california
THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT in this country has caused great concern among many of us, Christian and otherwise. This month’s scripture passages spark various theological and socio-political hauntings that shed insight for us on how to respond.
For instance, we need to understand that God does not seek the destruction of creation to manifest God’s plan. No calamity can be justified as somehow being “God’s intention.” In addition, we need prophetic peace with all of God’s creation. This peace demands justice and reparations. I continue to pray for Palestine, Israel, and other nations where violence abounds. Third, we stand with all the queer people who are experiencing tremendous hardships because of intentional policy choices. Fourth, we will not be fooled by hate speeches that pretend to be freedom speeches. Words matter. We are responsible for what we say on any platform or in any capacity.
Our circumstances require us to respond, in whatever ways we can and on the issues that speak particularly to us. As we do so, even while we create room for self-critique, we are invited to be generous and patient with ourselves as we seek to navigate as wisely as possible these challenging times.
SINCE I AM a Christian, I worship the Son, not the sun. That said, I’ve been spending most of my time lately thinking about that large ball of gas the good Lord was kind enough to hang in the sky, 93 million miles away. In fact, we’re getting ready for an entire weekend devoted to considering the most important object in our physical world — though it is the only one you can’t look at directly. SunDay will happen on September 20 and 21, 2025 (details at SunDay.earth), and I hope it’s a chance for real reverence.
The sun already supplies light, heat, and photosynthesis, and now it’s ready to provide all the power we could ever need. In the last decade, engineers have dropped the price of solar power by 90%; they have done similar work for batteries that store power for when the sun goes down. We now live on a planet where the cheapest way to generate power is to point a sheet of glass at the sun.
If we take full advantage of those new facts, we stand some chance of limiting the damage from the climate crisis. Last year, California reduced the amount of natural gas it used to generate energy by 25% compared to its usage in 2023. This is the most hopeful statistic I’ve come across in my 35 years of working on global warming. California was able to do this because it had put up enough solar panels to really make a difference. And this could happen everywhere. Texas is currently building clean energy faster than anywhere else in North America but is miles behind China, which put up about 60% of the planet’s solar panels last year.
When Shimica Gaskins first saw the single-story green ranch style house in Altadena, Calif., she wasn’t in love with the color. But she was in love with Altadena, a community where the Black middle class was not only thriving but creating the kind of social fabric where she and her husband dreamed of raising their two kids. Eight years later, the citrus trees, native plants, and family memories had made the little green house a home. And then it burned down.
Over the past two years, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, which sits on a hill four blocks away from the Pacific Ocean in Laguna Beach, Calif., has overhauled its property, adding drought-resistant native plants to its gardens and installing a drip irrigation system to avoid water runoff.
The marchers, organized by the United Farm Workers, were joined by hundreds of allies, including faith leaders, throughout their march. Farmworkers marched through triple-digit temperature days on their peregrinacion (pilgrimage). They carried American and Mexican flags, flags with union logos, and a banner featuring a large image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a title for the Virgin Mary that carries special significance for Mexican and Mexican-Americans. Marchers proclaimed, “We feed you!” and chanted the UFW slogan “Sí, se puede (Yes, it can be done!)”
State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco)’s bill would classify affordable housing built on religious or private college land as “use by right,” a term for developments that are exempt from local zoning requirements. The bill would make it simpler for religious institutions and private universities to build affordable housing on their property.
Quick and efficient though they may be, these emergency shelters are a short-term fix. With affordable housing scarce and real estate continuing to rise in one of California’s priciest markets, some critics are concerned Orange County is content to shunt the unhoused out of view without promoting permanent housing.
Romarilyn Ralston spoke with Sojourners’ Jenna Barnett about her previous work for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection as a clerk and a trainer for other incarcerated wildfire fighters. In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill clearing the path for inmate firefighters to be eligible for firefighting jobs upon release.
“SINCE WORLD WAR II there have been labor camps in California training incarcerated people to help support Cal Fire on the outside. California has one of the highest fire seasons every year, and it’s getting hotter and hotter because of climate change. So having a workforce of hundreds of well-trained firefighters to cut lines and remove fuel on the sides of mountains for a dollar an hour—it’s a steal. And California saves $100 million a year doing it. On one hand, California is really progressive with our criminal justice reforms, and on the other hand, we’re still so committed to punishment and enslaving, extorting, and treating people inhumanely.
By the end of Super Tuesday, nearly half of immigrants eligible to vote in the U.S. will have made their voices heard in the Democratic presidential primary.
“A teacher once told me it would be better if I didn’t tell people I’m gay,” said Jed McDonald, a Pasadena City College student and former youth in foster care.
“I think she meant it as helpful advice because she wasn’t a mean teacher, but it didn’t feel that way,” McDonald said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom will impose a moratorium on the state's death penalty on Wednesday, granting reprieves to all 737 inmates on death row and closing the state's execution chamber, an administration source said.
Studies show that foster youth are the most likely to drop out of school and least likely to graduate high school, much less attend and graduate from college. In California, about 50 percent of foster students graduated from high school in the 2016-17 school year, compared to about 83 percent for all other students, according to the state Department of Education.
A dystopian scene is unfolding across California. Charred car skeletons sit idle on the side of roads in the working-class town of Paradise, Calif. In one video, a camera pans to reveal what looks like an apocalyptic movie set — passing the remains of an abandoned school bus, begging us to ask what happened to those who were inside.
Opponents fear the decision could result in a severe undercount that can lead to increased marginalization of immigrants by potentially reducing their representation in Congress and federal funding for local jurisdictions, which is determined by population.
“It is an atrocity that an unarmed young man was shot at twenty times in his own backyard and shows the urgent need in these times for intervention against police misconduct. We will call for a complete and thorough investigation into this young man’s death," Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement.
President Trump, I personally invite you to also come down to the borderlands with me in Tijuana and San Diego and meet the people directly impacted by the stroke of your pen. I am a co-founding director of Global Immersion, and one of our primary organizational initiatives involves having cross-sector leaders from around the country come to the border to see the human face of immigration and build a set of tools for how to better care of the “stranger among us,” as my sacred text (the Bible) mandates.
The U.S. Justice Department will file a lawsuit against the state of California alleging it is interfering with the enforcement of federal immigration laws, escalating a long-simmering battle over "sanctuary" policies that try to protect undocumented immigrants against deportation, senior department officials said Tuesday.
According to court documents, California Highway Patrol (CHP) worked with and expressed sympathy with the neo-Nazi Traditionalist Workers Party (TWP), treating them as victims and attempted to protect their identity.
The sweep comes in the wake of nationwide ICE raids of nearly 100 7-Eleven stores that resulted in dozens of arrests less than a month ago.
While not yet final, the regulation appears intended to let employers avoid providing birth control coverage if they object for any reason — an expansion of the original effort to exempt those with religious objections. As a result, abortion rights groups warn that up to 55 million women could lose free birth control coverage — something that saves them $1.4 billion annually.