 1953 Hopkins St, Berkeley

Tuesday, February 21st 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm - San Francisco
Forum: Sanctuary as Love of Neighbor
University of San Francisco, Building McLaren 250, San Francisco
San Francisco Sanctuary Congregations Organizing Meeting - 6-8 pm (Romero Room, USF- following the event)

Saturday, February 25th 9:00 am - 12:00 pm - Hayward
Labor & Community Know Your Rights Training in HAYWARD
Carpenter's Hall: 1050 Mattox Rd, Hayward

February 26th - 9:30 am - Pinole
Worship Service & Sanctuary Forum
Christ the Lord, 592 Tennent Ave. Pinole

**** February 26th - 3:00 pm-7:00 pm ****
Faithful Nonviolence & Deportation Defense (Know Your Rights) Interactive Training & Popular Theater
Location: Primera Iglesia Presbyterian Hispana, 1941 High St., Oakland

Friday, March 3rd - 12 Noon - SF
1 Year Anniversary Vigil for Berta Caceres (martyr of Honduras)
SF Federal Buiilding, 90 7th St., SF

Saturday, March 4th - Monthly Immigration Vigil at Richond Detention Center
11 am- 12 noon
5555 Giant Highway, RIchmond CA
This month will be led by Bishop O'Dowd High School students

Save The Date: Faith Rooted Organizing Training

Sunday March 12, 2:00-5:30* Monday March 13, 9:00 am - 4:00 p.m. in Oakland.

OTHER RESOURCES:

Hotline to Report ICE Activity: ICE -Out- Of California: 1-844-878-7801

Sanctuary Info on the Web: im4humanintegrity.org

Sign up for Action Alerts- Bay Area Wide - bayresistance.org

Thank you!

TALKING ABOUT RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS LAWS

2/3/2017

Talking About Religious Exemptions Laws is a guide to building effective conversations about the ways in which harmful religious exemptions threaten not only laws that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people from discrimination, but also health care (including women’s reproductive freedom), public safety, and more.

The guide offers approaches for talking about both broad religious exemptions laws (like proposed state RFRAs) as well as religious exemptions that are often specifically designed to harm LGBT people and circumvent nondiscrimination laws. It also focuses on approaches for talking about the ways in which broad religious exemptions laws can interfere with women’s reproductive health.

Click here to visit the LGBTMap site to download the guide: http://www.lgbtmap.org/talking-about-religious-exemptions-laws

Looking for a Congregational Study Guide on Interfaith Understanding for These Troubled Times?

2/2/2017

Many congregations are asking for resources to encourage open discussion of understanding and embracing diverse faith traditions in an environment designed to create fear, suspicion, and separation.

One resource you might consider is our Building Bridges of Understanding: An Interfaith Response to 9/11. While a little dated in some respects, it still presents a very good basic introduction into six major religious traditions that coexist in California.

You can download a PDF of the study guide here. Print copies and a VHS tape is available from our office. We are looking into finding to revise the study guide and to reissue the DVD version of the video resources. If you want information, or can help us with this project, please let us know!

Summer Workshop on Theology and Disability

1/4/2017

We are sharing this invitation from the Director of the Summer Institute on Theology and Disability for your information and use.

Interested in the intersections of theology, faith, and disability?

The 2017 Summer Institute on Theology and Disability will be held at Azusa Pacific University, June 5-8, and hosted by Azusa Pacific University in partnership with Fuller Theological Seminary.

Highlights:

A multi-faith conference that includes scholars, clergy, seminarians, laity, and people involved in inclusive faith supports, including people with disabilities and their families in all of those roles. We draw about 150 people from North America and other countries around the world.

Planned and led by faculty who are widely known for their work in this area with new plenary speakers invited each year. Videos from previous Institutes are on the website.

Workshops led by Institute participants.The Call for Workshops for 2017 is at the website below. Deadline: January 1, 2017 but please check since opportunities may still be open.

A Cooperative Resource Exhibit featuring books, A/V materials and other resources related to disability, any theological discipline, and ministry. A chance for authors and publishers to promote their resources in this area to a very interested audience. Contact us for an Exhibit Entry Form.

We will also distribute information about new resources to over 1000 people, organizations, and networks. A Ph.D. seminar for graduate students doing work in this area, led byHans Reinders and other faculty.

A Jean Vanier Emerging Scholar Plenary Competition. See website.

For more information, visit the website, contact Bill Gaventa, and/or Facebook page for information and announcements as plans develop.

Please Support Our Work for Justice

12/1/2016

Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All*

Please support our work! You can donate through PayPal, Network for Good, or print out a form here.

I am a Christmas nut. I love everything about it from the deepest meaning of the day to the cheesy decorations in the stores. I love Christmas music, especially antique carols but swoon when I hear Nat King Cole sing the Christmas Song. I watch every old Christmas-themed movie, I get Advent calendars, I bake, cook, and stuff the house with goodies to share with family and friends. Only thing that saves me from being one of those people with 13,000,000 watts of outdoor lights is a lack of time and money. My neighbors bless my inaction.

The main reason I love Christmas is the to-the-core sense of peace and hope. Ever since I was a child, the hush of Christmas Eve, the sense of waiting and wondering, has been palpable. Oh sure for Santa, but always more — the promise of good, a presence, a wonder. Christmas was always about reflection on the meaning of a baby and how his birth is made manifest as the in-gathering of friends, of sharing, of giving to others, of caring about them, and the joy of togetherness. It is peace-in-action, hope made real.

This nation has gone through dozens of really horrible times before. Even in times of war, hardship, and want, we’ve still found ways to find joy in the promise of Christmas. It is the most pure expression of our values, a baby born to a poor mother in rude circumstances yet the guidestar for so much of humankind. Hope. Promise. A call to be the best we can be.

In this season of Advent and Christmas, we face anger and discontent throughout the nation. We don’t have a civil war, but we certainly have a civility war, and there is even occasional violence attached to that discontent. Much of what we have worked for, what we accomplished will be challenged in the coming months and years as those with very different ideas about America take the reins of authority. We have anger and fear at this development — what will it mean to us? What are the effects to those in need, communities of color, women, and all our loved ones and neighbors who may be immigrants, Muslims, same-sex couples?

Please support our work! You can donate through PayPal, Network for Good, or print out a form here.

This Advent, far more than any we have seen in years, we are challenged to find the peace and hope of Christmas.

We at the Council of Churches are as challenged as any of you to keep the promise of what we are called to do. CCC has strong values about what we see as Christ’s teachings on right and wrong. We work to bring thoughtful discernment to issues that face us all in the secular world and struggle to filter our commitments to democracy through the prism of our faith values. Of course we want to be good at this work — and we fight the tendency to get angry, hostile, disrespectful of those who do not agree with us. And we hear from them! Oh boy, do we hear from them!

So we make this commitment to you: through the storm and strife of our national and state political discourse, we will continue to strive to uphold the meaning of Christmas year around.

We will try to provide insight, discernment, and analysis of our big issues with an eye to how we make them into positive affirmations not just cranky opposition. We will also, as have done around earlier crises, strive to be a foundation for peace and kindness as we educate our members on issues and mediate differences. CCC is needed more than ever to be a central part of loving Christianity, so please help us continue this role.

This holiday season, please consider a gift to help us to continue to fund our dedication to justice and equality for all.
Please support our work! You can donate through PayPal, Network for Good, or print out a form here.

Our work may sometimes be limited by resources, but our vision and energy for you is not. God created a universe of abundance and we know that in God’s universe, our success is far more about what we can imagine than what we know. Your past support has helped us make a big difference! We ask you to join us in imagining the world as God sees it. Please give generously out of the abundance with which you have been blessed.

Thank you in advance for your generosity and your partnership. Your investment in our mission and dedication will mean so much to the human community that we serve. We wish you a season of joy and blessing.

With vision and hope,

Elizabeth “Libby” Sholes
Director of Public Policy

* All means ALL — no exceptions

Please support our work! You can donate through PayPal, Network for Good, or print out a form here

The California Council of Churches is committed to being a good steward and serving faith communities to pursue justice, equity and fairness for all God’s children. If our work stirs your passion, please consider leaving a Legacy gift as you are making your estate plans. Please call the Rev. Dr. Rick Schlosser at 916-488-7300 or email rick@calchurches.org.

A growing number of supporters are making monthly contributions by filling out the right-hand portion of the enclosed reply card. Can you afford to pledge $10 to $25 per month to keep us strong and effective throughout the year?

Activists Needed!!!!

California Church IMPACT and the California Council of Churches need you and your friends to become members. Your support allows us to continue and to expand our important work. Help us expand our activist base in every legislative district to continue and increase the effectiveness of our efforts to work to provide updates, training, and resources to help people of faith to be as effective and articulate advocates as possible. It is essential to our mission to be the advocacy voice for justice for our member denominations. Please send us the names and email addresses of activists in your community or share this letter with them and ask them to visit churchimpact.org/take-action.html

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The California Council of Churches is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, EIN 94-2780260. Contributions are tax deductible