Faith-based HIV testing campaign
Join Balm in Gilead in their National Faith-Based HIV Testing Campaign, Our Church Lights the Way
What is Our Church Lights the Way?
- A national campaign designed to mobilize Christian Communities, especially those serving African Americans, to speak loudly from their pulpits to educate and encourage every person in their congregation and communitiy to get tested for HIV.
- A movement of faith communities to stop the stigma and shame about HIV/AIDS; educate everyone about the disease and encourage and support HIV testing services.
- Serves as a mechanism to support faith leaders and congregations who are ready to move beyond phase one of creating AIDS community awareness to phase two: AIDS Action -- Getinng people tested for HIV!
Have you read our June Newsletter?
Read Rev. Debra Haffner's editorial on LGBT Pride as well as the latest news, events, and resources occuring at the intersection of religion and sexuality.
Sign the Uganda Declaration for LGBT human rights
The Uganda Declaration has been created by a coalition of organizations in support of LGBT human rights.
The Declaration reads:
"As faith leaders from many traditions, we, the undersigned, commit ourselves to:
- Pray for God's peace between all nations, peoples, traditions and cultures and all the diversity of God's creation;
- Teach the simple spiritual truth that loving, not hating or harming our neighbors, is the will of God in all things, including for people living with HIV/AIDS and people who are sexual minorities;
- Apply existing statements on human rights in our own faith traditions to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in policies and programs, in congregations, national and global agencies and partner groups;
- Advocate for the elimination of all laws which criminalize people based on sexual orientation or gender identity;
- Push for prosecution of crimes committed because of perceived sexual orientation or gender identity."
I am signing the “Uganda Declaration” because 80 countries criminalize people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity—and 7 of those countries include the death penalty. As a person of faith, I believe it is time to apply human rights to everyone and work to eliminate imprisonment, execution and persecution of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people.
Repeal DADT
No doubt you have heard the exciting news: Congress may be ready to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) this week. This is an excellent opportunity to raise a faithful voice for equality!
Our U.S. senators and representatives must hear from us today.
1. Email your elected leaders in Washington right away. The Human Rights Campaign has created a form that will relay a message automatically to the representative from your district. You can even customize the message to let your representative know that, as a person of faith, you support repeal.
2. Call your representative and senators. Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121. Give the operator your zip code and ask to be connected to your representative. Tell them to include DADT repeal as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011, that you are a constituent and a person of faith, and that you vote.
Sign the Uganda Declaration for LGBT human rights
The Uganda Declaration has been created by a coalition of organizations in support of LGBT human rights.
The Declaration reads:
"As faith leaders from many traditions, we, the undersigned, commit ourselves to:
- Pray for God's peace between all nations, peoples, traditions and cultures and all the diversity of God's creation;
- Teach the simple spiritual truth that loving, not hating or harming our neighbors, is the will of God in all things, including for people living with HIV/AIDS and people who are sexual minorities;
- Apply existing statements on human rights in our own faith traditions to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in policies and programs, in congregations, national and global agencies and partner groups;
- Advocate for the elimination of all laws which criminalize people based on sexual orientation or gender identity;
- Push for prosecution of crimes committed because of perceived sexual orientation or gender identity."
I am signing the “Uganda Declaration” because 80 countries criminalize people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity—and 7 of those countries include the death penalty. As a person of faith, I believe it is time to apply human rights to everyone and work to eliminate imprisonment, execution and persecution of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people.
Advocates for Youth needs your help to permanently repeal the Global Gag Rule!
Advocates for Youth and partner organizations have launched a campaign calling for permanent repeal of the Global Gag Rule. The Rule has been used to deny U.S. aid to foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide legal abortion services, including medical counseling and referrals, or advocate for abortion law reform in their own countries. Although President Obama ended the Global Gag Rule during his first week in office, without Congressional action a future administration could reinstate the rule.
Network of Spiritual Progressives invites you to create a 'strategy for the Obama years'
The Network of Spiritual Progresssives will host a four-day conference in Washington, DC, next month titled "Creating 'The Caring Society': A Progressive Alternative to Tea Party Extremism and Corporate Domination of American Politics and Culture."
The conference, which will include a demonstration at the White House, is designed to create a strategy for progressives and liberals -- both religoius and secular -- during the Obama years. Speakers will include the Rev. Brian McLaren, Rev. James Forbes, Sr. Joan Chittister, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Bill Moyers, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and other religious and political leaders. The conference is scheduled for June 11-14, 2010. Visit the Network of Spiritual Progressives website for more information and to register.
This Mother's Day, congregations urged to raise awareness of maternal mortality
Mother’s Day -- Sunday, May 9 -- is less than two weeks away. This Mother’s Day, the Religious Institute invites congregations and other faith communities to remember the more than 340,000 women around the world who die needlessly each year from preventable complications of pregnancy.
Addressing maternal health -- by reducing maternal mortality and assuring universal access to reproductive health services -- is among the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals. Mother's Day is an ideal time to raise awareness of the tragic scope of maternal mortality. The Religious Institute has created several resources for congregations to use in Mother's Day sabbath services.
For a Responsive Reading, click here.
For a Bulletin Insert, click here.
The Religious Institute has set a goal of 200 participating congregations this Mother's Day. Please sign on here so that your congregation will be counted.
First online searchable database of denominational positions on sexuality issues
The Religious Institute database includes statements and studies from 28 religious denominations on 22 issues, including adolescent sexuality, assisted reproductive technologies, contraception, homosexuality and sexual orientation, marriage and marriage equality, transgender and gender identity, sexuality education, and sexual abuse and violence. Each entry consists of the full text or excerpt of the denomination’s position, as well as a link to the original source.
UCC releases new ad, "The Language of God"
The United Church of Christ has launched a new, 90-second advertisement -- "The Language of God." The ad prominently features the denomination's support for social justice, including marriage equality for same-sex couples. Unlike past ad campaigns, where traditional television outlets were utilized as the delivery method, this message is being released in an online format in the hope it will spiral across the Internet. "Seeking to virally spread the message across its diverse constituent base, the UCC is asking its 60,000 email newsletter subscribers and nearly 31,000 Facebook fans to use social networking to distribute the ad to their online friends and communities," the denomination's web site reports.
To view "The Language of God," click here.
To read more about the campaign, click here.
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