Sweeney Issues Statement on Cycle of Violence in the Middle East

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On December 2, Ian Sweeney, president of Seventh-day Adventist Church in the UK & Ireland released the following statement about violence in Iraq and Syria.

A CALL TO END THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE

2nd December 2015

The increasing levels of violence and numbers of displaced people resulting from atrocities in Iraq, Syria and other war torn parts of the world fill our hearts with sorrow. We stand in solidarity with those who have lost loved ones, livelihoods and homes. Our fervent prayers are with all those who suffer.

Today (2 December), the UK Parliament has voted for our armed forces to engage in air strikes in Syria. While there is full recognition that the issues surrounding the fight against terrorism are complex and nuanced, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is nevertheless committed to pursuing and exhibiting peace.

As a Church we express our grave concern about the ongoing violence in Syria which continues to bring loss of life, misery and suffering to innocent men, women and children and the displacement of some 3 million Syrians.

We call on all sides engaged in the Syrian conflict to cease military activities and resort to peaceful methods of resolving the conflict. It is our belief that dialogue and negotiations, however difficult, are preferable to violence and war.

While we understand that peace cannot be found in official statements, we will nevertheless seek to bring some measure of peace, wherever we can, to those whose lives have been touched by war.

The belief that violence should be repaid with violence is against our Christian biblical understanding and does not deliver the intended results. We endorse the sentiments of the late Dr Martin Luther King Jr when he said,

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

SEE ALSO: 2003 Adventist World Church statement on the War in Iraq. Pray for Paris, Pray for France.

ASRS Releases Statement on Refugee Crisis

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The Adventist Society for Religious Studies (ASRS) recently released the following statement on the refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe:

Statement on the Refugee Crisis Adventist Society for Religious Studies November 21, 2015

In light of the present refugee crisis engulfing the globe, we as a body of religion scholars who are committed to the full gospel of Jesus Christ who said, “I was a stranger and you took me in” (Matt. 25:38); and who take seriously the Word of God in Deut. 23:9 that we must not oppress the strangers “because we were strangers in the land of Egypt” (cf. Lev. 19:34), the Adventist Society of Religious Studies asserts the following:

  • As sojourners and pilgrims ourselves, we recognize that we are all expatriates who have been called to manifest the principles of God’s eternal kingdom in all of our decisions.
  • As people with patriotic sympathies, we understand the power of the type of fear that saps human compassion, but we believe that we ought to always practice the perfect love that casts out all fear.
  • As creatures of national cultures, we acknowledge that we are comfortable with the familiar; however, our commitment to Christ compels us to reject xenophobia, outright racism and competitive religious extremism.
  • As members of the human family, we accept all men and women as our siblings, regardless of their religious confession or country of origin.
  • As followers of Christ, we will be the Good Samaritan to the victims of war; we will willingly clothe the naked, feed the hungry, care for the sick, visit the imprisoned and receive the refugee. We invite others to do the same.

Johnsson Addresses Interfaith Dialogue at ASRS

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The theme of this year's Adventist Society for Religious Studies (ASRS) annual conference was "Adventism in the Public Square." William Johnsson, who was the first president of ASRS, gave the following sermon entitled, "Leaving the Comfort Zone: From John the Baptist to Jesus."

Dr. William Johnson's Sermon "Leaving the Comfort Zone: From John the Baptist to Jesus" at the Adventist Society for Religious Study 2015 Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA on Sabbath morning, November 21, 2015. Dr Johnson was the first President of the ASRS in 1979.

Jackson Responds to Mass Shooting in California

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Both Spectrum and Adventist Today have reported on the recent mass shooting in California. Today Dan Jackson, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, released a statement on the shooting. The statement begins: "The Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America is heartbroken that we must once again mourn the loss of innocent lives as the result of gun violence. We extend our deepest condolences and prayers to the families of the 14 people killed, the 21 wounded, and their friends and colleagues. We also pray for the community of San Bernardino and Redlands and the heartache and anxiety they are experiencing as a result of this tragedy."

Near the end of the statement, Jackson calls for action. "Along with our heartfelt prayers, it is time that something is done to address the pandemic of gun violence. It is time that we say No to these tragic massacres that have become commonplace in the United States. It is time that we do something to find solutions to put an end to this pervasive problem."

The complete statement was posted by the Adventist News Network (ANN).

Adventists Offer Prayer and Support in Paris Tragedy (ANN)

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The Adventist News Network, the official news service of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, published the following story. The Seventh-day Adventist Church and its members worldwide offered prayers and support for Paris after a series of shootings and explosions killed scores of people.

France declared a state of emergency and closed its borders after at least 100 people were reported killed in a concert hall and others died attacks on restaurants and near a stadium on Friday night.

Mario Brito, president of the Adventist Church’s Inter-European Division, whose territory includes France, voiced “deep consternation” over the events in Paris. “We express our solidarity with all French people,” he said in an e-mailed statement.

The Inter-European Division noted in the same statement that twin suicide bombings killed at least 43 people two days earlier in Beirut, Lebanon, a possible indication that “terrorism is growing more and more uncontrollable.”

The statement says: “Human life is precious in God's eyes. When people turn away from God's directions and wisdom, they become a threat to the freedom of those who unfortunately cross paths with these agents of Satan.”

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks.

Ted N.C. Wilson, president of the Adventist world church, said that “our hearts go out to the people and families suffering in the tragedy unfolding in Paris.”

“Please pray for a return to safety and peace,” he said on his Facebook page, adding, “May dire situations like this awaken all to the need for God and His love to be supreme in our lives as we see prophetic events taking place which herald the Lord's soon return.”

Adventist believers around the world took to social media to express their sorrow and to lift up the people of Paris in prayer. The hashtag #PrayforParis was trending on social media.

“Prayer unites us in terrible moments!” the Newbold Church in Bracknell, Britain, said on Facebook. “Remember our friends and family in Paris. What a tragedy.”

The Adventist-owned college, located on the campus of the church’s Newbold College of Higher Education, posted a black-and-white photo of praying hands with the words, “Pray for Paris, pray for France!”

ADRA International, the church’s humanitarian and relief agency tweeted that “our prayers are in Paris tonight.” “Please join and pray for our brothers and sisters who are now victims, survivors, hostages, and their families,” it said.

“Let’s keep Paris and the families affected by the tragedies in prayer,” said the Allegheny East Conference, which oversees the work of 96 historically African-American churches with 31,000 members in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

John Bradshaw, speaker and director of It Is Written television, said he was saddened but not surprised by the events.

“For me, one very sad thing about the terrible tragedy in Paris is that I'm not surprised it happened. And that neither are you,” he said, adding in French, “Dieu ait pitié,” or “God have mercy.”

Some church members expressed concern about what impact the attacks might have on migrants. Europe is grappling with its biggest migrant crisis since World War II as hundreds of thousands of people fleeing wars in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan seek to resettle on the continent.

“[I’m] devastated just thinking of the effects this will have on refugees already facing a terrible winter and more,” said Ashley Eisele, senior content manager for ADRA International.

Christopher Holland, speaker and director of It Is Written Canada, said the attacks offered a reminder that Jesus’ return was near. “The Paris situation reminds us that Satan is the ultimate terrorist, seeking whom he can destroy because he knows his time is short,” he said.

The Inter-European Division statement also focused on the hope of Jesus’ Second Coming. “We pray that the Lord may comfort those who are experiencing this unexpected and incomprehensible pain. We pray our Lord may strengthen the faith and hope of those who are waiting for His return to establish a new world where peace and mutual respect will reign for ever.”

A Christian Response to Terrorism (Burdette)

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Matt Burdette originally wrote the following essay for the Interlocutors blog. Burdette is a graduate of La Sierra University, where he earned an undergraduate degree in religious studies and a Master of Arts in religion. He is currently a doctoral candidate in theology at the University of Aberdeen. A few days ago—before the attack on Paris—I wrote that there is no mythical demon prowling the world called “Terrorism,” which does not mean that there aren’t people who commit acts of terror. What I was denying was the reality that there is some “essence” of terrorism that, in its self-same identity, is instantiated in various places throughout the world. I stand by that denial, because I remain convinced of that we can only deal with the world honestly when we deal with things in their particularity; so, it is not that there is no connection between Al Qaeda and ISIS, but that clumping the two together as “the terrorists” obfuscates more than anything else. More than that, a war on “terrorism” is categorically endless, because, by identifying no particular object of war, those who wage the war can in principle never know when they have reached their objective. (For those who care for the just war tradition, that itself is a basic disqualifier.)

The point is to reject ideological thinking, and I am aware that the refusal to think about generalities can be just as ideological as the inability to think about particulars, and I hope to avoid that too. So, of course I was disturbed and saddened by the news of the attack in Paris on Friday, and of course I immediately wondered if ISIS was responsible. And since hearing that ISIS has claimed responsibility, I have been bracing myself for what seem to be the inevitable calls for war, and the ritual of liberal responses which attempt to differentiate Islam-the-faith from Islamist “extremism.” With France’s airstrikes on Sunday, and the explosion of articles over the whole weekend, my expectations were confirmed.

At least in this instance, I have no desire to challenge war as a response, nor do I intend to wholly reject the liberal response. What I do want to say is that those responses are of themselves not the Christian response. This can be but does not have to be competitive; a Christian response is what it is, and may find an ally or an opponent in other responses, and how this exactly looks shouldn’t be determined beforehand. I will say this about the liberal response: I generally think it is done in bad faith, not least because of the bipolarity of liberal attitudes about religious conviction generally, and the overwhelming ignorance about matters of faith that liberals expose in those attitudes. Their basic measure for what makes an “extremist” is that an extremist is a religious person who won’t accept the privatization of his or her faith when entering into the secular public square. By that measure, I and a host of other people are extremists. Additionally, I doubt very much that the deluge of liberal responders is in fact populated by people who know what they’re talking about. Most Christians that I know couldn’t explain Christianity, and even fewer nonbelievers have a decent handle on Christianity; liberals are generally liberal Christians or just secular, and if they are so ignorant of the dominant religion on the West, I have no interest in their opinions, positive or negative, about Islam.

Indeed, the entire ritual after such events can be summarized as getting across one point: Islam is peaceful, and Muslim people are not our enemies.

This isn’t wrong or right; it is useless. “Peace” is a concept that only operates within a particular logic, and so within the logic of each religion that religion is peaceful, having defined what peace in fact is. The meaning of peace is not self-evident. When people insist that Islam is peaceful, they mean that Islam accepts the definition of peace that the liberal nation-state intends; but this is patently false, just as it would be false to say that Christians or Jews accept that definition of peace. By secular standards, we “Abrahamic” faiths are not peaceful. As for Muslim people not being “our” enemies, an appropriate Christian response is first of all, “So what?” And then the second Christian response is, “And who is ‘our’ in that statement?”

Islam may or may not be the enemy of Christianity. It is meaningless to refer to practitioners. There are doubtless Muslim individuals who count themselves the enemy of Christians, and there are certainly Christians who are enemies to Muslim people. But the Christian has no investment in denying that a person or even a group is an enemy. It simply makes no difference. Those who follow Jesus are under obligation to love their neighbors, and to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them. Christians do not deny that there are enemies, nor refuse to acknowledge that people hate them. So if there are a group of people claiming to be Muslim who are our enemies, Christians must still think creatively about how to love those people. For those who find this too demanding, there are a number of other lords to follow besides Jesus.

Christians must also come to call into question this notion of “our” having an enemy. It is not that Christians should not care when the nation has an enemy, but thinking through the right response has to involve a reframing of the problem. We may say, “Among the victims in Paris, some of our fellow Christians were killed. But it is France that has an enemy.” Nor is this a position of neutrality. The attack on Paris was evil, and there can be no equivocation about that. The point is that Christians cannot simply identify themselves with the state or nation. There are places in the world right now in which Muslim people are persecuting Christians; our response to those situations is not the same as our response to the attack on Paris, but this difference hinges on our insistence that we identify ourselves as Christians.

A Christian response to this is one that draws together the Christian community to act as a singular communal agent in the world to announce Christ’s reign and so his peace. The state will do what the state will do, and—not to be resigned—the church has little say in the matter. But the church may do what the church may do, and this doesn’t mean that we Christians are not implicated in the state’s actions. All this means is that we must act in the world as agents of Christ and his justice. This surely involves building relationships with Muslims, not because they are “not our enemies” or because our faiths are not all that different, but because we follow Jesus and because we must win them too to his peace. In this we do not fear death, nor do we avoid hatred. And acting in the world as Christ’s agent means also calling the nation to his justice. If the state is to go to war, the church must agitate for the war to be fought with some semblance of justice, and with a concrete end; indiscriminate air strikes and total destruction are unjust, no matter how justifiable the anger and hurt. The church must agitate to welcome refugees of war, and the church must ready itself for the hospitality that it demand. We must say to the state, “Let us welcome them.” Anything less is just sentimental talk.

Killing in the Name

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Jeff Carlson, associate pastor of the Fletcher Seventh-day Adventist Church in Hendersonville, NC, wrote the following reflection on the recent violence in Paris, France. The god in who's name people are dying in Paris tonight is not Allah, though they mistakenly use that name to describe him.

He is actually the same god in who's name the KKK and other American Christian white supremacists killed their victims. And though they invoked the name, Jesus, to describe that god, that is also not his name.

He is the same god who demanded the blood of Jews at the hands of Russians, Germans, Polish and every other European Christian who stretched out their hand against the "Christ killers" in the name of Christ. Though Christ is also not his name.

He demanded the blood of Protestants at the hands of Catholics; Protestants at the hands of other Protestants; teenage girls called witches at the hands of those who themselves had fled the death-grip of that god on their life in a distant land. Though they all did so in the name of the Trinity, this is not a three-part god. He is one.

His voice has been heeded by secularists of the guillotine; He received the blood sacrifice from the hands of Communists, and Nazis, and Fascists, though he transcends them all.

He held out his hands in the guise of Molech and the people of the ancient world sacrificed their own children to him. That, also, is not his name.

He is not the ancient serpent, or the devil, or Satan or any other name by which he is called.

He is religion; he is secularism; he is totalitarian; he is democratic freedom.

His name is "me." But he never uses that name. He always speaks of "them." And the moment I hear his voice I am least likely to know it is his voice calling for blood. Because he whispers simply that if "they" were gone, "I" would be better, or holier, or righter, or safer.

I heard his voice tonight as the news flowed out of Paris. And I heard his voice whisper in my own soul when I thought "they should just throw all the muslims out of Paris."

If Satan ceased to exist; if all religion, or beliefs of non-religion, political philosophy were erased; if all nationalistic belief was extricated from the human soul and we were left in the state of no beliefs what-so-ever fulfilling the dreams of John Lennon this god would still call out for blood.

His voice transcends all beliefs and time because so do we. And his voice is much too absurd and demanding that we would never listen to him, until we do.

May we hear the one alternate voice tonight. The one that called out on the cross "father forgive them they know not what they do." The voice that calls not for the blood of the "other" for the imagined gain of the "I" but would rather see the blood of "me" flow for the hoped gain of the "other."

Adventists Participate in Fundraiser for Syrian Refugees

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Doug Hardt, an Adventist pastor in Grand Rapids, MN, partnered with other local faith communities to raise money for Syrian refugees. Hardt shared on Facebook:

Just got back from Dairy Queen where we celebrated having a great fundraising concert for the Syrian refugees. We had the Deer River, Grand Rapids and Greenway high school choirs along with the St. Andrews Lutheran Men's Chorus and Grand Rapids Men's Chorus - along with Nicole and the Eleonora Kobzev quartet. I wanted to raise over $1000 with the concert. But we had somebody today say that they would match every gift up to $1500 - then someone who listened to the concert and liked it so much they said they would also match every gift up to $1500. We collected $1544 - which means that we raised $4544 for UNICEF and its work with the children involved in the refugee crisis. Very proud to be a resident of the Grand Rapids area.

This is not the first time Hardt has been involved with issues relating to the Middle East. We reported earlier on his efforts at Union College -- Union College Hosts Interfaith Iraq Memorial -- and he also played a part in this concert. Hardt has also been featured on 3ABN, where he shared about needs in the region (link).

Ideas for Action and Collaboration

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Occasionally, people tell me they would like to get involved with social action, but they aren't sure where to begin. I encourage people to take a first step by working with those who are already engaged. Don't start from scratch. Don't reinvent the wheel. Skip the beginners mistakes by working with professionals already active on the ground. One easy first step is to raise money for projects and organizations that you respect. In the process you will hopefully learn more about the issues involved and will be increasingly prepared to expand your efforts on a given issue. Here are four quality Seventh-day Adventist campaigns, projects and organizations that your APF Peace Chapter or Peace Church could support:

ENDITNOW CAMPAIGN. The Adventist News Network and Adventist Today recently highlighted this campaign to end violence against women and children (link), and I interviewed Heather-Dawn Small in 2010 (link). "To learn more about enditnow and its digital resources, visit www.enditnow.org. Also, to learn how to implement a campaign in a local congregation, go here."

IRAQ REFUGEES (ADRA). We all would like to end the violence in Iraq and in other parts of the region. One positive action we can take is to support ADRA's efforts to care for those displaced by the violence. Read more at Adventist Today.

Natalia López-Thismón, Associate Director for Communication at ADRA International, shared: "You can give to the Middle East Emergency Response Fund at ADRA (you just make your check out to that or call in). Alternatively, you can contact ADRA Kurdistan directly and make your contribution. The churches could hold fundraisers for these efforts. It would be very helpful."

REFUGEE MINISTRY (AFM). Adventist Frontier Missions reports: "During the summer of 2014, more than 1 million people were forced to flee their homes in northern Iraq. Most were offered a simple choice by radical Islamist fighters—convert, leave or die. Today, more than 1 million IDP have fled into Kurdistan, a region in northeast Iraq, where they have found temporary sanctuary. Many are living in schools, churches, church-yards and other public facilities. Many are Christians who were driven out simply because they bear the name of Christ. They cannot return to their homes, and they have no end destination for their journey." "We have already started to minister to the physical needs of the IDP of northern Iraq through a latrine and shower project for IDP families, but we want to combine this with ongoing ministry for the spiritual needs of the IDP and their host communities" (link).

Click here to watch Conrad Vine and Doug Hardt sharing about this project on 3ABN. While living in Lincoln, NE, Doug was active in this work; see Union College Hosts Interfaith Iraq Memorial and College View Academy Hosts Fundraiser for ISIS Victims.

KEEP GIRLS SAFE (Human trafficking; ADRA Thailand). "The girls at the Keep Girls Safe shelter are all from extremely poor families, most of them from different villages in the hills and jungles of Northern Thailand. The shelter is able to accommodate up to 40 girls, most of whom have come from difficult backgrounds caused by sickness, death, drugs, abuse, and lack of care and education. These and other factors may lead to human trafficking, which is prevalent in this area of Southeast Asia. Reports say that girls as young as 8 years old are forced into prostitution, but others are exported to developed countries in Asia, North America, and Europe, where they are forced to do menial tasks with little or no pay, work long hours, and receive no benefits or medical care" (Adventist World, 2014). Read more at ADRA International, ANN (2006), ADRA AU, and an ADRA video (2009).

There are numerous organizations you can partner with, both locally and internationally, but any of these four Adventist ministries would be a great place to start if you want to do something but just aren't sure how to begin.

ANN: Religious Liberty Experts Examine Peacemaking Power of Faith

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Adventist News Network: August 19, 2015 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Bettina Krause and Barry Bussey

A group of scholars, lawyers and religious freedom advocates met last week to challenge a widespread belief that religion is primarily a divisive force in society, fuelling tension and violence. The 17th annual “Meeting of Experts,” organized by the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA), brought together some 20 academics at Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California, to consider the role of religion in current global conflicts, and to focus on ways that faith can, instead, be a powerful force for peacemaking and conflict resolution.

“We need to use faith anchored in forgiveness and reconciliation,” said Ambassador Robert A. Seiple, a former United States Ambassador at large for Religious Freedom, and current IRLA president. “We need to know our own faith, and likewise, we need to understand our neighbour’s faith and respect it.”

Ambassador Seiple, who gave the first of ten major presentations, focused on his firsthand experience with the horrific 1994 Rwandan genocide. He described visiting the country in the aftermath of the violence and standing on a bridge over a river clogged with hundreds of decaying bodies. According to Ambassador Seiple, one of the most troubling aspects of the Rwandan genocide is that it took place within a “Christianized” country—some 85 percent of the total population identified themselves as Christian. But in spite of this colossal failure on the part of churches in 1994, religious values have since played a vital role in rebuilding social stability. As Rwandans have reclaimed their country, they have shown the world the power of forgiveness, said Ambassador Seiple. He noted that many perpetrators of the genocide are today living side-by-side with their victims.

According to Dr. Ganoune Diop, Secretary General of the IRLA, each presentation during the four-day event was shaped in some way by two key questions: “How can we live with our deepest differences?” And, “How can the best of religions overcome the abysmal record of religious wars, religious ethnic cleansing, and genocides fuelled by religious discrimination?”

Although the Meeting of Experts examines these questions from a scholarly perspective, the issues that drive the work of these scholars are far from abstract. “Too many people suffer discrimination, persecution, or even martyrdom or genocide because of their religious differences,” says Dr. Diop. According to a Pew Forum study released earlier this year, some 5.5 billion people—or 77 percent of the world’s population—live in countries with “a high or very high overall level of restrictions on religion.”[1]

The meeting brought together a diverse panel of scholars who represented universities and organizations from seven countries. Presenters included Dr. David Little, Professor Emeritus of Harvard Divinity School; Reverend Canon Brian Cox, Senior Vice President of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy; Professor Cole Durham, President of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies based in Milan, Italy; Professor T. Jeremy Gunn, professor of International Relations at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco; and, Dr. Amal Idrissi, law professor at the University of Moulay Ismael in Meknes, Morocco.

Over the past two decades, the Meeting of Experts has aimed to bring together some of the world's foremost scholars and practitioners in the field of religious freedom to track legal and sociological trends. Papers presented at the annual meetings are published, and have produced a significant body of academic and practical resources. The papers from this year’s Meeting of Experts will be published in the 2015 edition of Fides et Libetas, which will be available later this year from the IRLA, which can be contacted through its website at www.irla.org or its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/IRLA.HQ.

The IRLA was established by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1893 and is the world's oldest religious freedom advocacy organization. It promotes freedom of belief for all people, regardless of faith, and has non-governmental organization status at the United Nations. Along with the annual Meeting of Experts, the IRLA sponsors regional religious freedom festivals and forums, and every five years organizes a world congress, which attracts an international mix of scholars, legal practitioners, government officials and human rights advocates.

[1] For the full study, visit the Pew Forum website at www.pewforum.org/2015/02/26/religious-hostilities/

Pastor Todd Leonard Addresses Racial Justice within the Adventist Church

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Adventist pastor Todd Leonard's June 27 sermon addressed racial history in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. Leonard is pastor of the Glendale City Seventh-day Adventist Church, which is a member of the APF Peace Church network. In this sermon Leonard addresses what he sees as the need for historically white churches to stand up and work for justice in our communities and our denomination. The sermon, titled "EPIC: Moses, I See My People's Misery," can be viewed here or on YouTube.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugg6LC94ehE?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

Adventist Youth Join Demonstrations against Corruption in Honduras (ANN)

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The Adventist News Network reports that "Adventist young people took to the streets of major cities in Honduras last week to as thousands of protesters from many faiths marched against government corruption. More than 10,000 Adventists holding signs and banners marched in Tegucigalpa, the capital, as well as in La Ceiba, San Pedro Sula, and dozens of other cities" (posted on Adventist Today). There have been numerous marches recently calling for an end to political corruption. The report continues: "'Our Adventist young people gave a clear message to our Honduran population that unless citizens seriously commit to keeping all of the commandments of God, there won’t be positive changes to help the country forge ahead,' said Pastor Adan Ramos, president of the Adventist Church in Honduras. As part of the demonstration, Ramos spoke in the main squares of Tegucigalpa and La Ceiba."

Read the entire ANN article here.

Lake Union Conference Apologizes for Failures Regarding Race

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On June 20, 2015, Don Livesay, president of the Lake Union Conference, apologized for the Adventist Church's racial failings. These are excerpts from Livesay's speech: "A review of the conversations in the early to mid-1940s reveals key reasons why that major change in approach to  the ministry to the black community took place. It was seen that the mission to the black individuals in this country would be more effective with black conferences. It was seen that leadership development could progress better with black conferences. But we all know there was an additional serious factor. A simple, honest look at the segregated Church of the past: the segregated General Conference cafeteria; the Negro Department of the General Conference that was first directed by white men; the segregated hospitals that led to the death of Lucy Byard; the dismissive attitudes and actions. These and more issues were also major contributors to the establishment of Regional work."

Livesay 1"Let us recognize the Church at that time failed the black community."

"Some might attempt to excuse the behavior of the Church through those years because of the culture of society of that specific time. One could say that the white church, the white members, the white leadership, merely reflected what was going on around us, but God has not called His church to reflect the evil of the world. God has called the church to reflect His character, to treat each other in love, with the Golden Rule, in respectful ways, and to honor each other as all of God's children."

"If only our failures were just in the past.... It is clear that even [the election of President Obama] did not mean that we had arrived. Awareness of our lack of racial equality, of social justice, has been heightened as black lives have been needlessly and carelessly taken in Ferguson, New York, Baltimore, and other locations--both recently and through the years past--and now even in Charleston."

"So as we celebrate 70 years of the Lake Region, the progress, the mission, the tens of thousands of people brought to the Lord who may not have ever heard the message, children educated, the expansion of the message and mission of God's remnant people, I come to you with my fellow officers of the Lake Union with a heart that compels us to not only bring our joy and the success of the Lake Region, but also to bring a personal and an official apology to our brothers and our sisters of the Lake Region Conference on behalf of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Lake Union."

"We apologize with sorrow for the failures of the Church in regard to race, for individuals disrespected, for lack of time taken to understand, for the mistreated, for the leadership marginalized, and for students of our college who were only able to sit with black students in the cafeteria, for Lucy Byard, and for the slowness, reluctance, and the stubbornness to do the right thing. We are sorry that we as a Church did not rise above the sins of society that day, and we are sorry for the lack of progress our church has made in the last 70 years."

"Our apology is from our hearts, but we recognize an apology is not enough. We are also committed to seek deeper, more meaningful understanding of each other, more sensitive approaches, more inclusive and stronger partnerships that will make us more united as God's people and for His cause that we may come closer together, march together, arm-in-arm...now and then someday together into the Holy city to spend eternity with our God and with each other."

Livesay's complete speech can be viewed here. Clifford Jones, president of the Lake Region Conference, responded to the apology:

Jones 2"On this historic occasion, in the wake of what took place this week in South Carolina--the fact that we were all shocked, shaken, and shattered by these senseless killings of innocent brothers and sisters who were simply aspiring to dig deeper into the word of God only to have their lives senselessly snuffed out--we want to thank our Union president for his courage, for looking at the history of our people in this church, God's remnant church, and for offering this heartfelt and meaningful apology."

"Mr. President, on behalf of the officers...and on behalf of the constituency of the Lake Region Conference, I'd like to say that we accept your apology."

"And as you stated, an apology is good, but let's work aggressively and vigorously and intentionally now to eliminate this scourge of racism that is so prevalent and pervasive in our land, yay even in our church. Let's work to that end."

The apology and response can be viewed on Vimeo.

Guess Who is Coming to Church, Now?

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By Dr. Mark A. McCleary, Pastor and Adventist Peace Fellowship Advisory Board Member I'm deeply saddened by this tragedy (Charleston, SC), but also tragically not surprised. The evil spirit that has permeated the minds of "these folk" affirms Revelation's prediction: "[America] has become the hold of every foul and evil bird." Such villainy justifies the punditry of Elijah Muhammad who called them devils. The recent spate of police v. young Black male murders have aggravated old wounds within our community of White on Black brutality. However, the perpetrators, via media (i.e. O' Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh) will not articulate nor are they sensitive to our pain and plight. Many of our own folk have elected to puppet the post-racial discourse, "I don't see color." That's a lie or at least an act of psychological denial and inhibition. To not see color is to not see reality or respect my true ontology. The real issue is whenever or whomever you see, treat them with respect and dignity— Shu/reciprocity/The Golden Rule or as MLK Jr eloquently stated, "...be judged by their character not by the color of their skin."

In the last few days, we have two White murderers who have been helped by a White female to escape prison and are still objects of a nationwide manhunt as I write this. Now we have a skinned-head, Aryan-type White young man who reminds me of Columbine, CO, mowing down helpless church folk inside a church during Prayer Meeting. What vicious inhumanity is this for Satan to move this possessed fellow to sit for an hour then open fire on unarmed Christians? This is why Black Muslims, non-Christians, and Afrocentrists point the finger at the hypocrisy of Americans who promote the propaganda of "This is a Christian nation." Paul said, "If they speak any other gospel, get away from them." It's time for White Christianity to speak out loud and long that this is unacceptable. When Blacks do something, the media will post it almost 24-7. The hideousness of this perpetrator, I hope, gets appropriate coverage, and I trust the justice system will reinforce that liberty and justice is for all people—the living and the dead. Furthermore, I pray that justice will roll down like water and righteousness as a mighty stream in this desert of America.

I am shouting at the White preachers, especially those centered around and among these entrenched pro-Aryan hideouts. "Stop being silent when you know these cowards lurk within your community." Dietrich Bonhoeffer indicted German Christians for what happened to the Jews because of their winking and nodding at Nazi violence against German Jews. Their example of not being their brother's keeper yields nominal and historic silence as well as tacit approval for these heartless punks to sneak up on unsuspecting folk without being called to account by community stakeholders. I'm waiting to hear some proactive response form my SDA leadership, but history says, we won't pray for newly elected President Obama in a 2008 NAD morning worship, we'll continue to be late to every urban tragedy since Emmitt Till. We, historically, have sought to be politically correct and socially agreeable. So I'm starting to speak here. I'm sending this to every outlet (i.e., SDA News, Spectrum, Facebook) and beyond. I am motivated to standup and say something that is helpful in a timely fashion.

Instead of AU students holding a forum on the relevance of Regional [Black] Conferences, or SDA's struggling over the Biblical validity of Women's ordination, a voice must be heard that challenges the spirit of White supremacy that holds our church community in its spell. Before I be a slave, I will speak out and speak up. RIP to my brothers and sisters who died on the battle field in SC yesterday night. They fought a good fight, they stood for the right, and justice will pronounce them victors one day. Free at last, Free at last, thank God almighty, we'll be free at last one day.

In His service,

Pastor Dr. Mark A. McCleary

Adventist and Muslim Activists Promote Faith-based Engagement

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Geoffrey Nelson-Blake (an Adventist minister and the director of interfaith Community Organizing Residency at Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice) and Sarah Jawaid (a Muslim community organizer) recently co-authored a Huffington Post article on the role of faith in social action--"Faith in Our Streets." The authors note what they believe are deficiencies in the Pew Research Center's recent report on America's diminishing religiosity. They report routinely encountering people "experiencing their faith outside the walls of a church, synagogue, or mosque. It's harder to quantify the role faith plays for people expressing their values through fighting for justice, but it's an important piece of the current puzzle of faith in America that we won't find in the Pew study."

To back up their claims, Geoff and Sarah present stories of social action.

Last fall, faith leaders joined ranks with peaceful protesters in Ferguson to demand justice for black lives and capture the stories of heartbreak and hope lost in the news. This past Hanukkah, Jews and Muslims demonstrated together in New York City to decry police brutality. An interfaith rally led by Pastor Jamal Bryant united the Baltimore faith community in hopes of healing after the death of Freddie Grey in police custody. These voices made an impact and the other week, President Obama announced banning military-grade weapons at local police departments.

The authors conclude by pointing out two expressions of faith-based activism--one that divides and one that unites. They share:

Too many people associate faith activism with those who abuse faith language to promote exclusionary and regressive policies. We saw that recently in the language used to promote Indiana's so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which promoted discrimination against the LGBT community. People in power often abuse faith to divide and keep communities separate from one another. However, as the American landscape of faith becomes more diverse -- racially, ethnically, and religiously -- we can expect to see more diversity in how faith is expressed and the impact it has -- personally, communally, and in our streets.

The entire article can be read here: "Faith in Our Streets" (Nelson-Blake and Jawaid, Huffington Post, June 2, 2015).

Featured Image Credit: By Fibonacci Blue from Minnesota, USA [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Anaheim Adventist Church Marks Memorial Day

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To commemorate Adventist Peace Sabbath, Dr. Jeff Gang, DMin., pastor for the Anaheim Seventh-day Adventist Church, gave a presentation on F.M. Wilcox’s seminal book Seventh-day Adventists in Time of War (R&H: 1936). Dr. Zane Yi, PhD., assistant professor in the School of Religion at Loma Linda University, preached in the main worship service. Yi's sermon can be heard on SoundCloud. Before he spoke, the congregation viewed this video by Rachel Held Evans.