Category Archives: Religious News

West Bank YAGM team plant trees


Thanks to ELCA Missionary the Rev. Shadra Shoffner for submitting this picture and caption. On Earth Day (April 22) give thanks and pray for those who plant trees and plant peace. Sue-s
During their mid-year retreat, the Jersusalem/West Bank ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) team planted trees near Nahalin Village, West Bank. The property belongs to a Palestinian Lutheran family who advocate for peace, saying “We refuse to be enemies.”

Front: Nikki Schmidt, Marta Spangler.
Back: Paul Kacynski, Martin and the Rev. Shadra Shoffner (YAGM coordinators), Daher Nassar (local host), Chelsea Mathis and Kendra Kintzi.
(Unless otherwise noted, the pictured are ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission. 2009 Photo by Meredith Harber, YAGM.)

Make Earth Day Resolutions

I don’t want to rain on the parade, but I’m not 100 percent in love with Earth Day. Don’t get me wrong—I love the awareness and the fact that projects get done on (and around) April 22. But what about the other 364 days of the year? So this Earth Day, I am challenging you to make Earth Day every day.

Sit down on April 22 and make your own Earth Day Resolutions—a list of day-to-day eco-friendly goals and challenges that will help you live a greener, cleaner and healthier life over the next 365 days. Don’t know where to start? Naturally Savvy has some great suggestions.

Ditch plastic wrap (some of it contains PVC—yikes!)

Stop using paper plates. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. It’s wasteful and completely unnecessary. If you’re worried about family time, make washing dishes or loading the dishwasher a rotating chore that you do with one of your kids each evening.

Use public transit

Walk or take your bike whenever possible

Stop using chemical cleaners. Switch to natural products or homemade solutions.

Choose organic foods—particularly when it comes to pesticide-heavy produce and genetically modified foods.

Grow your own fruits and vegetables to eliminate pesticides and a huge part of your carbon footprint.

Start composting!

Stop using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. There are tons of natural alternatives on the market and all sorts of home remedies. (Trust me, people with chemical sensitivities will thank you.)

Use cloth diapers.

Volunteer with a local recycling program or environmental group.

Paper or plastic? Neither. Always take along a reusable bag when you leave the house.

Learn one new thing about the environment every week, then pass it on. Knowledge is power.

Reduce your garbage to a maximum of one bag per week. (It’s the limit in my town, and with four people in my house, we rarely fill the bag.)

Send one letter or postcard to a politician—local, state, federal or international—each month concerning an environmental issue. A politician once told me that one letter or postcard represents about 50 people who feel the same way. Politicians won’t take the environment seriously unless you show them you do.

Cut your paper footprint and switch to recycled paper products—paper towels, toilet paper, printing paper.

Ditch wrapping paper and paper gift bags in favor of eco-friendly and reusable alternatives.

Refuse to use polystyrene (Styrofoam). If a restaurant or take-out joint uses it, point out that it’s unhealthy and bad for the environment.

Don’t buy products made with PVC (polyvinyl chlorate). PVC is difficult to recycle and a recent study links the phthalates in vinyl flooring to autism. Other places PVC is lurking include: shower curtains, rain gear…

This list could go on and on. Planet Green has tons of great advice on living a little greener, so take some time to browse the site if you’re looking for other options.

So what are my resolutions? I already do a lot of the things listed above, but there’s definitely room for improvement.

Cara’s Earth Day Resolutions

Plant a fruit and veggie garden

Switch to organic, free range chicken and eggs

Find a non-toxic, natural hair dye

Send one letter per month to a politician concerning an environmental issue

Always carry a reusable bag (I’m forgetful, but I’m vowing to remember!)

Cara Smusiak writes on behalf of Naturally Savvy.com about how to live a more natural, organic and green lifestyle.

Progressive Alliance of Baptists

The Alliance of Baptists is a movement of progressive Christians–individuals and congregations–seeking to respond to the continuing call of God in a rapidly changing world. The Alliance offers a clear voice for Christian freedom, distinctively Baptist and intentionally ecumenical in an interfaith world.

From its inception in early 1987, the Alliance has called Baptists to stand for those values which have distinguished the Baptist movement from its beginnings four centuries ago–the freedom and accountability of every individual in matters of faith; the freedom of each congregation under the authority of Jesus Christ to determine its own ministry and mission; and religious freedom for all in relationship to the state. Alliance members and churches mark our commitment to God and each other by the annual renewal of our uniquely Baptist founding covenant.

The Alliance is grounded in a story that still matters. Rooted in a noble tradition, our members and churches continue to respond in faith to the One who makes all things new. In addition to the historic Baptist principles, traditions and freedoms expressed in the Alliance covenant, the life of the Alliance today is increasingly shaped by:

§ A commitment to inclusiveness, each person valued as God’s beloved, uniquely gifted to reveal and enable God’s work in the world;

§ A respect for freedom, each voice affirmed as an expression essential to our gathered witness, whether lifted in agreement or dissent;

§ A devotion to discernment, each action crafted in the context of active listening and careful and deliberate thought, with a goal of lasting consensus;

§ A reverence for mystery, each Christian awed by the transcendence of God, open to being surprised by God, and humble enough to admit that she or he is not God;

§ A hunger and thirst for social justice, each believer called to do the transformative work of Christ in the compassionate spirit of Christ; and

A passion for partnership, modeled in how we do Alliance work together and in our relationships with other people of faith, each collaboration celebrated as an occasion for that spiritual synergy which grows from connecting God’s people with one another.

Read more at the Alliance website.

The Mobilization to End Poverty

The Mobilization to End Poverty will be a history-making gathering. Christians from across the country will come together in a powerful movement committed to the biblical imperative of reducing domestic and global poverty.

Join a movement rooted firmly in Christian faith that has the will and capacity to reduce poverty by half within 10 years both domestically and globally.

April 26 – 29, 2009
Washington Convention Center
801 Mount Vernon Place, NW
Washington, DC 20001

Hosted by Sojourners Magazine. Click here for more info from the Sojourners website and review registration info.

Homophobia Is Killing Our Youth

Dissolving hatred in our society starts with each of us on an individual level. Whether we are straight, LGBT, black, white or all shades in between, if we want to heal hate among youth we must engage in a process of introspective exploration to reveal where we ourselves have held onto hatred, ignorance, fear, and anger. Amidst all this homophobic murder, and without dismissing accountability; even those of us who feel justified in our animosity towards those who hate, must forgive our judgments. Hate in any form is still hate and it contributes to its survival. In the story of the crucifixion (whether myth or fact) Jesus says himself, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”

Read more of Joseph Mannino’s essay in the Huffington Post

Peace In The Middle East: Is Yoga Kosher?

For those of us too lazy, poor or contrary to jump on the yoga bandwagon, there are many ways to justify our indolence. But rarely do we invoke higher powers. Not surprisingly, yoga’s getting big in Israel. But for the country’s sizable Orthodox population, it’s the subject of hot debate. The issue? Many yoga practitioners involve Hindu chants dedicated to multiple deities in their practices, which flies in the face of the Jewish injunction to worship only one God.

Read more of this post from Jezebel.com “Celebrity, Sex, Fashion for Women”

The Bigots’ Last Hurrah

WHAT would happen if you crossed that creepy 1960s horror classic “The Village of the Damned” with the Broadway staple “A Chorus Line”? You don’t need to use your imagination. It’s there waiting for you on YouTube under the title “Gathering Storm”: a 60-second ad presenting homosexuality as a national threat second only to terrorism . . .

Yet easy to mock as “Gathering Storm” may be, it nonetheless bookmarks a historic turning point in the demise of America’s anti-gay movement.

What gives the ad its symbolic significance is not just that it’s idiotic but that its release was the only loud protest anywhere in America to the news that same-sex marriage had been legalized in Iowa and Vermont. If it advances any message, it’s mainly that homophobic activism is ever more depopulated and isolated as well as brain-dead.

Read more of Frank Rich’s NY Times op ed piece here . . .