The Christian Citizenship Seminar gathered 47 high school youth and advisors from Church of the Brethren congregations throughout the US, beginning on April 27 in New York City and ending in Washington, D.C., on May 2, focused on the theme “Creative Solutions to Violent Conflict Worldwide.” The event was led by five Church of the Brethren staff from the Youth and Young Adult Ministry and the Office of Peacebuilding and Policy.
The Church of the Brethren has renewed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Selective Service System, the federal department responsible for the nation’s preparation for a military draft and draft registration. Selective Service also has worked with the historic peace churches to plan for alternative service for conscientious objectors in the event of a draft.
Over the first weekend of April, members of various Christian churches gathered in Washington, D.C., to learn about and advocate for political action. This national gathering, called Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD), is a three-day conference headed by leaders of many Christian denominations and attended by Christians from across the United States. This year’s theme was “Troubling the Waters for the Healing of the World,” and participants were encouraged to stir up “good trouble” to initiate positive change.
On April 20, 1999, Tom and Linda Mauser joined a club that no one wanted to join: the parents of a child victimized by gun violence. Their son, Daniel Mauser, was a victim of the Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colo.
The Church of the Brethren Office of Peacebuilding and Policy has signed on to a letter to President Trump regarding Syria. The letter signed by seven faith-based denominations and organizations, some of whom are engaged in providing support for peacebuilding efforts in Syria and humanitarian assistance to displaced Syrians, called for the complete withdrawal of US troops from Syria. It also urges the US administration to address root causes of insecurity in the region.
Brethren Benefit Trust and its affiliate, Brethren Foundation Funds, on April 4 signed the Turkmen Cotton Pledge to show opposition to unacceptable human rights conditions in Turkmenistan, as the government there has been using forced labor to harvest cotton. Turkmenistan is the 11th-largest exporter of cotton in the world, but produces its commodity by threatening adult citizens with dismissal or salary deductions from their regular jobs if they do not assist with the annual cotton harvest.
oday, March 21, a broad coalition of religious and civil rights leaders will deliver a letter to Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo requesting an official invitation to professor E. Tendayi Achiume, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance, to the United States. The Church of the Brethren Office of Peacebuilding and Policy has signed the letter and its staff were at the initial planning meeting, reports director Nathan Hosler.
Ma Sili Ibrahim, aged 102, was buried beside her late husband Ibrahim Ndiriza in a round heart at her home town of Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria. She was among recent losses of members of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). In two releases this week, EYN reported losses among members and an attack on the town of Michika.
A change to the Internal Revenue Code imposes a new tax on parking facilities owned by nonprofits, and may affect some churches. This new business income tax provision is found in Section 512(a)(7) of the code.
The Church of the Brethren has signed an interfaith letter to the US Congress about CIA drone strikes. The sign-on by the denomination’s Office of Peacebuilding and Policy represented one of 25 faith-based organizations that together released the statement on Feb. 19. The letter asks members of Congress to end the CIA’s use of armed drones to carry out lethal attacks. Find the full text of the letter below.
