A National Summit on Torture: Religious Faith, Torture, and our National Soul

From Evangelicals for Human Rights:

September 11-12, 2008 Conference in Atlanta, GA*

Mercer University, Evangelicals for Human Rights, and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, in cooperation with the Center for Victims of Torture, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Faith and the City, Faith in Public Life, Evangelicals for Social Action, and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, are hosting a national conference on torture on September 11-12, 2008. A National Summit on Torture: Religious Faith, Torture, and our National Soul is organized by David P. Gushee, President of Evangelicals for Human Rights and Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University.

This two day conference looks at how we have gotten where we are since September 11, 2001, and how we return to a rejection of torture without exceptions. This event will be infused with moral conviction drawn from religious faith, and conference speakers will reflect a variety of faith perspectives. This conference is open to all who will come. Religious Faith, Torture, and our National Soul aims to model a kind of discourse, Christian, interfaith, and otherwise, that opens doors for dialogue rather than closes them.

Questions that will be considered:

• What policy decisions led to torture?
• How did the US military respond?
• What does torture do to human beings?
• What has the torture debate revealed about American Christianity?
• What is really going on at Guantanamo Bay?
• How do we heal the (American) Christian relationship with the Muslim world?
• What legislative efforts are being made to address torture?
• How do Christians break free from cultural captivity?
• What are younger thinkers noticing about this cultural moment that others are missing?
• How do we restore America's leadership in protecting human rights?

* Registration deadline is September 1, 2008. Seating availability is limited.

Click here to register online.

North Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church to welcome sojourners

From The United Methodist Church's General Board of Church and Society:

Bishops to speak at conference on immigration reform

At an April rally in Washington, D.C., United Methodist Bishop Minerva Carcaño addresses thousands of protesters calling for fair treatment of undocumented immigrants. She will be a featured speaker at ‘Welcoming the Sojourner’ Oct. 16-18, in Naperville, Ill.
(UMNS photo by Jay Mallin)

Bishop Minerva Carcaño of the Desert Southwest Conference of The United Methodist Church, will be a featured speaker at “Welcoming the Sojourner — Finding the Church’s Voice on Immigration.” The event will be Thursday to Saturday, Oct. 16-18, at the Lisle Hilton in Naperville, Ill.

Carcaño is chair of the United Methodist Council of Bishops committee on immigration. She also heads an interagency task force of the denomination that targets reform of U.S. immigration laws.

”Welcoming the Sojourner” is co-sponsored by the North Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church and the denomination’s General Board of Church & Society (GBCS).

Other featured speakers include Bishop Hee-Soo Jung of the Northern Illinois Conference; the Rev. Mark Sills, executive director of FaithAction International House, Greensboro, N.C., an interfaith, interracial, non-profit organization working to form a united community of many cultures; and José Oliva, an organizer for Interfaith Worker Justice in Chicago.

Workshops at “Welcoming the Sojourner” will include:

The Bible and Immigration

Organizing United Methodists for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

The Local Church as a Place of Outreach and Ministry

Immigration and Racism

The New Sanctuary Movement, and

INS Raids and Your Community

A Continuing Education Credit will be awarded for the event. Registration fee is $95. Go to Registration to register online.

For more information, contact the Rev. Clayton Childers, GBCS director of Annual Conference Relations, at (202) 488-5642.

Another “Welcoming the Sojourner” event will be Sept. 11-13 at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark. That event is co-sponsored the Board of Church and Society of the Arkansas Conference of The United Methodist Church, Justice For Our Neighbors and GBCS. Besides Bishop Carcaño and Sills, featured speakers will include Bill Mefford, director of GBCS’s Civil and Human Rights program. Bishop Charles Crutchfield of Arkansas Conference will lead worship.

Registration for the Arkansas event is $50. Go to Arkansas Registration to register online. For more information, contact the Rev. Steve Copley, Arkansas Justice for Our Neighbors, at (501) 374-3811.

The General Board of Church & Society is one of four international general program boards of The United Methodist Church, which has more than 11 million members worldwide. The board’s primary areas of ministry are Advocacy, Education and Leadership Formation, United Nations and International Affairs, and resourcing these areas for denomination. It has offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and at the Church Center at the United Nations. Its Web site is www.umc-gbcs.org.

Midwest Interfaith Immigration Summit

From The United Methodist Church's General Board of Church and Society:

Sept. 10, 11 in Columbus, Ohio

COLUMUS, OHIO — A Midwest Interfaith Immigration Summit will be Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 10 and 11, here. The summit, sponsored by the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, will focus on “Mobilizing for Humane Reform.”

Goal of the summit is to provide faith-based leaders and advocates tools they need to educate and mobilize their communities in support of fair and humane immigration reform.

The United Methodist Church is among sponsors of the event.

Other sponsors include American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Church World Service, Sojourners, Ohio Council of Churches and Ohio Hispanic Coalition.

For more information, contact Jennifer Hollinger.