Global Ministries

Posted Fri, December 4th, 2015 on SCOTUSblog

For the second time in the current Term, the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to look into the Puerto Rican government’s authority to manage its own affairs.  This time, the commonwealth is seeking an opportunity equal to the states to restructure its public debt.  The island’s debt is massive and still growing.

WASHINGTON: It is gratifying that many faith leaders, media figures, and politicians have denounced the demand by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that Muslims be banned from entering the country. The National Council of Churches joins our voice to those who have expressed outrage at his comments.

A joint statement of the leadership of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

As people of faith, we are called to “love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.”  Jesus charges us to “love our neighbor as yourself,” telling us that “there is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).  We are called to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9), and to “pursue peace with everyone” (Hebrews12:14).

Mere days after terror attacks in Beirut and Paris, the theme of an interfaith meeting of Christians and Muslims at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on “Religion, Peace and Violence” was entirely appropriate, said participants.

Last week, religious leaders and community members gathered at the Washington National Cathedral for a multi-religious service called, “Beyond Tolerance: A Call to Religious Freedom and Hopeful Action,” followed immediately by a press conference introducing the Religious Freedom Pledge (text below). Washington National Cathedral and Shoulder to Shoulder co-hosted the religious service.

Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries of the Division of Home Missions, in partnership with the Middle East and Europe office of Global Ministries, submitted this statement this week to inform the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee members of some of our key values related to Syrian refugee needs.

[The following action alert was issued on Oct. 5 by the UCC's Justice and Peace Action Network (JPANet)]

Over the past four years, the brutal civil war in Syria has resulted in over 4 million refugees and one of the worst humanitarian crises in history. Earlier this month, the photograph of a drowned 3-year-old asylum seeking boy pricked the consciousness of the world, highlighting the collective failure of the global community in addressing the crisis.

A coalition of 47 organizations wrote to Republican and Democratic leadership expressing concern about anti-Muslim rhetoric in the US presidential campaign.  The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ were among the coalition.  The letter is available below.

[The following commentary originally appeared as part of the United Church of Christ's Witness for Justice series.]

Written by Derek Duncan
Global Ministries Associate for Global Advocacy and Education

When I was growing up, my family moved –– on average –– every two years. From city to city, state to state, one country to another. I attended nine different schools before graduation. Like Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

The National Council of Churches echoes and endorses the call of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service for the US Government to open its borders to 100,000 Syrian refugees this coming fiscal year, in addition to increasing the total U.S. resettlement commitment to 100,000 refugees from other parts of the world.