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Congregational Life: Social Justice: Politics & Social Structure

online and in-person connections for service and justice work

Adult Books

The Bible in the Ashes of Social Chaos     Border Dance     The Defiant Optimist: Daring to Fight Global Inequality, Reinvent Finance, and Invest in Women     Defund Fear     Dirt Road Revival     Eighth-Day Discipleship: A New Vision for Faith, Work, and Economics     Fight Like Jesus     Good and Evil in the Garden of Democracy     The Gospel of Peace in a Violent World               Humankind     In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World     Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and the Muslim Experience Since 9/11     Jesus on Main Street          A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community      My Body and Other Crumbling Empires: Lessons for Healing in a World That Is Sick      Our Fair Share: How One Small Change Can Create a More Equitable American Economy          Pleasure Activism          Scapegoats: The Gospel through the Eyes of Victims     The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee     Ten Lives, Ten Demands     The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War: Sharlet, Jeff: 9781324006497:  Amazon.com: Books     The Unjust Steward     The Way of Abundance: Economic Justice in Scripture and Society     We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor People's Campaign     We Need to Build     When We Stand     The Writing on the Wall

Tweens & Teens

     Chapter Books about Citizenship     Chapter books that illuminate hunger, poverty, and homelessness.

Children's Books

citizenship - small.jpg     Global Poverty Books.jpg     Sarah Rising     Sofia Valdez's Big Project Book for Awesome Activists

Partner Organizations

rural organizing project logoRural Organizing Project is a state- and nation-wide organization that supports a multi-issue, rural-centered, grassroots base in Oregon. They work to build and support a shared standard of human dignity: the belief in the equal worth of all communities, the need for equal access to justice and the right to self-determination.

Their mission is to strengthen the skills, resources, and vision of primary leadership in local autonomous human dignity groups with a goal of keeping such groups a vibrant source for a just democracy.

Commissioner John Harrington and Interfaith Action invite interfaith leaders statewide to join in conversations about forging a better system of public safety and policing in Minnesota. Clergy and congregations are asked to outline how they think public safety officers should respond in various scenarios. Then engage with sacred texts addressing similar scenarios. Then, respond again. Responses will be gathered by an expert team into a report of Minnesota's faith communities' input on how public safety should be shaped.

Visit the website to learn more and register your congregation to participate.

The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition (JRLC) is a statewide interfaith legislative advocacy coalition working to advance opportunities for economic and housing security and social and racial justice for all Minnesotans. The MN Council of Churches is the Protestant partner.

You can see their 2021 legislative agenda here. For more information, contact Joan Miltenberger at the JRLC - jmiltenberger@jrlc.org, 612-230-3232.

Blogs, Podcasts, & Articles

Diana Butler Bass (The Cottage) and Tripp Fuller (Homebrewed Christianity) meet up once a month for Ruining Dinner. Here’s their secret pod on the Donald Trump indictment

— a gift to us all during a most significant week:

Understanding Christian NationalismAn invitation to explore the movement shaping American politics

Diana Butler Bass's three-essay exploration of the history, theology, and social movement that has brought us to where we are, today. Read all three. Study with others. Discussion questions are included in this post.

All Rev'd UpAll Rev'd Up

All Rev’d Up explores where faith intersects politics and culture. Rev. Irene Monroe and Rev. Emmett G. Price III come from different black faith perspectives, they’re of different generations, they hail from different parts of the country, and they come together in this podcast to talk about faith in a different way. They don’t always agree, but they always hear each other out. Dive into conversations around race, faith, and this week’s headlines with the Revs every other Wednesday. When something happens in the world, you want their take on it. All Rev’d Up is produced by WGBH.

Straight, White, Christian, Married, Suburban Mom

Hell hath no fury like a suburban mom scorned

by Diana Butler Bass

Diana Butler Bass offers essential insights in New Old-Time Religion: Shall the Fundamentalists Win This Time?

Rev. Dr. Michael Piazza urges us to speak out against white supremacy and racism taking shape in voter suppression in God Must Be Rewarding Georgia.

Richard Rohr includes numerous voices in his week-long reflections on Good and Bad Power.

Webinars & Training

Learning How to See with Brian McLaren

In season two of our podcast Learning How to See, we are invited to confront the host of biases that prevent us from connecting more deeply with ourselves and one another. Listen and discover how seeing is social, political, and contemplative.

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United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities offers a list of Resources and Actions Amidst amidst the Chauvin Trialand the Death of Daunte Wright, including opportunities for Prayer/Meditation, Holding Memory, Changing Policies, Impacting Public Discourse, and Engaging Our Emotions.

Multi-Media

Peter Gabel (@PeterJGabel) / Twitter

Peter Gabel on Originalism and the Supreme Court interpretations of the Constitution.

In Our Library

Antisocial by Andrew Marantz     Spade_mutual_aid          Sabbath_as_Resistance     Tending the Soil, 24page zine     The Underground Church: Reclaiming the subversive way of Jesus - Kindle  edition by Meyers, Robin. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @  Amazon.com.