Adventist Peace News Round-up
Following is a round-up of recent articles on peace and justice themes within the global Adventist community.
Adventist Students Join National Walkout Day (Jared Wright, Spectrum, 14 March 2018)
Today students across the United States walked out of their classrooms at 10:00 a.m. in voluntary demonstrations against gun violence in America. The walkouts came one month after the Parkland, Florida shooting of students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Seventeen were killed in the shooting and seventeen more were injured.
Young people organize food and water drives for Global Youth Day 2018 (ANN, 20 March 2018)
Adventist youth around the world deliberately missed out on hearing a sermon on Saturday, March 17, choosing instead to “Be The Sermon” in celebration of Global Youth Day 2018. Thousands of young Adventists ran water and food drives in their communities in order to tangibly be the “hands and feet of Jesus” to their communities.
Global community celebrates International Day of Happiness (Beth Thomas, ANN, 20 March 2018)
Are you happy? Really happy? Society is beginning to recognize that happiness is a fundamental priority, so much so that in 2011 the United Nations adopted a resolution establishing March 20 as International Day of Happiness. The first global celebration took place in 2013.
Public Affairs Director of Grenada Conference Calls for Caribbean Debt Relief (Adventist Today, 21 March 2018)
Jerome Gordon, the Public Affairs Director for the Grenada Conference of the Adventist Church, has joined religious leaders in the Caribbean that are calling for debt relief for their nations in the face of natural disasters.
Adventist Church in Trinidad mourns the loss of slain church members (Libna Stevens, ANN, 22 March 2018)
Seventh-day Adventists in Trinidad are devastated by the loss of three of its members, who were victims of a violent knife attack last week.
Rocky Mountain Conference Finds New Way to Serve Community (Carol Bolden, Spectrum, 23 March 2018)
In an effort to further serve communities, Rocky Mountain Conference Adventist Community Service Director Cathy Kissner recently procured an agreement with the Red Cross that would allow qualifying churches and schools to be designated as shelters for anyone in the community impacted by a natural disaster—tornado, hurricane, tsunami, fire—or by other incidents—intruder, shooting, etc.
Father of Five Fatally Shot One Block from Union College (Adventist Today, 27 March 2018)
A 22-year-old father of five was fatally shot one block west of Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska this afternoon. Law enforcement said that the victim was Edgar “E.J.” Union Jr., a 2013 graduate of Lincoln High School.
Prime Minister thanks ADRA volunteers (Josh Dye, ANN, 28 March 2018)
A team of volunteers from the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) have been personally thanked by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian for their efforts responding to the devastating bushfires in south-eastern NSW.
Photo of Students in Blackface Points to Walla Walla University's Diversity Problem (Jared Wright, Spectrum, 29 March 2018)
A viral photo depicting Walla Walla University students in blackface with the word “Wakanda” superimposed has drawn sharp criticism and is currently the subject of an administrative investigation on the campus of the Seventh-day Adventist school in College Place, Washington.
Administrators Investigate Alleged Racist Act by Group of Walla Walla University Students (Adventist Today, 29 March 2018)
Walla Walla University administrators met on March 27 to discuss allegations that a small group of the school’s students had distributed pictures of themselves in blackface on social media.