The monologue of the Religious Right is over and a new conversation has begun! Join the God's Politics dialogue with Jim Wallis and friends Brian McLaren, Diana Butler Bass, Becky Garrison, Gareth Higgins, Shane Claiborne, Mary Nelson, Gabriel Salguero, Tony Campolo, and others.
350 leaders under the age of 30 met at Sojourners' Justice Revival in Columbus, Ohio, to discuss social justice and activism. Shane Claiborne of The Simple Way spoke to the young leaders. Watch it:
The "Haters" know how to use the Internet effectively, or at least that's what recent research by the Opportunity Agenda has shown in relation to immigration reform.
As an immigrant rights advocate, I was bothered by the recent results of a scan the New-York-based organization did of the immigration debate on the "Social Web" (i.e. social networks, YouTube, and the blogosphere). While I believe that many Americans "welcome strangers in their midst," the researchers at the Opportunity Agenda found that on the Web, anti-immigrant supporters and rhetoric outnumbered pro-immigrant activity by a ratio of two-to-one. This also found that most keyword searches produced more results for anti-immigrant than pro-immigrant activism.
You may have seen this in action: those making the most noise in the current national discussion about immigration often sound angry, indignant and outraged. Check out CNN or Fox News almost any day of the week and you'll see what I mean. So when the Opportunity Agenda and then the National Council of La Raza confirmed what I've seen in action on a daily basis, I knew I had to do my part.
One of the wonders of today's Social Web (or "Web 2.0 technology") is the infinite opportunity for collaboration. Through social networking online and off, I was able to gather talented folks with script-writing, filmmaking and acting skills and voila we pulled together a video. (Living in Los Angeles, where creative endeavor is in the air, didn't hurt either.) The result, "Thru the Plexiglass," is a humorous video short that follows a fictional documentary filmmaker/reporter on a visit to a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office where he encounters a world lost in time. We chose the 1980s since that was the last time that the bulk of pro-immigrant reforms took place. By making it funny, I hoped that viewers would like it enough to share it with their friends and give it wings (or make it "viral" as they say). Now, more than 11,000 views later, it looks like we may be on to something:
We submitted the video to the Movement Vision Lab for their video contest on immigration and community values. They selected "Thru the Plexiglass" as their "breakthrough video." The overall winner of the contest "Arivaca: Life on the Border" shows a community that appreciates and values their immigrant neighbors. Perhaps the most touching part of the video is how one interviewee challenges us to ask, "What would Jesus do?" when meeting people crossing the desert from Mexico:
We encourage you to check out the videos, share them, and then make your own. As people of faith who respect the rights our immigrant neighbors, it's time to make our voices heard!
Will Coley is the founder of Aquifer Media, and has been an advocate and organizer with immigrants and refugees.
"Leaders of the Justice Revival hope this enthusiasm will spill past the revival and into the streets, where they want people to work to end poverty and other social problems."
Jim Wallis talks with Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), Harry Jackson (High Impact Leadership), and Sammy Rodriguez (National Hispanic Leadership Conference) about the broadening evangelical agenda. Watch it:
Jeff Carr was Sojourners' chief operations officer before taking a post as L.A.'s gang czar (anti-gang czar, that is) last summer. He was featured in this report by CBS News, and I'm sure he would appreciate it if you'd join with the Sojourners team in supporting his difficult work with your prayers. Watch it:
Learn more about The Great Awakening at www.sojo.net/greatawakening. There you'll find more videos, book excerpts, a free study guide, screensavers, and other downloads - including mp3s from Derek Webb. Plus, book tour dates and the opportunity to create or join book groups in your community.
Tonight, President Bush delivers his 7th State of the Union address. We are certain to hear about the President's plan for stimulating the economy.
Yet, for many people of faith, there is a hunger for a new vision of our life together where bold changes are enacted to address the most pressing moral issues of our time. I’ve written about this hunger for change in my latest book, The Great Awakening , in which I talk about how spiritually-based movements for social change have transformed our nation. The abolition movement to end slavery, the fight to end child labor, the civil rights movement – all of these were movements led by people of faith who hungered for a better way.
I believe we’re at another important moment in history. Together, we can end the moral scandal of poverty, the degradation of God's creation, the cultural assault on our families and children, and seeing war as the only way to confront evil. You can watch my reflections on "The Moral State of the Union" here, click here for the complete prepared text, or download the complete audio as an mp3.
Video production by Kaitlin Hasseler, Sojourners media assistant, Anna Almendrala, Sojourners Marketing/Circulation assistant and Matt Hildreth, Sojourners web assistant.
Yesterday Jim stood with a group of religious leaders to challenge President Bush's promised veto of a bill to expand health coverage for children. He told some of the story of Bush's early days in office that he told here last week, asking what happened to his "compassionate" conservatism, and asking why Bush would veto a bill with broad bipartisan support, abandoning America's children to a failing system. Bush's veto, which came this morning at 10 a.m., is morally unacceptable, and overriding it will be our next "faith-based initiative."
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