Fresh Updates from RAC

For a long time the common refrain has been that “religious values” meant “conservative or traditional.” With the decline of the so-called Religious Right the monopoly on terms like “Values Voters” or descriptions that equate religion with only one set of beliefs and values about some contentious issues in civil society. So, when I saw this video from the Center for American Progress, I wondered if there’s a rising set of religious leaders who are asserting their values in the public sphere. Take a look after the jump.

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The Consultation on Conscience, April 21-23, 2013, is Reform Judaism’s flagship social justice conference, where we work together to help advance Jewish values and enlightened and progressive social policies. As always, we bring together Jewish and public policy decision makers for three days of social action and legislative advocacy sessions.

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The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) organized and led a delegation of 22 religious leaders and NRCAT staff in a meeting November 27, 2012, with White House staff, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to discuss the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT). NRCAT is encouraging President Obama to sign the protocol, which has already been ratified by 64 nations and signed by an additional 22. Torture inflicts more physical and psychological harm than other interrogation techniques which are, in fact, more effective means of obtaining crucial national security intelligence and therefore cannot be condoned by Jewish law.

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Rabbi David Saperstein and his colleague Rev. Oliver “Buzz” Thomas have published an op-ed in today’s issue of USA Today. To summarize, Rabbi Saperstein and Rev. Thomas basically lay out five simple rules for the interplay between religion and politics in 2012, laying out a concise guide for candidates and voters alike!

We
are pleased to announce the new Kovler Black-Jewish
Microgrant Program to promote quality programming and activities that enhance
Black-Jewish relations! Rabbi Saperstein noted in our press release: “Honoring
the history of the Reform Jewish engagement in the great civil rights struggles
of the 20^th century and the Center’s ongoing work to strengthen
Black-Jewish relations, we are very pleased to launch this program.”

Your community can apply now for funds aimed at
developing links and common ground between African Americans and Jews. We hope
successful proposals will involve activities that bring members of both
communities together.

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Vice President Al Gore will be giving the Consultation on
Conscience‘s opening keynote address on May 1. Since leaving office, Vice
President Gore has been the planet’s leading activist on sustainability,
winning a Nobel Prize for his work on climate change and an Academy Award for
his documentary An Inconvenient Truth. The Consultation’s opening
keynote is held at Washington Hebrew Congregation, one our Movement’s largest
synagogues.

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Senate leaders have brokered a compromise that will limit obstructionist tactics in the Senate while preserving the filibuster as a tool of the minority. In our statement released after the vote, Rabbi Saperstein noted “While the compromise fails to address the unprecedented increase in the use of legislative filibusters, we are hopeful that this debate served as a wakeup call to the Senate. Abuse of the filibuster serves neither the interests of the chamber nor the American people.”

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On Monday, the Supreme Court upheld an employee’s right to sue for unlawful retaliation in Thompson v. North American Stainless Steel. Rabbi Saperstein noted in our statement: “The decision in Thompson v. North American Stainless is particularly heartening given its deviation from the recent trend of Supreme Court decisions prioritizing corporations over individuals.”

The facts are this (as NPR sums up): “Eric Thompson and Miriam Regalado met and became engaged while working
at North American Stainless steel in Kentucky. She was a female
supervisor — a rarity in the company — and she says she was never
accepted by her boss.

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