Religious Action Center

Gulf Update: 5 years post-Katrina, 5 months of oil

Last Sunday marked the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's devastating landfall on the Gulf Coast. Nearly five months ago, the Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing eleven men, beginning the release of millions of barrels of oil, and adding endless complication to the recovery and restoration process across the Gulf Coast region. As these challenges continue, and as faith communities continue to respond, the Gulf Coast remains in the national spotlight - and remains a priority for all those who care about economic and environmental justice.

Gulf Coast communities commemorated the Katrina anniversary with rallies, religious services, and a whole host of other events. The President spoke at Xavier University and restated his commitment to long-term restoration and recovery in the Gulf, and to building a stronger and more resilient region than ever. His words - "Just as we have sought to ensure that we are doing what it takes to recover from Katrina, my administration has worked hard to match our efforts on the spill to what you need on the ground" - are encouraging but beg the question: what do we do to move forward?

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Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Filed under: Domestic Issues, Economic Justice, Energy Policy, Environment, oil, Sustainability

Securing the Right of Religious Freedom and Safety

The recent wave of hate crimes against American Muslims and nationwide protests against the construction of mosques is alarming to say the least. From coast to coast, mosques are being vandalized, Muslims are being attacked, and families fear for their safety. The RAC and Reform Movement have come out in strong support of religious freedom and condemned this kind of bigotry.

In response to this recent influx of Islamophobia, Rabbi David Saperstein, accompanied by a coalition of faith groups and advocacy organizations, met with senior Obama Administration officials in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to discuss what could be done to uphold religious freedom and protect millions of American Muslims.

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Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Filed under: Race Relations, religious freedom

Get Out the Vote!

It's that time of year again, fellow voters, so don your election caps and start reading! This year's 2010 midterm elections, taking place Tuesday, November 2, are sure to promise some exciting races, controversial ballot questions, and unpredictable results and we want you to be in the know. To help keep you informed about this year's candidates and ballot measures, and boost your enthusiasm for civic participation in its most quintessential form, we've created a Voting Information Center with tons of resources and links to ensure you cast an educated vote this November.

On this site you can find Jewish resources, programming recommendations, sample publicity materials and the RAC's top ten election movies! You can also research the candidates in your federal, state and local elections, find out about important ballot measures in your state, and how to register to vote or submit an absentee ballot. This information and so much more is available on our Voting portal so make sure you check it out!

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Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Filed under: Current Events, Elections, Voting Rights

Remembering Katrina: A Reflection

Leslie G. Woods serves as the Representative for Domestic Poverty & Environmental Issues in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness in Washington, D.C.

[Editor's Note: for more on the Reform Movement's Gulf response efforts in the five years since Hurricane Katrina, visit our Katrina & New Orleans: 5 years later resource page.]

I arrived in the faith-based advocacy community in Washington, DC, fresh out of divinity school. I had moved to Washington to take an internship in the Public Life and Social Policy Office of the United Church of Christ - a public policy ministry that I was excited to join after three years of study and preparation. I had been told that I would be working on issues of domestic poverty and economic justice. My first day in the office was August 29, 2005.

The first day of a new job is always nerve-wracking, but this day was also tinged with the collective sadness of watching a tragedy unfold. The 24-hour news cycle blared the news of recent and impending hurricane landfalls and of inadequate evacuation plans. I remember sitting with my new colleagues that morning discussing the domestic poverty policy agenda for the coming session of Congress, when Hurricane Katrina came up. In that Monday morning meeting, a collective intake of breath seemed to still the room as we all contemplated what was happening at that very moment.

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Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Filed under: Domestic Issues, Economic Justice, Environment, katrina

Mosque on Park Place: Round Up

Surely, you've been unable to avoid all the frenzy surrounding the so-called "Ground Zero" Mosque to be built on Park Place in lower Manhattan. Politicians and pundits on all sides of the debate have weighed in, and in some instances, staked their political future on this position.

As President of the Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, and Director of the Religious Action Center, Rabbi David Saperstein, asserted, "The principle of religious freedom on which the United States was founded has demonstrated that our nation is strengthened by the faith of its citizens and the houses of worship in which they gather." The full text of Rabbi Yoffie and Rabbi Saperstein's statement is available.

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Posted by Religious Action Center at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Filed under: Civil Rights, Current Events, Dialogue, Domestic Issues, Interfaith Affairs, Islam, Race Relations, religious freedom, Seperation of Church and State, The RAC

Gulf Update: Investigating the Oil Disaster

This morning I joined hundreds of advocates, industry leaders, and government experts at the second meeting of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling in Washington. The Commission - comprised of a diverse group of government officials, energy industry experts, and environmental advocates - was appointed by President Obama following the Deepwater Horizon blowout to investigate the causes of the disaster and the practices of the oil industry. Their findings will have serious implications for the future of oil drilling and production in the U.S.

Today's hearing covered a wide variety of topics related directly and tangentially to the BP oil disaster, and there were several important themes that emerged from the hearing. Safety was, appropriately, a consistent thread of the conversation, as were questions of broader oceans' resource management (based on the Administration's new oceans use policy). Clearly there is a great need and a genuine desire to change the way the oil industry does business, to protect people and the planet, even as we move away from an oil-based economy in the long term.

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Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Filed under: Domestic Issues, Energy Policy, oil, Sustainability

A Tragic Weekend in the Congo

The following will disturb many readers.

Over the course of a single weekend last month, over 175 women in a village in North Kivu in the Congo were raped by Rwandan rebels, the United Nations reported today. Most were systematically raped by more than one man at a time and most in front of family members.

The attack, apparently committed by an ethnic Hutu group called the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), is considered a remarkably bad one - not because it involved rape, or even because of the systematic fashion in which rape was used as an instrument of war and terror, but simply because of the number of victims and the use of gang-rape.

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Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Filed under: international affairs, Legislative Issues, Women's Rights

Sounds like...

by Rabbi Rebecca Yaël Schorr
Originally posted on Frume Sarah's World [via RJ.org]

Jewess.
Zionist.
American.

That's me. Just so I cannot be accused of anything later...

On May 30, 1806, by Imperial and Royal Decree of Emperor Napoleon I, the Parisian Sanhedrin was convoked.

But wait, you say. How could the Sanhedrin, which was formally disbanded in 358 CE, be reconstituted by a non-Jewish Emperor of France?

It couldn't.

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Posted by Religious Action Center at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Civil Rights, Dialogue, Interfaith Affairs, Islam, religious freedom, Separation of Church and State

Responding to the Pakistan Flood

The recent flooding in Pakistan has left millions homeless and caused overwhelming damage to thousands of communities - and sparked a global conversation about the real and immediate implications of our changing global climate. While quantifying disaster never truly does justice to the magnitude of the impact, the numbers in Pakistan are staggering: over 1,400 killed, 6,000 villages destroyed, and 14 million people affected.

Yet relief and development organizations are struggling for funding to confront the disaster and begin the rebuilding process. It is hard to fully comprehend the magnitude of a catastrophe unfolding half a world away, particularly when the news cycle is dominated by stories and images from closer to home. Yet the flooding is a stark reminder of the need for disaster preparedness and resources for response, and the danger of unchecked changes to our global climate.

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Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 3:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Filed under: Domestic Issues, Energy Policy, Environment, Legislative Issues, Sustainability

Gulf Update: After BP (and Katrina): Rethinking the Economy of the Gulf Coast

Jeremy Burton is the senior vice president of Philanthropic Initiatives of Jewish Funds for Justice. This entry originally appeared in Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture.

I met Robert Green, a resident of New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward, this June. He lives just blocks from a levee where, on August 29th, 2005, a barge flowed through the break and came to a halt just behind his home. His mother and his 5-year-old granddaughter died in that flood.

I sometimes lead groups of Jewish volunteers to perform community service in neighborhoods still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. That's how I met Mr. Green. When my group was visiting his block, he came out to talk with us and noticed my kippah. He told us how pleased he was to see a Jewish group and about how a Solomon Schechter class from New Jersey had cleared out the debris on his property and prepared it to be rebuilt.

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Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Filed under: Energy Policy, Environment, oil, Sustainability

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September 2, 2010

Gulf Update: 5 years post-Katrina, 5 months of oil

August 31, 2010

Securing the Right of Religious Freedom and Safety

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