InterfaithCincy, in partnership with A Blessing to One Another, is offering Interfaith Community Engagement Grants. Any Faith community or any faith-based youth group that partners with a faith community or youth group from another faith tradition to work on a community engagement project can apply. For Information and application form contact Dr. James Buchanan at A Blessing to One Another at 513 745-3922 or by email Cummins@xavier.edu.
April 21, noon-1:30 pm over ZoomOhio’s energy policy is in flux, as the legislature wrestles over bills that would either hinder or revive the progress towards clean energy and energy efficiency that was halted by HB 6. Green Umbrella’s Faith Communities Go Green Advocacy Team invites you to a webinar by policy experts from the nonpartisan Ohio Environmental Council, with timely advice on how you can advocate effectively for clean energy in this pivotal year. Free! Invite everyone you know who’s committed to clean energy to register.Trish Demeter, OEC Chief of Staff, will give an overview of the bills currently in play in the General Assembly, how to frame clean energy policy in language current legislators can endorse, and how to build relationships with your elected officials.Chris Tavenor, OEC Staff Attorney, will explain how you can change the dynamics around environmental policy by advocating for fair legislative districts. 2021 is the first year in which Ohio’s state and Congressional districts must be drawn with significant citizen input under the constitutional amendments voters passed to tackle partisan gerrymandering.About our speakers: As OEC Chief of Staff, Trish Demeter coordinates OEC’s policy advocacy, government relations, and legal strategies on energy, land, and water issues. She previously served as OEC’s Vice President for Energy Policy, leading its efforts to reduce carbon pollution from the electric sector and to promote clean energy solutions across the state. Before joining OEC she served as legislative liaison for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and as a policy aide in the Ohio Senate.Chris Tavenor co-manages OEC’s legal and policy teams’ efforts to ensure clean air, clean water, and clean energy for Ohio. He directs OEC’s Emerging Leaders program to engage young professionals in efforts to combat climate change, and coordinates OEC’s annual Ohio Public Interest Law Conference. Click Here to Register.
Spiritual Audacity: The Abraham Joshua Heschel Story - Screening and Zoom Webinar
Private Viewing: Registrants will have virtual access to Spiritual Audacity: The Abraham Joshua Heschel Story from Friday, April 16th to Monday April, 19th. A link will be sent to your email. The film is approximately 60 minutes.
Note: We recommend viewing the film before attending the panel discussion on Monday, April 19, 7:00pm
Panelists include:
Martin Doblemeier, Director;
Adam Clark, PhD, Theology Department at Xavier University;
Rabbi Jonathan L. Hecht, PhD, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion;
Rabbi Jennifer Lewis, Xavier Center for Faith and Justice;
Fr. Albert Mascia, OFM, Franciscan Friars; with
Moderator: Bill Madges, PhD, Brueggeman Center.
Civic Engagement: Equitable Housing Program
JCRC is partnering with Wise Temple to host a virtual program on equitable housing next week on April 14 @ 7pm. They have invited local experts to provide context for the affordable housing environment in Cincinnati, speak about the upcoming housing charter amendment and discuss ways for the interfaith community to get involved in supporting a more safe and stable housing future for those without a space to call home.
by James P Buchanan, PhD
At the core of every faith tradition is a reverence for creation. This is a belief that creation is sacred and thus should be both honored within the tradition. Care for creation should is foundational to the moral vision of every religious tradition. In recent years more and more attention has been paid by all of the world’s faith traditions to what that the moral responsibility entails and how faith traditions can play an important role in- confronting the growing climate crisis. This is not only based in the recognition that the climate crisis is an existential threat, it is also a theological imperative.
To help our faith communities better realize this imperative and the resources available to them, Green Umbrella (https://greenumbrella.org/) the regional sustainability alliance of Greater Cincinnati, is providing a new platform for collective, interfaith action.
Green Umbrella, has over 200 member organizations and over 200 individual members who are passionate about enhancing the environmental health and vitality of our region. Their mission is to lead collaboration, incubate ideas and catalyze solutions that create a resilient sustainable region for all. Working together they envision a vibrant community where sustainability is woven into our ways of life. Green Umbrella serves a 10-county region in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
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Response from Midwest USA Chinese Chamber of Commerce regarding recent Anti-Asian Hate Incidents
Thank you members and friends of InterfaithCincy for pouring your support to our open letter issued by our board chair Lee Wong, US Army (retired), with over 20 years of active-duty service (24/7) to the nation.
With nearly 90 advocacy groups and individuals from the region co-signing this letter, we stand in solidarity and with the resolve that together we say NO, loud and clear, to hate, to violence, and to racial discrimination and biases.
But that's not enough. We must take actions to prevent the next tragedy from happening. While we can go through the routines and let ourselves be buried in the entanglement of processes and bureaucracies, we can take these actions to move forward:
1. Endorse this letter and condemn publicly the violence and microaggressions on Asian people.
2. Call for legislation to establish clear definitions of hate crimes towards Asian people. Current federal laws make it extremely difficult to define and prosecute a hate crime aimed towards Asian people in this country.
3. Call for tougher penalties on first-time violations of hate crimes. Many offenders walk free without any penalty.
4. Increase the visibility of Asian Americans in senior and top leadership in both the government and the private sectors.
5. Promote diversity, inclusion and awareness of Asian culture and history, especially the history of Asian immigrants and their contribution to this country. We offer webinars that talk specifically about the history of East Asian countries and business etiquettes. Please encourage your colleagues to join us.
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