Interfaith Leaders Urge Lawmakers to Expand Medicaid for the Poor
Christian Leaders Intensify Campaign against Mideast Persecution
What the Climate Movement Must Learn From Religion
Last September 40,000 people attended London's largest ever climate march. This was a big achievement for an issue that struggles to catch people's attention. After all, as psychologists point out, it is notoriously hard to mobilise people around issues that are invisible, uncertain, set in the future and require them to make sacrifices.
How Pastor Joel Hunter helps his congregation engage with Creation Care
Joel Hunter joins other faith leaders against terrorism
Joel Hunter joins other faith leaders against terrorism Joel Hunter joins other faith leaders against terrorism Central Florida’s religious community will be conducting a joint event to build compassionate communities on Saturday, Feb. 28, from 1 p.m.-3:30 p.m. The event will take place at the American Muslim Community Center, located at 811 Wilma Street, in Longwood, Fla.
Participants include Dr. Joel C. Hunter of Northland, A Church Distributed; Atif Fareed of American Muslim Community Centers; Rabbi Steven W. Engel of Congregation of Reform Judaism; Pastor Jim Mory, Longwood Hills Congregational Church; Ustadh Ali Ataie of Zaytuna College and other individuals and faith leaders. Together, they will focus on how to build compassionate communities and speak out against those seeking to tear down the human family.
"We strongly condemn violence against any innocent victims in the name of God, national or international interests. This shall include the murder, beheading, burning, rape or bombing of innocent people, whether Christians, Jews, Muslims or adherents of any other faith. Acts of domestic or international terrorism and the desecration or bombing of any church, mosque, synagogue or any house of worship are violations of divine principles and will not be condoned by any of the three Abrahamic faiths."
Central Florida Muslim leaders will also sign the Judeo-Christian-Islamic Peace Covenant. The Judeo-Christian-Islamic Covenant is an agreement between the three Abrahamic faiths and its leaders to adhere to common universal principles in a spirit of mutual respect, love and indiscriminate compassion for all innocent victims worldwide ... to stand against bigotry, hate, intolerance and cooperate in a spirit of brotherhood through dialogue and love, mutual trust and understanding.
The event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP by emailing rsvp@amccenters.org.
Raising awareness for child sex trafficking in Orange County
Raising awareness for child sex trafficking in Orange County Raising awareness for child sex trafficking in Orange County LONGWOOD -- The people who are involved in raising awareness about child sex trafficking in Central Florida count the Aaron George case as a victory.
George learned Wednesday that he will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted on human trafficking charges.
A 16-year-old told the court that George threatened her to have sex with him and his "clients."
Tomas Lares is the founder of Florida Abolitionists, a group that is trying to prevent further exploitation and to raise awareness about this form of modern-day slavery.
"We had another case a few weeks ago in the U.S. Court where a gang member received almost 20 years in prison for trafficking a 14-year-old girl between the Florida Mall and the Mall at Millenia," Lares said, referring to the Xavier Villanueva case. "She was literally locked in a room, and the gang members would guard her 24 (hours a day), seven (days a week)."
These are just some of the harsh and heartbreaking truths Lares and other anti-child sex trafficking advocates shared with the congregation at Longwood-based Northland, A Church Distributed.
Anthony Davis. Sr. also shared his perspective. He is a former law enforcement officer and member of the Greater Orlando Human Trafficking Task Force.
"One thing we have to understand about this in law enforcement with this is we're fighting money," Davis said. "We're fighting greed and those that are looking at the fact that they don't think they can be prosecuted."
It's a problem that hides in the shadows, but child advocates said recruitment happens in the light of the day — at schools and online.
One 14-year-old survivor met her exploiter in downtown Orlando.
"That's when she met her pimp," Lares said. "She thought it was her boyfriend. A lot of these pimps will lure by becoming a friend and, eventually, a boyfriend. And really, their end goal is to exploit them and put them into a sex trafficking ring."
Several child advocates said human traffickers use social media, smartphones and even games with chat functions to recruit more victims.
There will be an informational meeting about child sex trafficking from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at Lake Eola. For more information go to http://gohttf.org/.
You can report suspected child sex trafficking to 888-373-7888.
SOURCE: http://www.mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2015/1/10/child_sex_traffickin.html?utm_content=buffer0cb60&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
For pastors, march to racial harmony led pair to 'Selma'
For pastors, march to racial harmony led pair to 'Selma' For pastors, march to racial harmony led pair to 'Selma'
Just as many Americans were celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace, "Selma" marched into select movie theaters to remind us of a time not so long ago when peace was in short supply.
I experienced "Selma" last month. It blew me away. To say the least, the film captured in a way that is both visceral and instructional not only the Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights, but also a thick chapter of our history that is at once shameful and triumphant.
Someone once declared, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
The sad corollary is that people without knowledge of the past lack the context needed to understand current events.
That includes the recent attacks on voting and the disdain of protests over the deaths of unarmed black males at the hands of police — who under the protective wing of Jim Crow could brutalize and kill blacks with impunity.
For that, "Selma" offers clarity. Yet, perhaps the greatest service the movie provides — a lesson we desperately must absorb — is that the great unfinished march for civil rights isn't a black thang. It's an American thing.
What better reminder than seeing blacks, whites, Catholics, Jews, Christians and others locked arm in arm like a human charm bracelet walking into the heart of withering oppression at 30 frames per second.
Little did I know that harmonizing sentiment was rebooting here in Central Florida.
A couple of months ago, Joel Hunter received a phone call from Oprah and Joshua DuBois, who formerly ran the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships under President Barack Obama.
They shared a vision of multiracial congregations across the country watching "Selma" together and talking afterward about reconciliation.
Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed, in Longwood, was sold. Indeed, for Hunter — for whom King's assassination inspired his turn to faith — the chat recalled a resonant failure.
In the Trayvon Martin aftermath, Hunter joined with Sanford Pastors Connecting, a multiracial group that Sanford police credit with helping tamp down simmering tensions. Quartets of pastors haunted the courtroom, prayed throughout the trial and plowed the way for meaningful dialogue in Sanford.
Yet after that initial cultivation, the reality of continuing, intentional interaction withered.
So Hunter phoned the Rev. Paul Wright. His church, Calvary Temple of Praise, hosted the first Sanford Pastors Connected group meeting. Wright relished the notion of joining Hunter's congregation for a march into "Selma."
Police, community leaders and congregants from both churches filled two theaters, some 500-strong.
For two hours, there was a hush as the n-word crashed into viewers' ears and tire irons, barbed-wire-wrapped sticks and billy clubs crashed into marchers' skulls.
When the lights came up, so did the stories.
Blacks of a certain age recalled the brick walls erected as they tried to register to vote in their own Selmas. Others recalled injustices they'd witnessed in Sanford.
"People literally were in tears after the movie, wondering how people could do that to one another," Hunter says. "Even though the mood was very sober, the conversation afterward was very hopeful."
Such success demands duplication. Communities everywhere should crib the idea.
For sure, "Selma" offers a fine opening gambit. However, these conversations to marshal thoughtful discussion and broker understanding and kinship needn't only occur in darkened theaters over hot-buttered popcorn.
"The need for dialogue is obvious because we don't have legal segregation, but we do have de facto segregation, in the way we live and in that most of our conversations are among those who look like us," Hunter says.
"... If we make the effort to talk often enough, have friends not of our race, not of our social groups, that will build a much better community in the future."
Now comes the challenge. Even if the spirit is willing, follow-through can be weak. "Selma" may have revived the conversation. But the connecting can't stop after the credits roll.
deowens@tribune.com or 407-420-5095
SOURCE: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-selma-to-sanford-darryl-owens-20150111-column.html
Legalizing Gay Marriage: How Should Christians Respond?
How should Christians respond to the legalization of gay marriage in Florida and across the country? Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed, talks to WKMG 6 Orlando.
Pastors hope film will rekindle racial reconciliation in Sanford
Pastors hope film will rekindle racial reconciliation in Sanford Pastors hope film will rekindle racial reconciliation in Sanford
Black and white pastors are hoping the movie Selma will renew efforts toward racial reconciliation in Sanford that started with the death of Trayvon Martin.
Northland Church Pastor Joel Hunter and Calvary Temple of Praise Pastor Paul Wright say the film, which opens Jan. 9, can restart discussions on the unfinished business of the civil rights movement for blacks and whites.
"What I want to do as a white pastor is to continue to be part of the civil rights movement. This movie gives us a chance to re-engage with each other," Hunter said.
Wright said his congregation discusses issues of race and injustice on a regular basis, but the film brings those conversations out in the open for interracial dialogue.
"I think the black communality wants reconciliation. I believe the white community wants reconciliation. We just have to understand the terms of what is expected," Wright said. "We can't resolve it until we can understand it."
Members of Northland and Calvary Temple will watch the movie together, along with other community leaders and law enforcement, at a special premier on Jan. 6 in Altamonte Springs. The screening will be followed by a discussion.
"This gives us an opportunity going forward not only to discuss the movie, but to discuss our present day issues," Wright said.
The film comes at a time when the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. and Eric Garner in New York City have exposed the tension and mistrust between blacks and law enforcement. It's the same dynamic that existed in Sanford when George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin in 2012.
Sanford escaped the violence that followed the deaths of Brown and Garner in other cities, largely because of the work between the black community and the police department, facilitated by the interracial organization called Sanford Pastors Connecting, said Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith.
"Sanford went through a bad time, but the leadership and the partnership of the pastors allowed the community to have a voice," Smith said. "Trayvon Martin was a fire that lit our community, but what it also did was allow us to see our deficiencies, not just in the police department or in City Hall, but in all of our communities."
Just as Selma is a reminder of the unfinished business of race relations in the United States, the riots in response to Brown and Garner brings to mind the unfinished business of the Sanford Pastors Connecting, the pastors said.
"We really have not come to the full hopes of that group which was to effect on-going racial reconciliation in Sanford," Hunter said. "The original purpose was to bring the races together to make a healthy community as we go forward into these perilous times."
jkunerth@tribune.com or 407-420-5392
Copyright © 2015, Orlando Sentinel
SOURCE: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/religion/os-northland-blacks-and-police-20141231-story.html
