Today on our local NPR affiliate, a local Stake Presidency member was interviewed about the roll-out of the “I’m a Mormon” PR campaign in our metro area. The interviewer wondered if people would think that the timing was in response to the two Republicans running for their party’s nomination for the presidential election next year, and the Stake Presidency member responded that the church had a long standing policy of political neutrality. The interviewer asked about the church’s rather heavy involvement in opposing Prop 8 (legalizing marriage equality) in California. The Stake Presidency member responded “where there is a moral stance that needs to be taken, they (the church) will stand up…. and will encourage members to stand up in behalf of that.”
I was recently made aware of a campaign that the United Church of Christ is undertaking in November. “For 11 days, the United Church of Christ will focus on hunger and food related injustice as Mission 1. Central’s concentrated efforts will be November 1-20. 24,000 children die every day from poverty, hunger, and preventable diseases. That’s one child every 3.6 seconds. This is Mission 1.”
The project was outlined with these five steps. I was struck by step three:
PROJECT AT A GLANCE
1. Food drive: bring food donations to Central November 1-20 and place in
the marked areas in the Commons under the windows;
2. Neighbors in Need Offering: received in November and dedicated on
November 20;
3. Letter Writing Campaign: participate with other UCC churches in raising
the issues to elected officials;
4. Future Volunteer Drive: move Mission 1 beyond our 20 day focus by
volunteering for future projects;
5. Celebrate: potluck (meat provided), on November 13 to celebrate and push
for final leg of the project.
;
A letter writing campaign, in which members are encouraged to raise the issues of poverty, hunger, and preventable disease to their elected officials.
If that isn’t a moral issue, what is?
Great post. I wonder when Church leadership will wake up to the fact that morality isn’t limited to sexual matters.
Oh, I love this post and Course Correction’s comment. I’ve long been frustrated with the fact that people seem to think the sexual issues–abortion and gay marriage–are the only important ones, and the ones on which to base their entire belief system.
What a beautiful, Christlike thing for a Christian church to do.