A Knock At Midnight

Brother Nathanael

xenophobic policies

The xenophobic policies offered up by Republicans in the wake of the Paris and Beirut attacks are simply jaw-dropping:

• Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz suggested bombing innocent civilians in the Middle East.
• Twenty-six Republican governors have vowed, without any legal authority, to block Syrian refugees from their states.
• Presidential candidate Jeb Bush joined Sen. Cruz in proposing that we block Syrian refugees based on religion — admitting Christian but not Muslim refugees.
• The House passed a bill requiring the FBI director, the secretary of Homeland Security and the director of National Intelligence to personally sign off on every refugee from Syria or Iraq.

References:

1. Jonathan Martin, “Obama Says ‘Enough is Enough’ after Colorado Shooting,” New York Times, November 28, 2015.
2. “Closing the Terror Gap in Gun Background Checks,” Everytown for Gun Safety, July 21, 2015.
3. Judd Legum, "In Response To Paris, Ted Cruz Calls For Airstrikes With More ‘Tolerance For Civilian Casualties’," ThinkProgress.org, November 13, 2015.
4. Sarah Frostenson and Dara Lind, “Here's a map of every state refusing to accept Syrian refugees,” Vox.com, November 18, 2015.
5. Amy Davidson, “Ted Cruz’ Religious Test for Refugees, New Yorker, November 16, 2015.
6. Camila Domonoske, “House Votes To Increase Security Checks On Refugees From Iraq, Syria,” NPR, November 19, 2015.

discourse of the Pope

House Speaker, John Boehner, Will Resign From Congress

By JENNIFER STEINHAUERSEPT. 25, 2015

WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner, under intense pressure from conservatives in his party, announced on Friday that he would resign one of the most powerful positions in government and give up his House seat at the end of October, as Congress moved to avert a government shutdown.

Mr. Boehner, who was first elected to Congress in 1990, made the announcement in an emotional meeting with his fellow Republicans on Friday morning.

It is not proper to get in someone else's mind, but there is a glimmer of hope when the emphatic and inclusive discourse of the Pope shames people in power. Better if Boehner does something positive and not just stop participating in actions against humanity

the scariest place on earth

North Korean Born in a Prison Camp: ‘My Favorite Word is Freedom’

March 18, 2014 - 7:28 PM

---

By Patrick Goodenough

- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/north-korean-born-prison-camp-my-favorite-word-freedom#sthash.040mlHnp.dpuf

According to a comprehensive study by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (PDF, 5.2 MB), as many as 200,000 North Koreans are incarcerated on political grounds. Former inmates have testified of routine beatings, systematic torture, forced abortions, infanticide and executions,

The report describes the Kwan-li-so as “political penal labor colonies, where North Koreans suspected of wrong-doing and wrong-thinking, along with up to three generations of family members are summarily deported without trial to disappear into fenced-in and heavily guarded mountainous areas where they are subjected to forced labor in mines, logging, state farming and factory work, for mostly lifetime duration.”

- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/north-korean-born-prison-camp-my-favorite-word-freedom#sthash.040mlHnp.dpuf

TORTURE IS A MORAL ISSUE

On December 10, 2013, the world community will commemorate the 65th anniversary of the adoption and proclamation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On this day, as people of faith, who acknowledge the importance of protecting the God-given dignity of every human being, we reaffirm the Universal Declaration’s statement that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture’s theme for Human Rights Day 2013 is “Confronting Solitary Confinement in an Age of Mass Incarceration.” NRCAT developed a Human Rights Day toolkit to help congregations and religious organizations observe the day.  The 2013 toolkit includes:

• A bulletin insert with educational material and an interfaith prayer
• A poster for the promotion of Human Rights Day
• Talking points for integrating the reality of solitary confinement into sermons and prayers during worship
• Links to other worship resources, as well as to educational and advocacy activities that congregations can do to commemorate Human Rights Day

We encourage you to observe Human Rights Day during worship services, as a part of your religious education efforts and through advocacy activities during either the weekend of December 6-8, December 13-15, or another time of your choosing.  If your congregation plans to commemorate Human Rights Day in any way, please let us know.

With the theme “Confronting Solitary Confinement in an Age of Mass Incarceration,” NRCAT invites your religious community to commemorate Human Rights Day and to focus on the human rights crisis faced by the over 80,000 people held in long-term solitary confinement in U.S. prisons, as well as their families and loved ones.

Join NRCAT and other people of faith in calling for the end of prolonged solitary confinement in U.S. jails and detention centers. Download our free Human Rights Day toolkit. Together we can put an end to this egregious form of torture.

Sincerely,

Linda Gustitus, President
Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director

P.S. The deadline for submissions for the Call for Art has been extended until November 15, 2013.