Group Combats Military Recruitment In Schools

"Is it the mission of schools to provide for the national defense? That's the question," said Marion Ward, president of Washington Truth in Recruiting.  The Seattle-area non-profit held its second workshop this year in East Wenatchee, trying to warn parents about a little-known requirement of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.  The federal law mandates schools to release student contact information - addresses, cell and home phone numbers - upon the request of military recruiters. Schools that refuse risk losing federal funding.

Do You Want to Change the World?

Are you one of those special people who want to help change the way our children view the world? Are you someone who wants to help our children understand that we are one in our goodliness not our sinfulness? Are you one of 500 people who would like to help us give our children hope in humanity?

CrossWalk America Merges with TCPC

TCPC Now Offers Highly Acclaimed LtQ Resources!

LtQ and TCPC are pleased to announce a new opportunity for those who are looking for excellent quality teaching tools to learn more about progressive Christianity. Throughout the year, a variety of LtQ resources will be offered at special TCPC rates when ordered through the TCPC website. A percentage of all sales through the TCPC site will go toward the work of the TCPC organization.

To celebrate this new partnership, those visiting LtQ through the TCPC site will receive an ongoing discount of 10% and many other specials throughout the year. Click more for information and discounts.

The Center for Progressive Christianity Embarks on a Liturgy Project to Positively Transform Worship Services Around the World

New, Better Way to Affiliate and Update your Profile!

TCPC Affiliates: There has recently been an important change in the way you can log on to our website, change your profile and re-affiliate. Organizations now have their own username AND password. These passwords have been randomly generated, so you will need to login using a new password and go to "my profile" to change it. A private email will be sent out this week to all Organizations providing them with their new usernames and passwords.

Progressive Christianity Goes to Atlanta Georgia

October 10 & 11 2008

Featuring: The Center for Progressive Christianity's President - Fred Plumer, Progressive Christians Uniting's Peter Laarman; Emergent Cohort Pastor and Artist - Troy Bronsink

* Networking events for church leaders and for individuals In practicing communities of faith grounded in PC theology and practice ,

* Plenary addresses from leaders: both the formation end of the spectrum and the "in the trenches" action end of the spectrum...And More! 

Chaplains Aid Wall Street Workers as Commentators Blame Greed, Risk-taking

By: Christian Century.  As stock market fears and billion-dollar emergency proposals rocked Wall Street, some dazed employees in the financial sector whose faith in the economy was shaken are turning to religious leaders for personal guidance.  Many ethical questions have been raised amid the turmoil in the markets and the federal government's moves to rescue crucial segments of the banking and investment system while proposing unprecedented federal regulatory roles.

Untruths

With deceptive ads and other methods, political campaigns regularly violate the commandment against bearing false witness. The Ten Commandments as a whole recognize that there are multiple ways to destroy another person: one way is by physical murder, and another way is by slander.

'Alternative Nobels' Go To Journalist, Activists

A US journalist- Amy Goodman, a Swiss-born doctor and activists from India and Somalia were named on Wednesday as this year's winners of the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the "alternative Nobel."  The four laureates for their work to promote peace, social justice and independent reporting.

Tinkering with Creation: Intelligent Design 2.0

By Lauri Lebo "The God of intelligent design seems to be ... a kind of tinkerer or meddler who makes ad hoc adjustments to the creation, whereas what I would want a child of mine to think when he or she thinks of God is something more generous, much more expansive, a God who can make a universe which is, from the start, resourceful enough to unfold from within itself in a natural way all the extravagant beauty and evolutionary diversity that, in fact, has happened.  "To put it very simply, a God who is able to make a universe that can somehow make itself is much more impressive religiously than a God who has to keep tinkering with the creation."

Charity Floods Swing States With Anti-Islam DVD

Morning Edition, September 26, 2008 · Just after the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a small charity group flooded campaign battleground states with an inflammatory DVD on radical Islam. Critics say the charity is trying to influence the presidential race.  Earlier this month, subscribers to 70 newspapers in 14 states got a little something extra: A DVD that argues the same hard, militaristic line on terrorism that John McCain takes in his presidential campaign.

Don't overlook the poor in Wall Street bailout, clerics say

by Chris Herlinger.  NEW YORK (RNS) Religious leaders are warning that the global financial crisis threatens progress made against poverty and world hunger, and urged political leaders not to ignore the poor while debating how to solve the current international financial panic. While the religious leaders maintained a sense of hope about progress that has been made in fighting poverty, they also expressed frustration about what they saw as a disproportionate amount of money being proposed to bail out U.S. financial institutions.

Does Sarah Palin Believe in Religious Tolerance?

http://www.religiondispatches.org/blog

Nothing More Radical Than Bible in Injustice Fight, Says Tutu

 Nobel peace prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the Bible is the greatest weapon in the fight against injustice during a church conference on social justice.  To the crowd of more than 800 U.K. church leaders, Tutu declared that the Bible has revolutionary power to free the poor as he drew from his experiences in apartheid-dominated South Africa.

Faith Leaders Launch Push to Address Poverty

 Faith leaders from 21 national organizations, led by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and Catholic Charities USA, have joined forces to spend a week urging local, state and national politicians to make anti-poverty efforts a top priority.Called "Fighting Poverty with Faith: A Week of Action," the grass-roots effort includes a range of activities, from a poverty symposium in Nashville, Tenn., to a letter-writing campaign in Rhode Island. The week culminates with a Sept. 16 gathering on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Environmentalists, Unions Call For Green-Jobs Plan

A new report by an unusual coalition of environmental and labor groups seeks to plant a seed for a national, $100 billion public and private investment in an environmentally friendly, low-carbon economy that would grow 2 million new jobs over two years.  The report, released today by the Green Jobs for America Campaign, says a combination of tax credits, loan guarantees to small businesses and direct public investment spending could jump-start a clean energy transition that would produce good jobs in civil, environmental, electrical and chemical engineering fields, steel and metal working, heating and air conditioning, the construction trades, and contracting.

Impeach President Bush Now, says Dennis Kucinich

 One day before the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Rep. Dennis Kucinich is presenting a petition to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with 50,000 signatures urging the impeachment of President Bush -- adding to the 100,000 he has already filed.  In advance of a news conference today with grass-roots organizations lobbying Congress on the issue, Kucinich said: Impeachment has been the first step in our efforts toward truth. The American people were lied to. We went to war based on lies. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

Fighting The 'War on Terror'

by Julio Godoy.  PARIS - The "war on terror" in the aftermath of the attacks of Sep. 11, 2001 has undermined human rights globally, according to activists and experts who attended a UN conference in Paris.  "There is a global pattern to suppress the rights and freedoms of individuals through new laws. These laws cut back on individual rights and human rights norms, and have greatly increased government powers to investigate, detain, and imprison people with minimum judicial oversight, minimum transparency, and very little procedural safeguards," said Joanne Mariner from Human Rights Watch.

Texas Faith: War and Faith

by William McKenzie.  Texas Faith is a weekly online feature that draws upon the expertise of clergy, laity and academics in Texas to debate, discuss and define the intersection of religion, politics and culture.  This week, we asked panelists to step back from the heat of the fall campaign and think about what their religious traditions have to say about the ultimate decision presidents must make: whether to send soldiers into war.