The Common Good

God's Politics Blog

The Top 10 Stories of May 3, 2013

by Duane Shank 05-03-2013

 Quote of the day.
“The future of Islam here in Mali rests on many things, and it is threatened. We need a stable government, a functioning democracy and an end to illiteracy so that people can actually read the Qu''ran for themselves. Our Islam needs to continue to be an Islam of tolerance or we will all be pushed towards violence." Shiekh Thiermo Thiam, head of the Sufi Tidjania sect in Mali, on the threat of extremist ideologies to a tradition of religious tolerance.
(Guardian)

+Continue Reading

National Day of Prayer: Text of Presidential Proclamation

by God's Politics Editor 05-02-2013

Editor's Note: Below is the text of President Barack Obama's Proclamation for the National Day of Prayer. 

Americans have long turned to prayer both in times of joy and times of sorrow. On their voyage to the New World, the earliest settlers prayed that they would "rejoice together, mourn together, labor, and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work." From that day forward, Americans have prayed as a means of uniting, guiding, and healing. In times of hardship and tragedy, and in periods of peace and prosperity, prayer has provided reassurance, sustenance, and affirmation of common purpose.

Prayer brings communities together and can be a wellspring of strength and support. In the aftermath of senseless acts of violence, the prayers of countless Americans signal to grieving families and a suffering community that they are not alone. Their pain is a shared pain, and their hope a shared hope. Regardless of religion or creed, Americans reflect on the sacredness of life and express their sympathy for the wounded, offering comfort and holding up a light in an hour of darkness.

+Continue Reading

VIDEO: 6 Months After Superstorm Sandy, Hope Emerges

by Jim Wallis 05-02-2013
Church in Massapequa, N.Y. offers help. Photo courtesy of Mike DuBose.
Church in Massapequa, N.Y. offers help. Photo courtesy of Mike DuBose.

This week marked six months since Superstorm Sandy left entire communities devastated, families homeless, and many with little hope. But in the midst of this natural disaster, many banded together. As is true with many of our nation's tragedies, recent and throughout our history, communities form and hope emerges amid struggle. Sandy taught us about resilience. It showed us what it truly means to reach out, serve, and love our neighbor. 

One young filmmaker in New York, Farihah Zaman, caught that resilience and acts of service on video. Here, she shows us how tragedy can turn into a joint effort to acheive the common good. 

+Continue Reading

Why Am I Flying to Kenya When I Have So Much Work to Do At Home?

by Peter Vander Meulen 05-02-2013
Kenya faces environmental degradation and crop damages due to effects of climate change. Photo by domdeen/shutterstock.com

Is there anything more important to us than the air we take into our lungs every few seconds? The water that keeps us and all living things going? The soil that roots our food and our communities? Or the weather patterns that knit these elements all together?

What happens when these things begin to deteriorate — or rapidly change their behavior?

That is why I’m in Kenya with Cal DeWitt — well known Christian environmental scientist and teacher — and a group of eight others from the US and Canada: scientists, teachers, activists, and a film-maker. 

+Continue Reading

Public Education for the Common Good

by Stefanie Fuhr 05-02-2013
Occupy DOE says public education is central to teaching children about the common good. Photo courtesy Apollofoto/shutterstock

America is at a crossroads: We live in a society that promotes working for our own ends, but if we are to survive and flourish it is time to start sacrificing for the common good by working together.

In early April, advocates for public education traveled to Washington D.C. for Occupy the Department of Education (Occupy the DOE). Students, parents, educators, and community members came together to protest a current system that is designed to segregate our society, while demanding a public education system that devotes itself to the common good through sacrifice of self for the love of the whole.

 
+Continue Reading

The Top 10 Stories of May 2, 2013

by Duane Shank 05-02-2013

Quote of the day.
"Not paying a just wage, not giving work, only because one is looking at the bottom line, at the budget of the company, seeking only profit - that is against God." Pope Francis, at an audience on the May 1 feast of St. Joseph the Worker. 
(Catholic News Service)

+Continue Reading

Polls Find Americans are Disengaged from Immigration Debate

by QR Blog Editor 05-02-2013
Fewer than half of Americans are very or fairly closely following the immigration debate. 38 percent have no opinion on the Senate mesaure recently intoduced by the "Gang of Eight."
+Leave a Comment | Immigration

50 Years Later, Recalling the Young ‘Foot Soldiers’ of the Civil Rights Struggle

by Kim Lawton 05-02-2013
Photo courtesy Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
Child marchers, sprayed with fire hoses in May 1963. Photo courtesy Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In May 1963, thousands of Birmingham school children faced police dogs, fire hoses, and possible arrest to demonstrate against segregation. Now, 50 years later, those who were part of what became known as the “Children’s March” say they don’t want their story to be forgotten.

“We were doing this not just for ourselves but for some higher purpose,” said one of the young marchers, Freeman Hrabowski III. “It focused on civil rights for all Americans.”

Hrabowski is now president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He was 12 when he marched in Birmingham and was arrested for parading without a permit. He and hundreds of other children were held in custody for five days before being released.

Experts say the children’s crusade helped galvanize the civil rights struggle at a time when efforts were flagging.

“That was really the tipping point in a tipping year,” Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch, who has written a series of books about the civil rights movement, told the PBS program “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.”

Watch Birmingham and the Children’s March on PBS. See more from Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

+Continue Reading

‘Nuns on the Bus’ Will Hit the Road for Immigration Reform

by David Gibson 05-01-2013
Sandi Villarreal / Sojourners
Sr. Simone Campbell and other 'Nuns on the Bus' greet rally attendees in D.C., last year. Sandi Villarreal / Sojourners

NEW YORK — The “Nuns on the Bus” are revving up their engines for another national campaign, only this time the Catholic sisters are taking their mobile platform for social justice along the country’s Southern border to push Congress to pass immigration reform.

“The ‘Nuns on the Bus’ is going on the road again!” Sister Simone Campbell, head of the social justice lobby Network, told an enthusiastic gathering of faith leaders and charity activists at a Manhattan awards ceremony Wednesday (May 1).

“This time we’re going out for commonsense immigration reform,” she said to rousing applause.

+Continue Reading