Three faith organizations
lead by Jubilee USA and representing more than one hundred religious groups have sent letters to producers at NBC Nightly News and ABC World News expressing concern over the television programs’ lack of coverage of the worldwide LIBOR rate manipulation scandal – one of the largest banking scandals in history.
According to a Media Matters for America report, ABC and NBC have devoted no evening news coverage to the controversy since the story broke, despite the fact that the LIBOR is “a benchmark to set payments on about $800 trillion worth of financial instruments.”
The letter stresses that corruption within the banking system has severe consequences for the poor and vulnerable, and calls upon news executives to immediately begin in-depth coverage of the banking scandal that makes clear its impact on “average Americans and poor people around the world.”
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The FPL News Reel is a daily round-up of the top faith and politics stories in the news. You can sign up for the email version of the News Reel here, subscribe to the RSS feed here, and follow it on twitter at @FPLNewsreel.
U.S. nuns meet to decide how to respond to Vatican rebuke 
By Mary Wisniewski — Reuters
“Catholic sisters face a defining moment and want to remain true to their broad social justice mission in a time when the church is increasingly conservative and narrowly focused on issues like same-sex marriage,” Gehring said.
Dolan Criticized for Inviting Obama to Al Smith Dinner
By David Gibson — Religion News Service
Obama’s acceptance of the cardinal’s invitation was first reported on July 26 by a National Catholic Reporter blogger, Tom Gallagher, who also reported that Romney would attend. But conservative anxiety about the possibility that Dolan would invite Obama has been building for months, and the invitation could herald a difficult stretch for Dolan.
Faith communities reach out to Sikh victims
By Sharif Durhams — Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Condolences regarding Sunday’s mass shooting at the Oak Creek Sikh temple continue to pour in from members of other faith communities.
Being Sikh in America
By Amardeep Singh — New York Times
At times, living in the United States has seemed like an amazing privilege for my family…And yet a senseless event such as this one reminds one how awfully precarious the American dream can be.
The Difference Between Muslims and Sikhs…Misses the Point
By Paul Brandeis Raushenbush — Huffington Post
Yes, Sikhs are not Muslims and Sikhs are not Hindus, but jumping to clarify difference leaves the unfortunate, if unintentional, perception that there is something wrong with those “others.”
Joplin Mosque Razed in Fire; 2nd Blaze This Summer
By Maria Sudekum — Associated Press
Michael Kaste, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Kansas City office, said Monday that the agency is taking the investigation into the fire at the Islamic Society of Joplin very seriously.
Koch Brothers, GOP Mega Donors, Help Bankroll Religious Conservative’s 2012 Efforts
By Peter H. Stone — Huffington Post
The message is likely to be amplified by other religious conservatives. The $10 million that Reed’s Georgia-based Faith and Freedom Coalition now expects to spend is double what the group raised in 2010.
Romney should not be afraid to highlight his faith
By Michael Gerson — Washington Post, Opinion
It is constitutionally improper for a president (or prospective president) to be sectarian. But it is constitutionally appropriate — and politically advisable for Romney — to tell his whole story, which is uninteresting without his faith.
Missouri to vote on prayer amendment
By Tim Townsend — Religion News Service
Missourians will vote on Tuesday (Aug. 7) on a proposed amendment to the state constitution that supporters say would protect residents’ right to pray in public, and if a recent poll is any indication, it could pass by a mammoth margin.
Townsend, other Md. Catholics to push same-sex marriage
By John Wagner — Washington Post
The group leading Maryland’s same-sex marriage campaign is highlighting Catholic supporters, including former lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D).
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This weekend, all Catholic parishes in the diocese of Spokane, Washington read a letter from Bishop Blase Cupich about the state’s current debate on Referendum 74, a ballot initiative that would extend marriage rights to same-sex couples in the state.
While Bishop Cupich notes that the Catholic Church’s official position urges voters to reject the initiative, he urges parishioners to view the debate in the broader context of the experiences of their LGBT neighbors.
First, Cupich acknowledges the history of discrimination and oppression that motivates many supporters of the law:
Proponents of the redefinition of marriage are often motivated by compassion for those who have shown courage in refusing to live in the fear of being rejected for their sexual orientation. It is a compassion that is very personal, for those who have suffered and continue to suffer are close and beloved friends and family members. It is also a compassion forged in reaction to tragic national stories of violence against homosexuals, of verbal attacks that demean their human dignity, and of suicides by teens who have struggled with their sexual identity or have been bullied because of it.
Then, urging that the debate be conducted with respect and civility, he issues a stern warning to those who would do otherwise:
I also want to be very clear that in stating our position the Catholic Church has no tolerance for the misuse of this moment to incite hostility towards homosexual persons or promote an agenda that is hateful and disrespectful of their human dignity.
Bishop Cupich demonstrated a similar sensibility earlier this year when he ignored a right-wing campaign to block Archbishop Desmond Tutu from speaking at the commencement ceremonies of Spokane’s Gonzaga University in part because of Tutu’s views on LGBT issues.
It’s a shame that comments such as these are so rare from Catholic bishops. While same-sex marriage is still a hotly contested issue among people of faith, there should be no controversy about Bishop Cupich’s basic acknowledgment that all people deserve respect and dignity and that this issue should not be used to incite bigotry and intolerance.
H/T Michael Sean Winters
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Missouri citizens won an important victory last week as the state Supreme Court ruled to allow a ballot initiative to cap payday lending rates to go forward this year. Currently, Missouri allows some of the worst predatory lending abuses in the country, with interest rates as high as 400% being perfectly legal. The proposed initiative would cap rates at 36% to break the cycle of inescapable debt and financial difficulty the current rates cause.
The ruling comes as positive news to the Missourians for Responsible Lending campaign, the state coalition that collected over 350,000 signatures to put this petition on the ballot. The coalition includes faith groups like Communities Creating Opportunity, a Kansas City affiliate of the PICO National Network. Their impressive effort came despite a concerted effort by corporate interests to keep voters from weighing in on this issue. As a new report from Public Campaign reveals, special interests have funneled over $2.1 million into a shadowy astro-turf group called Missourians for Equal Credit Opportunity to block the initiative.
As campaign organizers have attested, corporate interests will stoop to truly thuggish tactics to protect their profits. Signature gatherers were followed, physically obstructed, and harassed by “blockers” who tried to thwart their efforts. Molly Fleming-Pierre, an organizer with Communities Creating Opportunities, described the intimidation tactics in May:
“Our people were taunted, mocked, bullied, and verbally assaulted down there. Sometimes it was nine big burly guys to one young female canvasser — trying to kick her off a site. She stayed. One of our pastors had the opposition blockers screaming in her face for nearly 30 minutes that she was a liar. Tails would follow our people, texting their blockers when our people would set up to canvass so that the intimidation was always mobile.”
Read more here: http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/payday-loan-defenders-resort-intimidation/#storylink=cpSomeon
Read more here: http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/payday-loan-defenders-resort-intimidation/#storylink=cpy
Someone even broke into an organizer’s car and stole 5,500 signatures shortly before a crucial deadline.
With the ruling, the initiative now only awaits the Secretary of State’s final certification of the signatures collected by Tuesday.
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The FPL News Reel is a daily round-up of the top faith and politics stories in the news. You can sign up for the email version of the News Reel here, subscribe to the RSS feed here, and follow it on twitter at @FPLNewsreel.
Interfaith groups offer support to Sikh community
By Annysa Johnson — Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Representatives of Milwaukee’s interfaith community issued statements condemning the mass shooting at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek Sunday and offered their support and prayers for the community.
A community mourns a senseless act of violence
By Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Editorial
Out of Sunday’s tragedy, perhaps, can be born a better sense of this community’s richness, its faith and its people.
Trust Act seeks to end trivial immigrant arrests
By Samuel Rodriguez — San Diego Union-Tribune, Opinion
…I am constantly confronted with families that have been torn apart when a parent is deported, often times after minor contact with police. The long-term consequences for the children are devastating.
Rabbis aim to inject more morality into business
By Lauren Markoe — Religion News Service
In an age when the phrase “business ethics” can seem like an oxymoron, a group of rabbis has designed a course to use age-old Jewish teachings to help infuse some morality into economics — from the household budget to the stock market.
This Week in Poverty: ‘Respect the Worker’
By Greg Kaufmann — The Nation
“If we had a medical appointment, we were afraid to take it. If we wanted to set up an interview with a social worker for help, we couldn’t do it because we didn’t want to lose our jobs,” said Maria. “If I did make an appointment they would question what it was about. I always had to bring some kind of proof of what I was doing.” By November 2011, the Palermo workers had had enough.
Education ‘today’s civil-rights issue’
By Bob Allen — Associated Baptist Press
Statistics says half of the 8 million students in urban America will never graduate from high school. The 50 percent who do are on average academically four years behind their suburban peers, and just one in 10 will graduate from college.
Shariah Controversy
By Kim Lawton — Religion & Ethics Newsweekly
There’s been a contentious shariah debate across the country. In 2010, voters in Oklahoma passed an initiative to ban state courts from considering shariah. But a court challenge has so far prevented it from taking effect. Activists are now supporting bills that don’t explicitly mention shariah, but instead ban courts from considering any foreign law. Four states have now enacted such laws, and similar bills have been taken up in more than 20 other states.
AIDS remains an epidemic in US, especially in minority communities
By Paul Jeffrey — Catholic News Service
Miranda explained that the response of HIV workers in the faith community has been challenged by cutbacks in institutional funding as well as a shift in focus among church leaders from social action to orthodoxy. Yet Miranda has found that encouraging exceptions exist, pointing to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops…
Minors getting life sentences
By Suevon Lee — ProPublica
But Epps’s brother is unlikely going anywhere soon. A few weeks after the ruling, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad announced he would commute the life without parole sentences of 38 juvenile offenders, and make them eligible for parole after 60 years. David Epps would be in his mid-seventies when he could first be released.
Florida Amendment Could Remove Restrictions On Funding Religious Schools
By Casey Michel — Talking Points Memo
Amendment 8 would overwrite the Blaine Amendment, named after a 19th-century Speaker of the House James Blaine, who attempted to pass a federal amendment blocking the use of funds for “sectarian” schools.
Muslim Women Olympians: ‘This Is Legacy’
By Cathleen Falsani — Sojourners, God’s Politics
These women are vanguards, shattering stereotypes, subverting cultural-religious mores, and creating a legacy that will benefit female Olympians of all creeds for years to come.
Mormon a Mormon, Mano a Mano
By Joanna Brooks — Religion Dispatches
Within Mormonism, there are class divides, and status divides, and regional differences, and cultural differences between converts like Reid and elite multi-generational ethnic Mormons like Romney. But rarely have these differences been so heatedly on display.
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