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Belief in America's blog

A Call to Love

Thu, 12/08/2011 - 5:13am — Belief in America
Annie Parker is a mother of three who lives, loves, and writes in Arlington, Virginia. She is an active member of the local Unitarian Universalist church and is involved in interfaith social justice work in her community.  And she is the newest blogger for the Coffee Party pilot program Belief in America.

 

“The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to
be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.”

                                  —Mahatma Gandhi

 
by Annie Parker

Reverend Michael McGee is the much-loved, long-time lead minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Virginia. He earned his credentials from Harvard Divinity School and has spent his summers at Chautauqua since I was a young whippersnapper. He righteously tells it like it is from the pulpit most every time he steps up mic with his iPad. Last Sunday his sermon was titled "Is Love All You Need?"  He delivered it to two packed houses and I was fortunate enough to be in one of them.

"Love is what we need, but it's not all we need," he said.  "We need compassion that enables us to suffer with those who are victims of injustice. We need allies and partners who will join us in our struggles. We need the power to make changes that will open new possibilities for the future.”

No, love is not all we need, but we do need it. We need it to nurture us, and we need it to guide us. We need that guidance now more than ever with the increasing polarization of the political landscape, where we are asked by entertainers and salesmen to declare our loyalty to the left or the right when we know and they know our hearts are worth so much more than that.

What should define Christian values? The Bible, or the TV?

Wed, 11/16/2011 - 1:12pm — Belief in America
Annie Parker is a mother of three who lives, loves, and writes in Arlington, Virginia. She is an active member of the local Unitarian Universalist church and is involved in interfaith social justice work in her community.  And she is the newest blogger for the Coffee Party pilot program Belief in America.
 
by Annie Parker
 
Many years ago I lamented to a friend that there were so many well-publicized and well-heeled Christians who supported conservative public policies antithetical to Christian values.  My friend asserted that the majority of Christians were in the political middle and left, what Annabel Park would call the "silenced majority."  I was skeptical then, but since renewing my faith, I have grown to understand that this is true.
 
In those days, 1% Media had me and many others believing that to be a Christian, one must adopt a right wing political agenda, including many policies favoring the 1%.  Even though I had not visited enough churches to know whether this was a true generalization (few of us have in a country this size!), I was convinced that it was true based on what I had seen on television.  There, self-interested parties claiming to voice Christian values had for many years attempted to convince America that Jesus had endorsed things like tax cuts for the wealthy, starving the poor, deregulating safety standards, lawless financial gambling, and environmental degradation.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but have you noticed how those who present Christianity as a religion that favors the 1% tend to be given considerably more attention by 1% Media?  Maybe we should consider the source before we accept generalizations such as these.

This is why I was so happy to come across an essay by evangelical leader Rev. Richard Cizik, entitled The Values Debate We're Not Having (Opinion, Wash Post Nov. 10, 2011).  He writes:

Poverty, your voice, and your vote

Wed, 11/02/2011 - 11:00am — Belief in America

Holly Coy earned her B.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and M.S. in Justice, Law and Society from American University in Washington, DC.  Holly joined the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy in late 2010 as the Advocacy Coordinator, and became the Director of Programs in the spring of 2011. Holly was born and raised in Cranbury, New Jersey and has called Virginia home for the last 12 years.

by Holly Coy, Belief in America

22 million. That's the number of American that will no longer go hungry or struggle to pay rent if we cut poverty in half in this country. That’s enough people to populate New York City and Los Angeles twice each! I mention that number because the Half in Ten campaign recently released a report to that will be used as the baseline for measuring how poverty is reduced throughout America over the next 10 years. Their goal is to cut it in half nationwide and success would lift 22 million men, women and children out of poverty.
 
But how can ordinary citizens like you and me even begin to have an impact on a monstrous problem that only grows in its complexity and severity each day? There is one very practical step you can take — vote. A few Congressional seats are up for re-election, and in many neighborhoods throughout the country, there are local and statewide elections. It’s easy to brush these elections off. What difference does one vote in a local race really make? Well, if you have been watching what's happening across the country as governments at all levels make massive cuts to aid programs that keep struggling families from falling behind, you understand that our elected leaders are the ones making those choices. They will start making better ones if they think we are paying attention.
 

Families, Not Numbers. People, Not Statistics.

Sun, 10/09/2011 - 11:17am — Belief in America

Holly Coy earned her B.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and M.S. in Justice, Law and Society from American University in Washington, DC.  From 2007-2010 she worked at the American Bar Association's Governmental Affairs Office as a Program Assistant, Legislative Assistant and Editor, and as the Senior Program & Research Assistant. Holly joined the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy in late 2010 as the Advocacy Coordinator, and became the Director of Programs in the spring of 2011. Holly was born and raised in Cranbury, New Jersey and after living briefly in San Francisco, California moved to Virginia, which she has called home for the last 12 years.

by Holly Coy, Belief in America

16 percent.  One in five.  14 percent. Half in ten. With all of the numbers flying around about increasing poverty in Virginia and the country, it can be easy to forget that each of those numbers corresponds with a person or family that is unsure how they will put food on the table tomorrow. There is no doubt, poverty is on the rise and there seems to be no shortage of numbers being used to explain just how dire the situation has become.

But poverty isn't about numbers. It's about the single moms who are struggling to feed their kids healthy food and pay rent each month. It's about your neighbor who lost a good job last year and hasn't been able to find gainful employment since. It's about our elderly parents and grandparents choosing between prescriptions and food.

Congress: If Jesus is your hero, work for us and not your donors

Fri, 08/12/2011 - 9:24am — Belief in America

C. Douglas Smith serves as the President of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He is a graduate of James Madison University and Lexington Theological Seminary, and he is a Fellow of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of VA. He serves as Board Chair of Heifer International and has served on the boards of The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, the VA Fair Trial Project, the VA Commission on Sexual Violence, and Gov. Tim Kaine's Poverty Commission, and he is the founder of the Coffee Party 2.0 pilot project Belief in America.   

Gridlock

by C. Douglas Smith

For those of us who claim faith, or for whom faith has claimed, we know that America cannot solve its fiscal imbalances at the expense of the poor. Politicians in Congress cannot claim that Jesus is their hero in one breath and pledge to cut services for veterans and the disabled in the next. This is simply wrong and incompatible with almost every sacred text in existence.

There is little doubt watching the political theatre of the last two months that Washington is ideologically broken, and at the very least theologically compromised.

We elect leaders to serve us by protecting and promoting core American values, not the ideology of party politics or zealous extremism. Through the constitution, our founding fathers ensured the rights and voices of the many are not overwhelmed by the shouts of the few. However, the debt crisis that threatened our economy and the global marketplace suggests that ideologues may be gaming the system. Political pirates have seemingly taken the helm and their plan appears to be offloading more bounty for a few power brokers before sinking our ship.

So it should be no surprise that Americans are fed up with Washington.

Job creation is not a political football, it is a human need

Thu, 08/11/2011 - 4:23am — Belief in America

C. Douglas Smith serves as the President of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He is a graduate of James Madison University and Lexington Theological Seminary, and he is a Fellow of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of VA. He serves as Board Chair of Heifer International and has served on the boards of The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, the VA Fair Trial Project, the VA Commission on Sexual Violence, and Gov. Tim Kaine's Poverty Commission, and he is the founder of the Coffee Party 2.0 pilot project Belief in America.

by C. Douglas Smith

All of us have witnessed the financial and emotional toll of unemployment, either by directly experiencing it ourselves or by watching a family member or friend struggle to find work. The experience can be simply devastating. Even in the best of economies it can be hard to find gainful employment – and clearly today, we are far from the best of economies.

Unfortunately, unemployed Americans today have a bleak outlook ahead of them as national unemployment numbers continue to hover just below double digits. Multiplying the pain for families is the stark realization that unemployment support is running out for many job searchers. As this happens families face home foreclosure, plummeting net worth, and the erosion of any retirement savings.  In a word, the job situation in America has become dire and the impact on our families and economy is tragic. 

By way of a photo essay by Equal Voices for Families, consider Martinsville, Virginia where unemployment is over twice the national average. Once a booming factory town known for its furniture and textile industries, Martinsville has experienced the double whammy of job-killing free trade agreements and the offshoring of the country’s manufacturing base. Now locals are finding jobs scarce, once productive companies shuttered, and 25% of the population is living in poverty. For houses of worship that means increased needs for nutrition and financial support, incidents of stress-driven domestic violence, and deep depression that can wreck family systems.

Leonard Jones, a retired minister and former Martinsville NAACP president, is one resident of Martinsville that has personally felt the pain of skyrocketing unemployment and poverty. At 54 years old, Jones remembers when the vibrant town throve on manufacturing work, but now he only sees bleak job prospects and increasingly desperate families. Along with financial uncertainty, the lack of jobs in Martinsville has forced Pastor Jones and many of his neighbors into early retirement, creating a cascade of long-term challenges for him and his family. Many Americans face the very same challenges as they struggle to make ends meet.  

America will be stronger together — an invitation to Belief in America

Wed, 07/20/2011 - 5:39am — Belief in America

by C. Douglas Smith

I, too, am part of an immigrant family. On my mother’s side I am represented by English ancestors who landed in the first wave at Jamestown. My father’s family arrived in the early 20th Century from Switzerland. Most recently, my daughter was adopted from China. I am an American not only by birth, but also by experience. And what an experience you and I have before us! When asked what the future holds for our great country I can only emphatically state, “America will be stronger together."

If you believe in rebuilding America and securing expanded opportunities for all people to participate in and contribute to our next great generation, join the Belief in America movement, a Coffee Party 2.0 pilot program. We hope to build a multifaith and multicultural movement to reinforce pluralism as the foundation of America's strength. Civic engagement that is grounded in spirituality deepens our sense of togetherness and will lead to the creation of uniquely American communities that are just, peaceful, equitable and sustainable.

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