Color of Money. In 1974, the U.S. median black income was 63 percent of that of whites. In 2004, a typical black family had an income that was only 58 percent of a typical white family’s, stated a recent Brookings Institution report.
Priestly Parity? In 2006, Anglican women priests outpaced their male counterparts in ordination. The Anglican Church ordained 478 new clergy in 2006—244 women and 234 men, an historical first. However, for that same year, men continued to outnumber women in full-time paid positions—128 men to 95 women.
Sacred Union. In India, the Catholic bishops’ Commission for Labor launched a campaign to protect the rights of India’s 300 million nonunion workers. Ninety-three percent of India’s workers are “underpaid and lack collective bargaining power to ascertain job security and benefits such as insurance and pensions,” stated a government official.
Green Belt. The governors of several U.S. Midwestern states signed the Midwestern Regional Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord in November. With similar climate control agreements among Northeast and Western states, 48 percent of the U.S. has adopted legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the World Resources Institute.
Repentance. The Baptist Union of Great Britain apologized for its complicity in 400 years of the transatlantic slave trade, stating: “We acknowledge our share in and benefit from our nation’s participation in the transatlantic slave trade.”
Rights Stuff. In November, members of Christian Peacemaker Teams in northern Iraq assisted Kurdistan Human Rights Watch’s nonviolence trainers in leading a module educating 24 regional police officers on human rights for detainees.
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