By a solid majority, the U.S. Senate hours ago voted to reauthorize and strengthen the Children's Health Insurance Program. When President Obama signs this into law, 4 million more children will have access to affordable health care.
President Barack Obama signed an equal-pay bill into law Thursday before cheering labor and women leaders who fought hard for it and the woman whose history-making lawsuit gave impetus to the cause. Obama, choosing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as the first bill to sign as president, called it a "wonderful day" and declared that ending pay disparities between men and woman an issue not just for women, but for all workers.
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KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, a national church based social justice organization, is calling on federal, provincial and territorial governments to adopt moral and ethical values in their responses to the global economic crisis. The call comes in a letter to Prime Minister Harper and Canada’s First Ministers that examines how under-regulated global markets, focused solely on profit, led to a worldwide financial crisis while ignoring poverty and environmental destruction.
KAIROS is particularly concerned that some politicians may use the financial crisis as a reason to delay anti-poverty initiatives and environmental programs.
To read the letter, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
One day after the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, President Barack Obama signed an executive order reversing the so-called "gag rule." Also known as the "Mexico City policy," the previous executive order (signed by former President George W. Bush) prohibited the granting of federal funds to any organization that performed or discussed abortion as a reproductive health care procedure, even if this was done with their own non-government money.
The General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has consistently affirmed the role of women as moral agents, and the right of women to make decisions about matters of reproductive health care affecting their own bodies, including abortion. Along with many mainline Protestant denominations and organizations from other communities of faith, Disciples for Choice is a member of the Religious Coalition.
Today, as one of his first acts in office, President Obama signed an executive order banning torture. He also set a timeline to close Guantanamo Bay prison and secret CIA detention sites.
Also participating in this national interfaith service was Dr. Cynthia Hale, Senior Pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church in Dacatur, GA. She set the tone for the worship service and for the moral core of the Obama Administration with her reading from Isaiah 58: 6 - 12.
On January 16, David Giuiliano, Moderator of the United Church of Canada, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Harper and all federal party leaders affirming the responsibility of the federal government to support Canada's Aboriginal peoples in preparing the upcoming budget. The letter specifically supports the call for an economic stimulus package proposed by five Aboriginal organizations to the First Ministers meeting on January 15, in preparation for the presentation of the budget to the House of Commons on January 27.
Christian Churches Together (CCT)--a broad coalition of Evangelical, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Mainline Protestant, historic African-American, and other racial and ethnic churches--called on the incoming Obama Administration to make the elimination of poverty a priority, and to "put poor people first" in both the stimulus package and other economic policies.
Representatives of the group--which included former General Minister and President Richard Hamm (now Executive Manager of CCT) and current GMP Sharon Watkins--held private meetings yesterday with members of the Obama transition team and afterwards visited Capitol Hill to convey their message to Congress.
After meeting with Congressional leaders and staff, CCT leaders held a press conference to draw attention to the issue of poverty. GMP Watkins was one of the speakers. "We've heard a lot recently about Wall Street and Main Street. Our concern," she said, "is the people who live on the street, or have no street address."
GMP Sharon Watkins has been selected by President-elect Barack Obama to deliver the sermon at the national prayer service held on the day after the inauguration. She is the first woman to be selected for this honor.
The leaders of 11 denominations and national faith organizations--including Dr. Sharon Watkins, General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)-- are among the inaugural signers of Let Justice Roll's letter in support of a $10 federal minimum wage in 2010. Nearly 400 faith leaders from all 50 states have already endorsed $10 in 2010 and more are signing on every day. Let Justice Roll, a national coalition of faith, community, labor and business organizations, will hold Living Wage events this weekend and on the Martin Luther King holiday weekend as part of the "$10 in 2010" campaign and in support of state and local living wage campaigns.
"Well before the recession, growing numbers of employed men and women sought help at food banks and homeless shelters because they could not live on poverty wages," said Rev. Steve Copley, chair of Let Justice Roll. When the federal minimum wage increased to $6.55 an hour last July, it still left workers with less buying power than they had in 1997, at the start of the longest period without a raise since the minimum wage was enacted in 1938.
It would take about $10 to match the buying power of the 1968 minimum wage. "It is immoral that the minimum wage is worth less now than it was in 1968, the year Dr. Martin Luther King was killed while fighting for living wages for sanitation workers," said Rev. Copley. "It's also bad for the economy. Minimum wage dollars go right back to local business through spending on food, health care and other necessities."
Most of the 27 states with minimum wages higher than the federal level have unemployment rates that are lower than the federal level. Congregations and organizations in states such as Tennessee, Georgia, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and Colorado will hold Living Wage services and events this month.
With over 90 member organizations, the nonpartisan Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign is the leading faith, community, labor, business coalition committed to raising the minimum wage to a living wage at the state and federal level.
All of us at the Disciples Center for Public Witness hope you had a very merry Christmas and, if you celebrated it, a wonderful and enriching Kwanzaa.
Disciples have been invited to participate in the Presidential Inaugural Committee's National Day of Service.
