| Antilynching Act and the Confluence of Holy Seasons NCC Newsletter April 14, 2022 |
| | NCC Praises the Signing of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act Into Law
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| | “There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that hurry to run to evil,
a lying witness who testifies falsely,
and one who sows discord in a family.”
Proverbs 6:16-19 NRSVue
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) extols the signing of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act by President Joe Biden on March 29, 2022. The long-overdue Act has made lynching a federal hate crime offense. The bill imposes criminal penalties ranging from a fine to up to 30 years in prison for anyone who conspires to commit “a hate crime offense that results in death or serious bodily injury or that includes kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.”
The Act’s namesake, Emmett Till, was a 14-year-old boy when he was murdered in 1955 while visiting his relatives in Mississippi. He was kidnapped and beaten before his body was dumped in the Tallahatchie River. Historians note that even though clear evidence indicated two white men committed the crime, an all-white jury did not find the men guilty after only one hour of deliberation.
The NCC cannot ignore the fact that it took the United States over a century to outlaw lynching. The first antilynching legislation was introduced in 1900 by Rep. George Henry White of North Carolina, the only Black lawmaker at the time, but it never advanced out of committee. U.S. Representative Bobby L. Rush, a sponsor and negotiator of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, noted that over 200 attempts have been made since that time to pass an antilynching law.
For America to take more than 100 years to make the terrorism of lynching illegal speaks volumes about the racism that permeates every part of our society. We cry out in anguish when we see the historical evidence that lynchings were public spectacles commemorated with photographs on postcards, often with white Protestant churchgoers participating, and recognize that the trauma and threat of these acts continue each day. Although the worst of the Jim Crow era of lynching has ended, we know current-day lynching still manifests itself in America. We witness the continuation of racial lynching in America when a Black teen, Travon Martin, is killed while walking home after buying iced tea and candy; a Black man, Ahmaud Arbery, is killed while jogging; and a Black woman, Rekia Boyd, is killed when socializing with friends in a park.
As part of our ACT Now to End Racism initiative, the NCC challenges our member denominations and our communities to join in truth-telling, leading to actions that right the wrongs, and, with God’s grace, bring healing and wholeness to all people and unity to the nation. We hail the signing of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act as a long-overdue recognition of the wrongs that were committed and a move toward a new era of truth-telling.
Although we cannot erase the terror that lynching has imposed on every Black American since the end of chattel slavery, we call on our churches to acknowledge this pain from our nation’s past while taking an active role in the process of healing and joining the fight for justice in every present instance of lynching. We pray that the unending strength from our faith in Christ will unify us in this struggle and bring us to victory over racial violence. |
| | | | A Month to Address Religious Discrimination |
| This spring, for the first time in more than three decades, many faiths will be observing religious holidays at the same time. Muslims, Jews, Christians, Baha’is, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, and Indigenous nations are all practicing their significant religious and cultural traditions during April for Ramadan, Passover, Easter, Vaisakhi, Mahavir Jayanti, Theravada New Year, and the Gathering of Nations. The timing of these celebrations presents an opportunity to uphold the best of our sacred traditions and our most valued ideals to make sure we all flourish in the midst of our diversity.
Our religious traditions offer wisdom for how to best live and work together so we will all thrive but to do this, we must name and address discrimination. The NCC is a founding partner of the Shoulder to Shoulder campaign and we join them in recognizing that we have not all been living with the same freedoms and dignity and that we have a responsibility to counter forms of racial and religious discrimination by embracing the ideals of religious pluralism, religious freedom, dignity, and fairness. Churches can take this occasion to recommit to addressing, countering, and preventing religious discrimination and racism here in the United States and around the world.
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| | The Confluence of Holy Seasons: An Opportunity to Grow Together
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| In the midst of these holy seasons, Dr. Tony Kireopoulos, NCC Associate General Secretary of Faith and Order and Interfaith Relations, shares his reflection, "The Confluence of Holy Seasons: An Opportunity to Grow Together," which begins,
"It has joyously and nearly universally been noted that we are currently in the midst of a confluence of many holy seasons, a happy calendrical coincidence that has not taken place for some thirty years.
Among these seasons, Christians have been moving through Lent, a forty-day period of reflection and preparation that began in early March and leads (on April 17 for western and some oriental churches, on April 24 for eastern and other oriental churches) to the foundational celebration of the Resurrection. Jews are celebrating Passover, the remembrance of the community’s defining moment, over the week of April 15 – 23. And Muslims are in the midst of the month-long journey of Ramadan, a spiritual sojourn fundamentally meant to deepen one’s inner self in relation to God, which began on April 2 and ends on May 2.
While each of these celebrations, and others within this time period – in the Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu, Indigenous, and Sikh communities – has their own distinct and profound meanings for their respective adherents, the confluence is indeed noteworthy and a cause for reflection. Perhaps what unites all of these commemorations the most is the belief that each of these holidays and seasons calls us to be better people, and to live out to the best of our abilities the values we hold dear. At the pinnacle of these values is how, even as we regard ourselves, we treat one another."
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| | | | | | As part of the NCC's occasional prayer series, the NCC staff and leadership are sharing personal prayers each day this week. If you aren't signed up to receive the prayers, you can sign up at this link. All of our prayers are also published on our website. |
| | | Daily Bible Reading Now Available on Social Networks |
| | Since 1872 – for 150 years – the International Sunday School Lessons were developed for persons to study the scriptures by selecting, organizing, designing, and developing a plan for study of the whole Bible over a period of several years.
Today, the work of the Committee on the Uniform Series (CUS) operates under the governance and stewardship of the NCC. CUS continues to collaborate with educators and editors of denominational and independent publishing houses to produce and distribute resources for teachers and learners to use. The central objective remains the production of an ongoing course of study that assists editors, writers, and publishers in preparing Bible lessons for use across a diverse expanse of Protestant faith traditions so that participants may embody an enduring faith in Jesus Christ. The CUS welcomes all NCC members and independent publishers to be full partners in the work of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and making disciples of all nations through the development and use of the Guide for Lesson Development, the premier Bible study curriculum outlines for all ages, and the Home Daily Bible Reading materials.
NCC will share the Home Daily Bible Reading through our social network accounts and we invite you to spread the word with us each day on Twitter and Facebook. The verses are taken from the NRSV Updated Edition, released by the NCC last year which is now available on Kindle. |
| | | WCC Calls for Freedom of Access to Worship in the Holy Land
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| On April 11, 2022, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem issued a statement expressing grave concerns over announced police restrictions on Holy Fire Saturday. The World Council of Churches (WCC) then strongly condemned such measures that would restrict access to places of worship and identified the restrictions as violations of religious freedom in the Holy Land.
“Jerusalem is sacred,” declared WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca. “It is sacred for all three monotheistic religions, and access to Jerusalem is an inalienable right for all people of these faiths. Christians have been living on this land and witnessing to the resurrection of Jesus Christ for more than 2000 years. The resurrection is at the heart of our Christian faith and at the heart of all Christian communities in the world. We cannot accept measures that challenge the fundamental rights of our churches to celebrate this centre point of our faith.”
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| | | | Register for "Housing, Land, and Debt" |
| | | | | Join Us at Ecumenical Advocacy Days |
| | "We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late.” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Join us April 25-27, 2022 for the 2022 Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD), the annual gathering of Christian advocates and activists who join together to delve deeply into the pressing issues of the day and lift their voices by speaking truth to power on Capitol Hill. This year's theme is "Fierce Urgency: Advancing Civil & Human Rights." The virtual event features over 30 workshops.
The Closing Speaker has been announced as the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival with Rev. Dr. William J Barber, II; and Director of Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
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| | | | COVID-19 Pandemic Response: Give Your Community a Boost |
| | | April is National Minority Health Month (NMHM), a time to "raise awareness about health disparities that continue to affect people from racial and ethnic minority groups and encourage action through health education, early detection, and control of disease complications."
This year's theme is "Give Your Community a Boost!" The Office of Minority Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says that COVID-19 vaccination, including a booster, is one of the strongest tools we have to end the COVID-19 pandemic that has disproportionately affected communities of color. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) also recommends wearing a well-fitting mask, physical distancing, washing your hands often, and testing as ways to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.
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| | | | Each week, the NCC offers a faith-related Wordle. We've customized the games to be religion-based in each Friday's newsletter. Instructions on how to play can be found by clicking the "i" for information. Please share this newsletter with your friends, family, and faith community members who may enjoy completing these special Wordles!
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| | | NCC's Offices are Closed on Good Friday |
| | Announcement: The NCC will be closed this Friday, April 15, 2022 in observance of Good Friday. |
| | Easter Greetings to All Who Celebrate this Sunday!
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