Standing in solidarity with communities and individuals being targeted by President Trump and the MAGA movement involves giving time and money to organizations that are working to block the administration’s most egregious and often illegal actions in the courts and to efforts to organize nonviolent and strategic resistance to these harmful policies (such as Democracy Forward, Sojourners, Public Citizen, and so many others).
In an attempt to gain some clarity on Trump’s return to power, these historic and tumultuous first weeks of his reign and the connections between the country’s democracy crisis and moral crisis, I recently spoke with Rev. Adam Russell Taylor. He is president of Sojourners and author of “A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community.”
Before President-elect Trump takes office, faith leaders in Newark are preparing for potential raids targeting migrants and their families. Sojourners Senior Director of Campaigns and Mobilizing, Sandy Ovalle, spoke about what she and others are doing to help migrant families prepare for what lies ahead. “Family preparedness plans like what would happen if a raid comes into your work or if some on comes knocking into your place. Do you have people that could look for your children? Do you have all of your documents put together.”
“Organized by Faiths United to Save Democracy (FUSD) — a nonpartisan and multi-faith organization — pastors, imams, rabbis and clergy known as “poll chaplains” and “peacekeepers” are present at polling stations in 10 states.”
“Most of the poll chaplains, all volunteers for Faiths United to Save Democracy, an organization convened by Williams-Skinner, Wallis and Sojourners President Adam Russell Taylor since the last presidential race to keep peace at the voting sites, reported a relatively problem-free election so far.”
“The effort is part of the campaign’s broader efforts to uphold the integrity of the American democratic process through an interfaith coalition led by Sojourners, a national faith-based media and advocacy organization; Skinner Leadership Institute in Baltimore; and the Center on Faith and Justice at Georgetown University.”
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The Reverend Adam Russell Taylor of Sojourners, a Christian social justice group, says the president was putting his finger on how commonly people wrap themselves in Dr. King's legacy for political expedience.
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Source: Newsweek | Adam Russell Taylor
I grew up in the shadow of the civil rights struggle believing that my generation inherited the unfinished business of the civil rights movement. I failed to imagine the degree to which the struggle for voting rights would become part and parcel to that unfinished business. The health and future of democracy are facing their greatest test since the height of that struggle.
Source: Center for American Progress | Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons
The Center for American Progress interviewed one of the country’s most influential Christian leaders, the Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, in December 2021 via email in an effort to understand more about Christian political engagement at this moment in history—and find inspiration from influential historical leaders such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Source: The Dallas Morning News | Benjamin J. Dueholm
Melissa Florer-Bixler, a pastor writing in Sojourners, has a theory: pastors are joining the “Great Resignation,” burned out and overmatched by the ingrained attitudes and financial struggles of congregations. Despite the space in our national discussion taken up by huge churches and their leaders, Florer-Bixler points out that most churches in the U.S. are small. Their clergy are not famous or prominent. And many of those clergy, especially the younger ones, are experiencing “the incompatibility between the teachings of Jesus Christ and the practices of many who claim to follow him.”
Source: Baptist News Global | Adam Russell Taylor
The United States Congress is currently considering a series of bold investments in American families and communities that will better enable all of us to pursue our God-given potential while protecting the most vulnerable in our society. As a Baptist pastor and as a father, I urge our elected leaders to support these critical investments, which are both a moral and prudential imperative.
Source: The Washington Post | Joseph Hammond
A coterie of faith-based groups, including African American Ministers In Action, Sojourners, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and the National Council of Churches, have also accused the GOP of “anti-Muslim animus” for its opposition to Syed.
Source: Deseret News | Kelsey Dallas
There’s a budget showdown brewing in Congress, and some faith leaders are urging policymakers to focus on its moral implications. Now is the time for Congress to acknowledge how many American families are suffering and embrace the bold solutions that will honor “the inherent dignity of people shaped in the image of God,” wrote Lauren W. Reliford for Sojourners.
Source: Fox News | Tyler O'Neil
The Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, president of Sojourners, a left-leaning Christian organization, lamented that the Pew poll suggests Americans think of their faith in political terms.
Source: Associated Press
Broadleaf Books is excited to announce the release of a timely and important book from Sojourners President, Rev. Adam Russell Taylor.
Source: Religion News Service | Jack Jenkins
Signers include a diverse array of faith groups, including the Religious Action Center and Union for Reform Judaism, African American Ministers In Action, Sojourners, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, National Council of Churches, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Church World Service and Friends Committee on National Legislation.
Source: The Washington Post | Emily McFarlan Miller
At this year’s biennial meeting — part business meeting, part worship service, part “family reunion,” as Blackmon described it — keynote speakers include Sikh social justice activist and filmmaker Valarie Kaur and the Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, the new president of Sojourners.
Source: CNN | Diana Butler Bass
The seventies were the high-water mark of progressive evangelicalism, a social activist brand of conservative Protestantism (represented by figures like Jim Wallis and Sojourners magazine) that was widely popular, especially among younger evangelical Christians who opposed to the Vietnam War, embraced feminism and civil rights and sought to address economic injustice.
Source: Fox News | Brooke Singman
The White House is also partnering with Faiths4Vaccines—a multi-faith coalition of 46 faith-based organizations including the Christian Community Development Association, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, Sojourners, the National Council of Churches, the Union for Reform Judaism, the National African American Clergy Network, the Catholic Health Association, the Islamic Medical Association of North America, and more.
Source: The Washington Post
“Several of our folks were speakers at protests and were articulating a theological voice in the midst of this time calling for accountability and transparency and justice,” said the Rev. Terrance McKinley, director of racial justice and mobilizing for Sojourners.