Our Faith, Our Vote Issue Webinars and One-Pagers

To prepare for the 2020 elections, the United Church of Christ D.C. Office, with the help of ecumenical friends and partners, has been busy working on issue specific resources for you to use and to share with your congregations and communities! We are in the midst of a critical election year, and it is important that we consider some of these major topics and how our faith informs our vote.  We hope these videos and resources help you learn about these topics vital to the upcoming elections, allow you to view the topic through the lens of your faith, and to guide you to action.

Topic: Climate/Environmental Justice One-Pager about Climate/Environment  UCC Environmental Ministries Creation Care Voter Pledge A Church’s Story of Dedicating Creation Care Voter Pledges
Topic: Economic Justice One-Pager about Economic Justice - Coming soon! Economic Justice UCC Website
Topic: Reproductive Justice One-Pager about Reproductive Justice  Reproductive Justice UCC Website
Topic: Health Care One-Pager about Health Care Health Care UCC Website
Topic: Racial Justice One-Pager about Racial Justice Letter from UCC Officers: Lynching Justice in America Racial Justice UCC Website
Topic: Immigration One-Pager about Immigration Immigration UCC Website
Topic: Gun Safety One-Pager about Gun Safety Gun Safety UCC Website
Topic: Human Rights Colombia Latin American Working Group, Promote Peace Campaign  Paying the Price for Being Advocates for Peace: A Letter from JUSTAPAZ in Colombia UCC 24th General Synod Resolution “Support Colombian Churches and Leaders Under Attack” Palestine/Israel Churches for Middle East Peace Kairos Palestine Letter “A Cry for Hope” UCC Palestine/Israel Network UCC 31st General Synod Resolution on Rights of Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Philippines International Coalition for Human rights in the Philippines Philippine Human Rights Act UCC 26th General Synod Resolution “A Call for Solidarity with the Persecuted in the Philippines, and an End to Extra-Judicial Killings and other Human Rights Violations.”  Global Ministries COVID-19 Updates and Resources Messages of Solidarity for Racial Justice Global Ministries Southern Asia Initiative Global Advocacy and Education Associate, Rebekah Choate
Topic: Voting Rights One-Pager about Voting Rights - Coming soon!
Topic: Just Peace One-Pager about Just Peace - Coming soon! Just Peace UCC Website Just Peace Facebook Page
Topic 11: Disabilities and Mental Health Justice One-Pager about Disabilities and Mental Health Justice United Church of Christ Disability Ministries UCC Mental Health Network Homepage for UCC Disabilities and Mental Health Justice

The UCC Washington office works to project the vision of change that is offered by UCC members in the halls of congress. Every two years our members come from across the country to gather for General Synod - to pray, reflect and discern a faithful response to God’s vision through resolutions and pronouncements on the issues facing our world.

It is through the actions of General Synod that we prioritize our advocacy.

Our staff monitor and seek changes in legislation at local, state and federal levels through a variety of coalitions and working groups. Through these coalitions we lobby and send letters to our elected officials advocating for changes if public policy.

While we work hard to represent and promote the views expressed at General Synod on Capitol Hill, it is you - as constituents - who make the best advocates.

How can the DC office help you engage in advocacy?

• constituency Education and Mobilization - E-Advocacy through the Justice and Peace Action Network, Petitions, Rallys and more

• Direct Capitol Hill Advocacy - Advocacy training, meetings with government officials and their staff

What is the Justice and Peace Action Network?

The UCC Justice and Peace Action Network is common action arm of the four covenanted ministries of the United Church of Christ that is charged with mobilizing UCC members for concentrated action as issues emerge.

Our vision is a just, compassionate and peaceful world that honors all of God's creation. In keeping with this vision the JPANet seeks to equip its members through issue education and weekly opportunity for public policy advocacy.  By joining the JPANet you have access to resources that are beneficial to advocates of any experience level. they include:

• An electronic Public Policy Briefing Book at the beginning of each two year Congressional session as an overview of policy priorities and work in all areas.
• Weekly electronic actions emailed to your inbox with direct "take action" links to key decision makers.
• A monthly electronic newsletter with notices about upcoming events, new resources and opportunities for action.

Using these tools you can begin basic advocacy or expend your current work. Our resources make it easy to engage or to engage your congregation in advocacy. Sign up here!

Back

In responding faithfully to God’s call for abundant life for all people, a common life in which no one is left behind, we are drawn inevitably to engage in public policy advocacy and decision-making.   

This is the goal of the UCC JWM Washington office; to make a better world possible by addressing the systemic problems that we face as a country and as part of the world. Hunger, poverty, peace and security, racism, care for the earth. These are among the types of justice issues that we work to improve through federal policies.    

“If a single decision in the halls of the U.S. Congress can either enhance or undo literally millions of acts of Christian caring, I should try to influence such decisions?"

The UCC Washington Office was called into being by a resolution at General Synod 10 in 1975. This predecessor body to Justice and Witness Ministries, then called the Office for Church in Society, was created to assume a leadership function for social action concerns in the UCC and to provide resources to the national, conference and local churches. 

Foremost among the tasks assigned to the office was identifying, analyzing and forecasting emerging social issues which call for the attention of the denomination.  

Today the UCC Justice and Witness Ministries staff in Washington, DC, in partnership with UCC staff, Conferences, Associations, congregations and individual UCC members, continues this mission by monitoring and seeking changes in legislation at local, state and federal levels through a variety of coalitions and working groups.  

The policies that guide our work are crafted by UCC members who gather for General Synod to pray, reflect and discern a faithful response to God’s call through resolutions and pronouncements on the issues facing our world.

Want to learn more?

• Engaging in policy advocacy
• Staff
• Contact Us

Your vote is your voice – don’t give it up!

The problems in our world often seem too big to confront. We see injustice every day and feel that change can’t or won’t happen. But our faith is infused with hope and built on a foundation of action. By serving the vulnerable, feeding the hungry, and standing in solidarity with the oppressed, we serve as God’s hands. Voting is a natural extension of faithful action. The decisions made by our representatives have a wide reaching impact. We have enormous potential to make positive change. We must engage our legislators, vote, and encourage everyone in our communities to do the same. Our faithful voice is needed. It is tempting to disengage from the political process. As people dedicated to creating a just world for all, we know we must be involved. Join the Our Faith, Our Vote campaign. Discover how your congregation can participate in the electoral process through faithful, nonpartisan engagement. The United Church of Christ can help with resources on civic engagement, voter registration information, issue education, and voter mobilization. This election season it is essential that people raise their voices and vote. Will you join us? *Learn more about how your congregation can legally engage in the elections*

Lift Every Voice - An Invitation from Rev. Traci Blackmon In Hebrew Scripture the word most often translated “voice” is “qol.” This is also the word translated as noise, or sound, or vote. In a broader sense, I would say the Hebrew word, qol, simply means letting oneself be heard.As people of faith, what is the noise we want to make in this election cycle? Read more. 2020 Updates Issue Education for 2020 We created a page with videos and resources dedicated to making the issues crucial in the 2020 elections feel a bit more manageable. Hear what UCC and ecumenical faith leaders specializing in these issues have to say, find links to important sources, and check out our issue one-pagers for candidate questions and more! Check it out! Check Out Our New Civic Action Center!  Check your registration status, find important dates for elections in your area, learn about candidates, and find the polling location nearest you, all from our Civic Action Center! Check it out here. Join the Our Faith, Our Vote email list for updates!  Sign up here.

Our Faith Our Vote Tips & Resources Find out Your Registration Status Get Active in the Elections Get Out the Vote College Resources Youth and Young Adults in Action Worship Resources Being a Civil Voice in Uncivil Times Ballot Initiatives Election Protection Helpful Links About Download Advocacy Toolkit

Sandra Sorensen
Director of Washington Office
100 Maryland Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-543-1517
sorenses@ucc.org

Voting is at the heart of the democratic process. It is the most fundamental access point for individuals to engage in the public dialogue and have a voice in the public policy decision-making process that can shape the future of our local, regional, national and global collective life.

Justice cannot be achieved unless the rules for governing the democratic process are fair to all, yet voter rights have been significantly undermined in recent years. We have seen state efforts to restrict voter rights through stringent voter identification laws and rollbacks in early voting, and last year’s Supreme Court decision eliminated key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The UCC General Synod has long supported voting rights and addressing obstacles to participation in the electoral process within the broader context of the civil rights struggle.

UCC Speaks Out

General Synod adopts statement on Supreme Court voting rights ruling
The United Church of Christ’s General Synod decisively adopted a statement brought to the floor July 2 calling on the church to publicly support voter’s rights through public statements, advocacy and actions. The approved resolution was in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down part of the Voting Rights Act as unconstitutional. Read more.

Learn More About Voting Rights

Race and Voting Rights
Police in riot gear, fire hoses and police dogs. These are some compelling images of what advocates faced when marching for the right to vote and an end to racial discrimination, in the streets of the 1950-60s Civil Rights Era. Today, the threats of voter suppression impacting communities of color remain real and present. (Read more.)

Prayerful Reflection

You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes, in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall render just decisions for the people. You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.  Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you. - Deuteronomy 16:18-20

In this passage from the Scriptures, we hear the call to carefully tend to the ways we order our collective life.  A right relationship with God means the practice of right relationship in human community. We are all entrusted, particularly those with power, to make decisions that impact our life together as society.

The call is to act equitably, with impartiality and integrity, and with justice as a guiding value for the common good.

The standard of justice, found over and over in the Scriptures, is the wellbeing of the most vulnerable members of our community. It is the standard by which we discern whether the laws and measures for the order of our society are just and fair.

In our public life together today, where would you say that we are according to such a standard? What are the challenges before us? What might we need to change?

On December 14th, 2012, the community in which I serve was plunged into trauma and grief by the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The cries of a heartbroken world rose up as twenty children and six educators were lost in a horrific event of gun violence. Many UCC clergy and congregations reached out to our congregation here in Newtown offering spiritual, emotional and various forms of tangible support.

One UCC laywoman who telephoned me soon after the event commented, “Things like this just should not happen.” But Sandy Hook happens every week in America. In fact, it happens several times over. Every week in the United States more than 50 of our children and youth die due to gun violence and many dozens more are injured. Most of us just aren’t paying attention.

That’s why I want to invite you, my fellow UCC brothers and sisters, to help one another and our nation to “pay attention.” Please join me in taking part in the Gun Violence Prevention Sabbath sponsored by Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence, which is scheduled for the weekend of December 14-18. Commit yourself and your community to pray about, learn about and act upon an issue that is claiming far too many of our fellow citizens.

On that weekend, please remember my beloved Newtown community but also remember and honor all of the precious lives lost to gun violence. (Since President John F. Kennedy was shot, more US citizens have died in our homes, in our schools and on our streets than have died in ALL of our wars - Revolutionary through Afghanistan/Iraq - combined.)

Friends, this issue of justice reaches to the very core of our faith. According to a recent Gallup poll, 60% of all people who have recently purchased a gun listed “personal safety” as the reason for their purchase. However, statistics from the Center for Disease Control tell us that a gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used in a homicide, injury, assault or suicide than to be used to defend oneself. The gun promises safety but far more often delivers grief.

For people of faith this is not Second Amendment issue, it is a Second Commandment crisis.

The near infatuation with the gun is moving dangerously close to becoming a full-blown worship of a false idol. We live in a time when common sense gun safety legislation - like the strengthening of our national background check system cannot pass Congress – even through nearly 90 percent of our citizens support such a law. We have allowed fear and apathy to rule when it comes to guns in America. We have allowed the status quo to become perfectly acceptable. As a result, every year 30,000 precious lives - each one created in God’s image - are added to a tally that is already far too high.

On the weekend of December 14-18 let us commit ourselves to another way of living – let us trust that “perfect love casts out all fear.” And let us follow in the way of the One we call the Prince of Peace.

Rev. Matt Crebbin
Sr. Minister
Newtown Congregational Church, UCC
Newtown, CT

Members of the faith community have long advocated for sensible, responsible policies to end gun violence. In 1995, The UCC 20th General Synod passed a resolution entitled “Violence in Our Society and World,” in which it recognized the complicated and interwoven layers at the root of violence.

That same General Synod also passed a resolution entitled “Guns and Violence,” inviting UCC members and congregations to advocate for legislation to strengthen licensing and registration of gun sales, strengthen regulations of gun dealers and ban semiautomatic assault weapons and high capacity ammunition clips.

The faith community has come together many times in the aftermath of gun tragedies to urge lawmakers to pass laws that prevent gun violence. Tested by our grief, resolute in our faith we remain committed to continuing this drumbeat.

Resources

• There is a lot you can do to advance gun safety legislation from home. Download our two-page guide for advocacy ideas.
• Take Action: Contact your Senators and urge them to support the passage of S.42, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019.
• Prayers addressing Gun Violence
• Faith vs. Fear Bible Study. A faith response to gun violence
• Want to be a voice for change? Need help? Check out this guide written for faith and lay leaders to help them answer the tough questions and speak effectively about gun violence prevention!

Updates

Traci Blackmon: How are the children?
February 16, 2018
The Rev. Traci Blackmon asks, "How are the children?" A question that seeks to reframe the conversation around serious gun control.

UCC leaders grieve, urge activism after another deadly school shooting in South Florida
February 15, 2018
UCC leaders believe it's past time to stand up to the gun lobbies and advocate for Jesus’ way of peace after another deadly school shooting in South Florida.

At General Synod 2017 - Youth voices lead the way on gun violence resolution
July 04, 2017
Guided in large part by the voices of youth, General Synod 2017 enthusiastically passed a resolution of witness urging the recognition of gun violence as a public health emergency deserving of federal funding for scientific research.

Money still talks loudest in gun violence debate
Op-ed by Rev. Matt Crebbin, Newtown Congregational UCC

Commentary: Why We Can't Give Up on Preventing Gun Violence
It is time to reclaim our streets, schools, and workplaces from the threat of gun violence, and it is time to reclaim the power of our vote from narrow special interests that seek to block even modest, common-sense measures to prevent gun violence.

Commentary: Every day is an anniversary
Aurora and Oak Creek made headlines, but the painful truth is that every single day on the calendar is the anniversary of the terrible toll of gun violence, somewhere in America, whether or not it makes the nightly news.

Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence
The UCC's former General Minister and President, the Rev. Geoffrey Black, joined 42 other faith leaders in writing a a letter asking President Obama and members of Congress to, "do everything possible to keep guns out of the hands of people who may harm themselves or others." The letter supports background checks for those who intend to buy a gun and demands legislation outlawing high capacity weapons and ammunition clips. The letter also declares that gun trafficing should be made a federal crime.

General Synod Policy on Gun Violence

• On Recognizing and Studying Gun Violence as a Public Health Emergency -  General Synod 31
• Resolution on Guns and Violence - General Synod 20
• Resolution on Violence in our Society and World - General Synod 20
• Resolution on Creating a World Safe for Children Free from Violence - General Synod 20

An average election in the United States has around 60% of the eligible voting population turning out at the polls. There are a variety of reasons why people don’t get out and vote: their job schedule does not allow it, they are away and didn’t apply for an absentee ballot, disillusionment with the political atmosphere, among others.  With the rise in popularity of suppressive voting legislation, we may see an even lower turnout than normal in this election. What can we do to get out the vote?

Tell your neighbors

Remind your friends, neighbors, family members, and congregations to vote on November 6^th.  Let them know that voting is one of the best ways to make our voices heard. If the political system is not what they’d like it to be, they can change it through voting. Remind them that Election Day involves voting far more than the presidency - important local issues are also at stake.  A group of you and your friends can get together and organize a night of phone banking before the election to call the families in your church directory and remind them to vote.

Help out

Some people you know may not be able to make it to the polls. If you know of someone who does not drive, offer them a ride to their polling place on Election Day. If you know many people who don’t drive, ask a few friends to volunteer. Single parents or working parents may not be able to leave their children alone to go to the polls. Offer to babysit. If you have a  teenager who is not old enough to vote but can watch younger children, ask them if they’d be willing to volunteer to babysit so parents can go out and vote.

Know your laws

With the rise of restrictive voting legislation, people may not vote because they aren’t sure what identification they will need at the polls, or they feel it will be too much of a hassle. Find out the requirements in your state for registering, voting, early voting and more via the Election Protection web site. 

Teach your kids

The largest block of eligible voters who don’t turn out at the polls are young people. Start talking to your children (and nieces, nephews, friends’ children, and grandchildren) about voting. Explain to them why you believe it’s important to vote, and get their ideas on why some people may not vote. Let your children know that their political opinions and their vote matters so future generations will turn out at the polls.

Spread the word about Election Protection Resources

The national, nonpartisan Election Protection coalition of which the United Church of Christ is a member, was formed to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. Made up of more than 100 local, state and national partners, Election Protection works year-round to advance and defend the right to vote.

Election Protection provides Americans from coast to coast with comprehensive voting information on how they can make sure their vote is counted. If you have any questions about voting or encounter difficulty when attempting to cast your ballot call the Voter Helplines

• 866-OUR-VOTE (administered by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law)
• 888-Ve-Y-Vota (administered by the NALEO Educational Fund),
• 888-API-VOTE (administered by APIAVote & Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC)

Throughout the election, our volunteers collect information to paint a picture of election irregularities. Election Protection focuses on the voter - not on the political horse race - and provides guidance, information and help to any American, regardless of who that voter is casting a ballot for.

Download an Election Protection bulletin insert to share with your congregation.

Want more?

• Check out our GOTV guide for college campuses.

• Review the Frequently Asked Questions about engaging in the elections.

One: God of Love, God of Relationship,

All:  God of Community,

One: When you created the world, you said, “Let Us...”

All:   You modeled how to be, and who to be, together.

One:  Your Holy Spirit was there:

All:   The life-giving “wind from God.”

One: Your Wisdom was there:

All:  “Delighting” in all the diversity of creation.

One: You are one,

All:   You are many.

One:  You are unity,

All:   You are community.

One: You are “Us.”

         Teach us to value your image of relationship.

All:   Teach us to act in your image of community.

One:  Re-create in us your “Us” image.

All:   Let us create a safe space for shared existence and dialogue,

One:  For hearing and being heard.

All:   Let us create a safe space for considering the issues,

One:  And for casting votes.

All:   Let there be light.

One:  The light of access to, and for, all.

All:  Let us seek You out:  In each other. For each other. In Community.

AMEN.