Thoughts on Who We are as the PC(USA) and What that Might Mean Going Forward While doing reflections in seminary, I learned the importance of naming your social location, so here goes: I am a white, straight, married, cisgendered female. I am a mother to an adventurous 15-month old daughter,
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The Adoption of Belhar and the Public Naming of Abuse The moment was simply stunning. With no verbal form of disagreement or dissent, the 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to adopt the Belhar Confession. With this landslide vote, the Belhar Confession will be added to the
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On Item 11-08 and Apologizing to Native Peoples Apology isn’t a sexy word. Quite often it seems like a weak word. A word we want to skirt around. A word we want to avoid. But that’s been the problem. We as a people of faith are called into something different.
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In March 2016, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) called for a consumer boycott of Wendy’s until it joins the Fair Food Program. After having engaged Wendy’s with the CIW for ten years, the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board voted denominational support for the boycott at its April meeting. In this
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An Excerpt from the Office of Public Witness’ New Study Guide on Voting Rights and Voter Suppression By Mara Sawdy and Nora Leccese – Read and/or download entire resource here! Introduction At the direction of the General Assembly, we at the Office of Public Witness have compiled resources to aid
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When I heard the reports and then saw the video of Eric Garner’s arrest, something deep inside me clicked. I’ve been involved in interreligious social justice movements for more than 25 years and thought that nothing could surprise me. However, in those moments I didn’t just see the injustice of
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A Primer on Healing and Reconciliation and The Presbyterian Church in Canada Editorial Note:This contribution speaks particularly to items 11-08 and 11-17 before the 222nd PC(USA) General Assembly, which call for an apology to First Peoples in the US and for a study of the Doctrine of Discovery, but it
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A Response to Dr. Barbara Wheeler Barbara Wheeler, former President of Auburn Theological Seminary has written an article in response to Overture 11-05 coming before the General Assembly this summer in Portland, an overture apologizing to LGBTQ/Q members of the PC(USA) for “harms done”. Wheeler does not contest the damages
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It was in August of 2013 that I traveled to New York City with the Faith and Politics Institute (FPI) and a group of Congressional Representatives on what was described as “Becoming America”: a pilgrimage to celebrate the immigrant story and the role immigrants played in the creation of the
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Watching the PC(USA)’s Task Force to Review and Help Reform Drug Policy in the United States Months earlier, the process had already begun. Members of a task force appointed by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America had convened twice,
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