Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

November 21, 2008

A Texas-Sized Fight for First Amendment Rights

AnaBonnheim.jpg
Rabbi Ana Bonnheim is the Assistant Director for Education at the Union for Reform Judaism's Greene Family Camp. All views expressed are her own.

I went down to Austin this week to testify before the Texas State Board of Education (TSBOE) to keep intelligent design out of our public schools. Rabbi Nancy Kasten, Dr. Cynthia Schneidler, Cheryl Pollman, and Max Brodsky joined me on the trip from Dallas.

The TSBOE is currently revising the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards. Groups of teacher-writing teams wrote solid drafts of K-12 science curricula; the TSBOE asked a group of six experts to review the draft. Two of those experts advocate language that opens the door to introducing religious teachings in the science classroom. The third expert, Stephen C. Meyer, is head of the Discovery Institute, which is known for pushing the teaching of intelligent design in public schools.

Continue reading "A Texas-Sized Fight for First Amendment Rights" »

Posted by Religious Action Center at 11:19 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Climate Change in the Courts

courtdaylogo.pngSupreme Court decisions get plenty of press, as journalists and pundits debate why the judges ruled the way they did, and legal scholars speculate about the Constitutional implications of each case. However, it is often hard to see how the rulings of the highest court in the land will actually affect our daily lives, and how we can be involved in the judicial process. This week, an EPA Appeals Board ruling provides a preview of what Massachusetts v. EPA, a 2007 case about regulating carbon emissions, might mean for the future of environmental regulations in our country and for the fight against climate change.

Continue reading "Climate Change in the Courts" »

Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 9:11 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 20, 2008

Rushing to Stop US Torture

Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ), issued "the first statement by a member of Congress in support of" the effort by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) to urge President-Elect Obama "to issue an executive order upon being sworn in banning torture across all government agencies." 

Continue reading "Rushing to Stop US Torture" »

Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 3:05 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Transgender Day of Rememberance

The issue of equality, respect, and basic human dignity is an ongoing struggle that will be marked as a test of our generation. While we have seen victories for equality for transgender equality, too often the stories we read are about discrimination, mistreatment, and unfounded hatred. Today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance, and the Human Rights Campaign has put out a commemoration video. I encourage you to go to www.hrc.org/transgender to learn about what actions you can take and what you can do to help.



Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 2:50 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Auto Bailout: Let Detroit Go Bankrupt?

I have been trying to figure out what I think about the request from the "Big Three" automakers for federal support. (GM, for example, makes it case inthis You Tube video.)

I should acknowledge that my interest in, and thoughts about, the "bailout" are certainly shaped by having grown up in Flint, Michigan. When I grew up in Flint, it was a city of 200,000 and nearly 90,000 worked for General Motor. Today, it's a city of 114,000 with some 9,000 autoworkers. I think it's fair to say that the people of Flint (even those of us who no longer live there) know better than anyone how dramatically, and tragically, the American auto industry has failed.

Continue reading "Auto Bailout: Let Detroit Go Bankrupt?" »

Posted by Religious Action Center at 11:14 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 19, 2008

Keepin' 'em Honest on Israel

 

we-cant-wait.jpg

Emily Schwartz is a senior at The George Washington University and an intern at the Religious Action Center.

The message is clear: an Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative must be a priority for the Obama Administration from the first day in office.

The Union of Progressive Zionists has launched a new campaign urging President-Elect Barack Obama to follow up on his promise to "help Israel achieve the goal of two states, a Jewish state of Israel and a Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security." College students have printed 10,000 "We Can't Wait" postcards to be collected and sent to Obama's transition team in December.

Continue reading "Keepin' 'em Honest on Israel" »

Posted by Religious Action Center at 7:10 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Americans Declare: Climate Action Now!

Hundreds of citizens gathered on Capitol Hill yesterday to demand that our next Congress and Administration make climate change a priority during their first 100 days in office. In an event organized by the 1Sky campaign and a host of other environmental groups, these activists came together to demand that President-elect Obama honor his campaign promises to confront the climate and energy crisis. Despite freezing temperatures (yes, I realize the irony of talking about the urgency of global warming on a cold winter day), they joined with one voice to declare that the United States MUST start tackling climate change in a meaningful way if we are to avoid disastrous environmental and economic repercussions. Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Bill McKibben, environmental activist and founder of 350.org, inspired the crowd with speeches on the importance of climate change.

Continue reading "Americans Declare: Climate Action Now!" »

Posted by Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism at 3:56 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Faith-Based Initiative: "A Colossal Failure"

FredGuttman.jpg

Rabbi Fred Guttman serves as rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Greensboro, N.C. and is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism's Commission on Social Action. All views expressed are his own.

The Faith-Based Initiative has been a colossal failure and has had very little effect on the partnerships between local social service agencies and Faith-Based Institutions. This has now been shown by research by some of the very best social science researchers in the United States, including our congregant Bob Wineberg.

Bob is trying to get this narrative "out there" because soon President-elect Barack Obama will have his plan out which keeps the core of the Bush plan minus the religious hiring controversial issues. He is pretty sure that Obama is taking his tips from David Kuo and John Dilulio - both are very bright but very misguided on what the reality is in communities.

Continue reading "Faith-Based Initiative: "A Colossal Failure"" »

Posted by Religious Action Center at 9:36 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 18, 2008

A New Look at Anti-Abortion Activism

A high school friend of mine and I have differing viewpoints on nearly every social issue imaginable - marriage equality, reproductive rights, gun control, the works. As you can imagine, it occasionally leads to some heated battles that leave us both struggling to find the balance between respecting one another's views while still defending our own. For once, though, I think she and I have found something we can agree on.

Anti-abortion activists, disheartened by and disappointed in the government's failure to overturn Roe v. Wade and completely outlaw abortions, have turned to a new tactic - prevention and care. In this Washington Post article, reporter Jacqueline Salmon writes, "Although the activists insist that they are not retreating from their belief that abortion is immoral and should be outlawed, they argue that a more practical alternative is to try to reduce abortions through other means."

Continue reading "A New Look at Anti-Abortion Activism" »

Posted by Religious Action Center at 6:17 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Healing the Sick

At the Reform Movement Biennial Convention in December 2007, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, urged Reform Jews to take action in their home communities to expand access to affordable health care, stating:
"We live in a country with a pitifully inadequate health insurance system that causes horrors every day so tragic that they could rip the heart out of a stone.... The time has long since passed when our leaders should have done what every other advanced country has somehow managed to do: provide all its citizens with essential health care....But we need not look only to Washington for answers."
Across the country, Jews are taking this message to heart, doing everything from running free health clinics to lobbying their state legislators. Check out this Reform Judaism Magazine article, "Action: Confronting the Health Care Crisis," written by former RAC Legislative Assistant Donald Cohen-Cutler, about what Reform Jews are doing on health care.

Posted by Religious Action Center at 11:30 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)