Seeking Justice

The General Board of Church and Society’s mission, as well as ours: Living FAITH, Seeking JUSTICE, Pursuing PEACE

Our Church & Society Team Members, organized after November 2016,  were looking to get more involved in issues. At an all-church meeting the issues that stood out were health care, immigrant/refugees needs, climate disruption, and economic injustice – with concern for children in poverty.

Here’s what’s happened since:
Teach-ins by Syracuse University faculty  on health care, immigration policy, environmental policy and climate disruption and The Rule of Law and by other experts on the opioid epidemic and fake news/news literacy.

• • • • With local organizers from Bellevue Heights UMC of “Blessings in a Backpack,” we supported their program of feeding hungry children on weekends.
      • A few Church & Society members joined an Interfaith Sanctuary Coalition, and some also attended events with the Workers Center, including immigrant workers. In view of increasing threats of detention and deportation of immigrants, we agreed it would be important to us as a congregation to discern our role in addressing these needs.
      • The congregation voted 69-1 to become a Sanctuary Congregation in support of other faith groups that might provide physical sanctuary.  Here is media coverage of the announcement that coalition with three other congregations – COALITION
      • A story in The Daily Orange about the sanctuary coalition: SANCTUARY
      • We are continuing to collaborate with the Worker Center.
      • We held a Children’s Sabbath to focus attention on systemic issues harming children.
      • Two UUMC carloads went to Binghamton for a mass meeting on the Poor People’s Campaign.
      • We held a teach-in on “Poverty in Greater Syracuse” with more than 50 people attending; it included topics on capitalism, communism and socialism.