Latest News

Resources for Congregations on Responding to ICE Raids

6/25/2019

Dear Friends,

Although new reports seem to indicate wholesale round ups of immigrants have been postponed, the threat remains.

For those concerned about the threat against both undocumented and documented immigrants, we offer a resource.

Interfaith Mobilization for Human Integrity, a California based activist and advocacy organization we trust, has a comprehensive guide to action.

Take a look here

We encourage those in California to join with IM4HI in their trainings and with their activist alert rapid response efforts, all spelled out in this link.

Please do whatever you can.

If you wish another action, you can call the office of Sarah Fabian of the Justice Department who argued that children in concentration camps (our words, not theirs) don't need soap, toothpaste and brushes, and other items such as beds and blankets. She made this argument before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday, June 18. If you'd like to address these issues, her office number is 202-532-4824.

If you'd care to address these issues with your Senator or Representative, please call 202-224-3121

Below are examples of posters you can print out and display at your home, place of worship, or place of work.

Whatever you can do, please do it. This is a potential crisis of historic dimenstions. Human lives are on the line. We need your witness and your action to protect families, channel them into human and responsible paths to residence and citizenship.

We must never be left with the question: where were YOU when the families were rounded up?

Thank you.

Threatened mass deportations. What can we do?

6/18/2019

Dear Friends:

The Washington Post reports that our government is sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) throughout the nation to round up and deport millions of immigrants whom they believe to be undocumented. You can read the story here For the faith community concerned with justice and due process for our immigrant brothers and sisters, this is alarming news.

What can we do?

In Northern California immigrant rights activists have rapid response teams on standby. These teams cover northern and central CA counties from Humboldt down to Kern. They can give you information on participation and offer phone numbers where you can report ICE activities requiring a response. To access this list, please click here

We are waiting for updates from Southern California groups. We will try to repost those later.

Other resources, organizations from which you may get information on how to help, are available here This list includes the American Civil Liberties Union that has been on the forefront of many court cases judged in favor of due process and in opposition to mass roundups of immigrants and family separation policies.

If you can act, please do. If you are unable, please witness. If you can't do that, please donate to groups that are and can. If you cannot do that, please advocate.

There are laws on our books at state and federal levels that are being ignored both for the crisis of asylum seekers and their children and for those suspected of being undocumented. No one present inside our borders can be denied due process. That's what looms for them if this mass deportation round up occurs.

Please raise your voice, do what you can. This is a massive human rights violation, and we can be silent no more.

Thank you!

Scott Warren's prosecution for an act of compassion ends in a mistrial

6/18/2019

Many of you have responded with compassion to the plight of justice advocate, Scott Warren.

He was arrested and has been on trial for offering food and water to undocumented immigrants. We have published the story on our blog.

The trial ended with the judge declaring a mistrial since the jury could not arrive at a verdict. The really good news is that it was 8-4 in favor of NOT GUILTY. This is important because with the weight of the impasse leaning toward a NOT GUILTY verdict, it means the US Attorney - the one who said Scott's faith standards were NOT actually a part of his faith - will be far less likely to refile. It's not impossible for Scott to be retried. It is less likely.

Please keep in touch with his organization, No Mas Muertes of No More Deaths. There will be others who will be arrested for acts of compassion toward immigrants. They and other groups fighting the harsh treatment of immigrants will need all of us in the coming months.

Bu for now a bit of good news for Scott, for his friends, for justice.

Thank you.

Crisis at the Border - Religious Freedom under Assault

6/5/2019

Dear friends,

In January this year, four humanitarian workers with No Mas Muertes – No More Deaths – were convicted in the US Federal Court in Tucson AZ for the crime of leaving water and food for immigrants crossing into the USA.

New standards of law had been put into place to increase the penalties specifically for aid workers. Convicted of trespass, of being in a federal land area without a permit, and of ‘abandoning personal property’ anyone else would have received a fine.  Now the law specifically aimed at these people of faith, may sentence the volunteers to six months in prison plus a hefty fine.

Another volunteer, Scott Warren, is currently on trial in the same jurisdiction for “harboring” undocumented immigrants for also providing two men with water and food as they took refuge in an abandoned building.  He faces much stiffer charges for both harboring immigrants and conspiring to harbor them.

All of the volunteers are people of faith, Warren’s defense rests on the recent Religious Freedom Restoration Act established by former US Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  However, the American Civil Liberties Union has raised serious questions about the unequal application of the law.

Warren asserts that his faith (he is Unitarian Universalist) requires that we aid the alien in our midst.  He states that he is motivated by many faith directives to assure that all people in need, including undocumented people, are protected against death and harm from hunger and thirst.  That is the underlying motivation for the entire organization, and Warren was acting upon it.

In a chilling declaration, the US Department of Justice has declared that this is not a religious belief to be upheld.

The government opposed the motion, saying the prosecution does not substantially burden Warren's beliefs. DOJ lawyers said Warren “is not required by his beliefs to aid in the evasion of law enforcement. Nor were the people associated with these charges ‘in distress.’ ”  (www.npr.org October 18, 2018.)

With this administration creating laws and standards within those laws that target only specific beliefs – ban on contraceptive coverage for Hobby Lobby and the rights not to bake cakes for same sex weddings – the First Amendment protections themselves are now under assault as much as the humanitarian workers.

The assault on religious freedom should alarm each and every one of us. In past cases such as the anti-abortion movement, the standards of law were universal. When barriers were erected around women’s clinic doors, the guidelines were consistent with all types of protests such as labor strikes, as were standards for federal injunctions that established permissible and non-permissible actions. There was one standard applied to all.

These recent cases in Arizona federal court are setting legal standards today that are directed against certain people by employing different sets of norms and consequences from those for anyone else.

We are also being told our faith values do not exist. They are the wrong values for this administration.

The immediate concern is the well being of the workers facing prison and further charges.  If you would like to help, please go to nomoredeaths.org

You can also find links there to details about their work in general and to Scott Warren’s trial in specific and may make donations to the organization’s legal fund.

These are uneasy days for both humanitarian action and for equality before the law.  We encourage you to take your voices to our elected officials on behalf of absolute equality in all matters pertaining to law and to conscience.  We have a First Amendment for a reason.  The law cannot undermine it for some groups while upholding it for others.  That is the pathway to tyranny.

Thank you.

“Devote your life to standing for justice. And, if needed, to lay down your life for that purpose.”

4/9/2019

Dear Friends:

Our nation faces one of its most grave crises. We are watching the chief executive amass unprecedented power, defying the rule of law. Nothing in our history has prepared us for this challenge to our Constitution, to our statutes, to our interactions among the branches of government.  We are fighting for the soul of democracy.  No one can stay idle in the face of this challenge.

I was born in the early wave of the post war “baby boom”. I grew up with “Holocaust Consciousness” followed quickly by awareness of post-war threats to our own democracy in the wave of anti-communist fervor from many in Congress and society. Then came a growing awareness of the evils of Jim Crow segregation.  To say I was a scared little kid would be an understatement.  I remember my parents watching the Army-McCarthy hearings, not understanding much other than the danger to innocent people, Hearing my parents and their friends talk about those threats to democracy and equality, to justice and fairness was pretty overwhelming.

I have dreaded the day I’d have to find my courage to stand up against something as evil and scary as fascism had been in Europe. Would I have what it takes to resist? To be as brave as Miep Gies who hid the Frank family? To defy authority in the name of democracy and of my faith in Jesus’ teachings on justice for all people?

In 2003, just before the start of US bombing of Iraq, I participated in an 8-state convening against hate crimes that even then were on the rise. The last night we saw a film about German pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his anti-fascist resistance during the Third Reich.  In the discussion that followed, the group leader said, “Be prepared from here on, to lay down your life for what you believe.” When asked what that meant, he said, “Devote your life to standing for justice. And, if needed, to lay down your life for that purpose.”

It was incredibly sobering and frightening to hear this. Would we need to do this? In America?

We at the Council of Churches have tried to live by that principle: lay down your life for what you believe.  Some of you know that we have been under siege from vandalism and threats for doing exactly that. Some of our denominational affiliates have been contacted by extremists demanding they drop out of the Council, always by those who detest our stands for equality and for justice. No one has dropped out, and the retaliation, while minor, has resulted in vandalism, stalking, threats.

And yet we have stayed the course. Did we have any real alternative?

Now we call on all of you to do whatever you can for love of our fellow human beings, for the preservation of democracy, for the protection of the rule of law.

Remember the “Faithful Five Minutes” of calls to your elected officials every day. Bolster the strong, chastise the weak. Speak up and out for justice and our Constitution.

Rally when you are able. Join diverse coalitions of immigrant rights groups, labor, racial justice groups, civil rights groups, and diverse faiths then go to your representatives’ and senators’ offices, both federal and state level.  Fight for the rule of law. Stand against oppression.  Keep abreast of current events. Speak out where needed. Your voice is powerful.

We are struggling to keep the soul of our nation intact. This is the greatest threat we have faced since the Civil War.  Today as I write, it is the 154thanniversary of the Confederate surrender, the Army of Virginia, to the forces of the Union Army at Appomattox. It saved the nation.  Can we do this again, this time we hope without the bloodshed?

Only our actions through law can prevent another civil war, another rise of dictatorial power, another threat to democracy and our constitution.

I may be retired, but I will never stop working against injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.

Please do whatever you can, however you can, for as long as you can.  Our nation’s survival is on the line.

Thank you. Blessings on all you do.

Elizabeth Sholes
Director Emerita Public Policy

Speak Out! Silence is tacit assent

3/15/2019

“Hello Brother”.

Words of greeting.

“Hello Brother”.

Words of peace.

“Hello Brother” were words from a young Muslim man who stepped up trying desperately to deflect the gunman entering a Christchurch, NZ mosque Friday March 15th. The words, meant to stop the shooter, were the last words the Muslim man spoke. He was killed. Forty-eight more lost their lives before the rampage through two mosques ended.

In this latest of horrors, the rampant self-justification from the shooter’s own words shows he thought Muslims deserved to die. As the shooter in Pittsburgh, PA earlier shot down Jews for the same demented reason and Dylan Root shot nine Black AME Christians in Charleston, SC. They deserved to die for simply being who they are. Sikhs slaughtered in WI, Unitarians in TN. These are the victims of both religious hate and racial hate, but many more acts of violence have taken down people just trying to live their lives. We are losing count.

This isn’t a “Muslim problem”. This isn’t a “Jewish problem”. This isn’t a “Black problem”.

It’s a white Christian problem.

Before anyone says, “not all white Christians”, let us consider, in our hearts, if we have done all we can to make sure we didn’t turn a blind eye, stay silent instead of speak. Have we earnestly done all we can do to stop the new global wave of white, Christian terrorism, for that is what this all is, from spreading unchallenged? We have to search our hearts and our lives to see if we can do more.

I, for one, am tired of showing up after the fact. I hate candle light vigils and don’t attend them. I’m sick of press conferences decrying bloodshed and loss of valuable lives. I’m anguished by the sense of impotence at failing to prevent another senseless massacre. I’m frightened that there will be more.

Forty nine dead in New Zealand. Eleven in Pittsburgh. Nine in Charleston.

When will it end?

We are in the grip of an administration that demonizes “the other” be it immigrants, Muslims, people of color. We have unleashed waves of hate and resentment from white people who think equality means a loss to them. Males who see female equality as a threat. If you have to enforce your superiority with violence, are you really superior at all?

We can’t dismiss this thinking that we would never do this kind of thing to anyone. It flourishes if we tolerate it, if we don’t actively stop it. Silence is tacit assent.

We have to stand up, speak out, act affirmatively not passively in the name of our country’s promise and our faith’s direction. This isn’t on Muslim, Jews, Sikhs, Unitarians. It isn’t on Black people, Brown people, immigrants, indigenous people.

It’s on us: white, middle class, mainstream Christians. We are the only people who can speak out and uphold these truths of nation and faith. We can stay silent no more.

Hello brother. Hello sister. Hello everyone. End the silence. End the violence. It’s on us.

An Unconventional Guide to Making a Meaningful Gift This Holiday Season

12/21/2018

If you are looking for a meaningful last-minute gift, please consider making a gift in your loved one's honor to a worthy nonprofit! This guide from our friends at the California Association of Nonprofits, makes some great suggestions for gifts that reflect your values and also some important cautions about online giving.

Of course, we would be thrilled if you would choose to honor someone with a contribution to the California Council of Churches here, or California Church IMPACT here; but we urge you to support the nonprofit that most reflects your values.

Thank you!

God in the Belly

12/11/2018

Black Lives Matter Madonna (Copyright: Bromickeymcgrath)

Art by Mickey McGrath, O.S.F.S,: We need images of the Black Madonna now more than ever

A powerful reimagining of The Magnificat by our dear friend, the Rev. Jim Burklo, Senior Associate Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California. You can read more in his blog, musings, here.

God in the Belly

Full of God, full to birthing,
Mary howls: head back, hair tossed,
Hands skyward with joy
That wrongs are about to be righted,
Salvation's about to be sighted.
No more groveling for crumbs of charity:
She pronounces justice with crystal clarity.
She's done waiting for the concentrated wealth of the 1%
To trickle down magically to the other 99.
The Santa System is stuck in the chimney;
And she won't be burned by it again!
A new kind of Christmas is coming -
To undo the dogma of domination,
Snap out of blame-the-victim hypnosis,
Chase money-changers out of the temple,
Redistribute the common wealth,
Restore power to the people,
And send the Religious Right empty away.
With one magnificent rhetorical swing,
Mary bats the political center into left field.
Pundits fumble, talk-show hosts mutter,
Super-PAC donors quiver, campaign strategists stutter:
Mary out-Magnificats them all.
So let's get in her line and carry her sign
And holler and act as if we, too,
Have God in our bellies!

Dealing with violence in our congregations - a training

11/28/2018

Dear Friends,

In the wake of the horrific shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in Pennsylvania, regional districts of the Department of Justice are offering "Active Shooter" trainings to help give congregations some tools to improve members' safety.

The half day seminar will be December 11 from 9:30 am to noon at the Kennedy Learning Center inside the Robert Matsui Federal Courthouse, 501 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814.

The deadline for registration is this coming Monday, December 3.

You may bring up to 3 people from your congregation. You may register here.

Registration is NOT complete until you have received a confirmation email.

Please arrive at 9:00 am. Bring photo ID since this is a secure facility, and you will need to pass through a metal detector and show your ID. This will give you time to process through security and be directed to the Kennedy Learning Center room.

While none of us every wishes to be in a violent situation, we are living in perilous times with horrible events unfolding far too often. If we cannot be at ease in our places of worship, we need to take steps to assure our improved safety.

This event is being cosponsored by numerous law enforcement agencies, local, state, and federal and with the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region plus the Interfaith Council of Greater Sacramento.

Please consider attending this important training. And then let us all practice peace so it is never needed.

Thank you.

Steps We Can Take Toward a More Hopeful Society

11/9/2018

Dear Friends,

In the recent weeks we have seen an increase in stunning violence against our fellow humans. From the horrors of the Pittsburgh shootings to the threats against asylum seekers to yet another mass murder at a neighborhood nightclub, violence has touched millions of lives.

What can we do?

We offer a few steps you can take, from the fairly easy to more complex, to stop the angry actions and open peace and kindness bringing more sun in a dark and stormy world.

First, from a former Board member, Joan Leslie, something you can do quickly and easily. Following the horrors at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA, her church set up a table during coffee hour where each person could write a note of sympathy and support. The address is Tree of Life Congregation, 5898 Wilkins Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. If you wish to address the note to the Rabbi, he is Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers. Otherwise general notes to the entire congregation are fine. Be prepared for the unfortunate “next time” this sort of thing happens to a group; it will occur. Stand ready to offer comfort and compassion.

Second, consider reviving our post-911 study guide, Building Bridges of Understanding and beginning a new discussion on religious tolerance. You may find the guide here . Within your own congregation you may have safe discussions about other faiths to learn what’s true – and what is not – about our fellow human beings’ faith perspectives.

Third, consider opening discussions in your community with “the other”, anyone who is not part of your congregation or neighborhood. Perhaps, as Pioneer Congregational UCC did in Sacramento, your minister and a local imam can trade pulpits to share insights into what we have in common, how we differ and why. Community dinners (being mindful of dietary laws for others, Jews and Muslims in particular) bring people together.

Fourth, reach out to groups serving those embattled – immigrants, felons, the poor, Black communities beset by police brutality and gun violence, etc. – to see how you can help. How you can become a voice for their justice by using your resources.

Fifth, hold community forums on issues within your area. Good guidelines can come from the National Issues Forum that helps develop discussions, not debates, by shaping presentations based on multiple options for growth and change, not just two sides on each concern. They have guidebooks on key concerns such as immigration and many other issues. You may find them here.

Whatever you do and however you choose to do it, bring your light and humanity to the endeavor. The only way to cast out darkness is to be the sun. Let the healing rays bring greater peace.

Thank you.