"We do not
wish to leave a legacy of debt to our children, nor do we believe that a legacy
of poverty and underinvestment is any better." - Faithful Budget coalition letter to Obama
and Congress
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Photo slideshow from November 20th Super Vigil at the White House.
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An interfaith
coalition is praying and working together to protect
federal programs that serve people living in poverty.
This coalition has formed
the "Faithful Budget" campaign. This Fall, the UCC is joining with faith communities across the
country. We will unite to pray and ask Congress for a just and compassionate federal
budget that puts the "least of these" first.
All our faith traditions cite the importance of placing people
who are poor and marginalized at the forefront of concern. The current
fiscal debates – at their heart – are a struggle for the soul of the nation and
its moral conscience. We grieve at the growing gap between the rich
and poor - faith and fairness require that we preserve and strengthen
vital lifelines for vulnerable and impoverished people in the US and abroad. The faithful
way forward to fiscal health calls for a focus on job creation, revenue
increases, a shared commitment to the common good, and reducing unnecessary
military spending.
A Super Vigil for the Super Committee
Just days before the Congressional Super Committee was scheduled to reveal its deficit reduction proposal people of faith gathered to pray. On Sunday, November 20 at 3:00 p.m., members of the United Church of Christ and our interfaith partners joined together in a prayer rally at Lafayette Park to pray and encourage Super Committee members to preserve funding for programs that assist the most at-risk families and children in the U.S. and abroad. At the same time groups of advocates around the country were gathering in their communities and by phone to lift their prayers for a faithful budget solution.
It was a wonderful event. If you missed it, be sure to check out these resources:
More work to Do
Continue to pray without ceasing. The Super Committee failed to come up with a deficit solution. This failure will trigger automatic, across the board budget cuts that will kick in in 2013. This will have serious ramifications for poor and vulnerable communities. We must continue to pray that our nation's leaders will find the moral courage to work for the common good and to take special action to ensure that vital safety net programs are protected.
Follow the action on Facebook or Twitter via @justice_ucc or #faithfulbudget.
Background
This summer’s contentious battle over raising the federal
debt ceiling grabbed the headlines and shook public confidence in our public
policy process. While lawmakers engaged
in political brinksmanship and heated rhetoric, members of the faith community
turned to prayer and advocacy centered around those whose voices were largely
left out of the debate, but whose immediate lives were most likely to be
impacted by the outcome – those on the economic margins of society.
For 18 days during the height of the debate,
members of the faith-based advocacy community gathered in front of the United
Methodist Building on Capitol Hill for daily prayer vigils urging a fair and
just resolution of the debt ceiling debate and the protection of programs
serving the most vulnerable communities.
The vigils caught the attention of CNN, the Washington Post, the Odyssey
Network and many curious tourists visiting Washington. Faith advocates coupled prayer with advocacy
visits to members of Congress and encouraged phone calls and e-mails from
people of faith around the country urging Congress not to balance the budget on
the backs of the poor. On July 29th, nearly a dozen leaders from the faith community were arrested
while engaging in an act of civil disobedience by kneeling in prayer inside the U.S. Capitol Building.
Participating in this action was Sandy Sorensen,
director of the UCC Washington office and former General Minister and
President Paul Sherry.
While a
last-minute agreement did avert a default crisis, the work is far from
over. In a statement released followingthe debt ceiling agreement, the UCC’s Collegium of Officers noted:
“Much work remains to be done. Those who struggle on the economic margins of
our society in the U.S. and around the world – children living in poverty,
people without jobs, those with chronic health challenges, families facing
foreclosure, older adults living on fixed incomes, women trying to escape
domestic violence in their homes – were not present when decisions were made
about federal spending and the debt ceiling.
Yet these decisions will determine whether they will have food to eat,
and money to pay for health care and rent.
We are committed to ensuring that those voices are heard in the months
ahead as the debt limit agreement is implemented, and Congress develops budgets
for 2012 and 2013.”
Plans are in the works to organize in-district prayer vigils
and advocacy visits to congressional offices in September and October, when
Congress returns from the August recess and the congressional Joint Committee
on Deficit Reduction makes its recommendation to Congress in November. Stay
tuned to upcoming Justice and Peace
Action Network messages and the JWM Insider for ways you can be involved.
Prayers for a Faithful Budget
Faithful Budget
vigils are being held outside the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill.
They started on July 11 and continued throughout the budget/deficit negotiations
until August 3. They resumed in the Fall. We invite you to join us in prayer where ever you are.
In the News
Super Vigils for the Super Committee
Coverage of Faith Leader's Arrest
Court Appearance & Prayer Conference
July 28th Arrest
Coverage of Daily Prayer Vigils
Why should we care about the federal budget? | Understanding the Super Committee | More Budget Prayers from the UCC
