The Poor People’s Campaign, co-chaired by Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastor and theologian the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, took to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., recently to release a detailed report connecting information about Covid deaths to demographic characteristics including income, race, health insurance status and more.
Blacks, Indigenous peoples, and other people of color (BIPOC) are not simply those who are marginalized because of their race. They often find themselves working the hardest for racial justice. My friends of color tell me it is grueling to feel the oppression and to also be left with most of the responsibility for fighting it. Working toward racial justice can be exhausting.
During a virtual discussion on helping white people talk about racism, a compelling question popped up in the chat box. The gist: How can a person bring up antiracism in a church where most members don’t want any more change and would prefer to go back to “better times”?
The first time I became aware of a connection between race, faith and climate change was in the late 1980s when I was a sociology student in Venezuela. I lived in Caracas with my family. In this cosmopolitan city, there was lots of nonregulated air pollution that caused me to have a sore throat and irritated eyes daily.
In the latest edition of Everyday God-Talk, Rev. Dr. Brian Blount, the president of Union Presbyterian Seminary, shares the complicated history of the seminary in the context of slavery, the civil rights movement and Black Lives Matter.
Making long-lasting change to nullify racism, we must change our culture, build relationships with people who are different, and foster mutual respect.
Presenting during a webinar sponsored by the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network, the Rev. Dr. Eileen Lindner discussed what sociologists have labeled “the Bernie Effect,” natural bonds that can form between millennials and people old enough to be their grandparents, or even great-grandparents. What’s going on there resembles the way millions of young people were drawn to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, during his presidential runs in 2016 and 2020.
The early 1970s was a similar time of harsh political polarization, with issues of race and poverty a prominent part of our conversations and a Church wondering how to address them.
