NT-NL Giving Public Witness to Peace and Justice: January 2012

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Each NFL Super Bowl Sunday, many people host or attend parties with

abundant food, friendship, and fellowship. At the same time, over 1
billion people around the world go hungry.

On Feb. 5, Super Bowl Sunday, please join more than 2,000 Lutheran
youth groups to do something to change all of that. Learn how to be
involved at this ELCA link. -
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?NorthernTXNorthernLA/c69ad369ab/TEST/2d3a34a75b

The Souper Bowl of Caring is a youth-led ecumenical and grassroots
movement that unites youth under a single cause: to end hunger.
Collectively, this movement raised over $10 million for
hunger-related charities in 2010. And ELCA Lutherans raised nearly
$800,000! But that's not all. Youth across the country also collected
more than 4.5 million pounds of food and provided countless hours of
service.

Please forward this email to your youth leaders and others involved
in world hunger projects. Forward this message to a friend -
http://oi.vresp.com/f2af/v4/send_to_friend.html?ch=c69ad369ab&lid=TEST&ldh=TEST

ELCA and immigration reform in support of families

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) continues to advocate for comprehensive federal immigration reform as the Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings on legislation that calls for reform. A bipartisan group of senators introduced a reform bill April 17.

[Read the full story at this link]

In anticipation of the Senate’s bill, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service sponsored a leadership summit April 14-16 that brought together 40 Lutheran leaders from across the country to Capitol Hill to support the new legislation.

“I’m proud that Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service could convene so many skilled and respected leaders at such a critical time at this year’s Lutheran Immigration Leadership Summit, as the Senate rolls out history-making immigration legislation. There’s never been a more important time for us, as Lutherans and Americans, to make our voices heard,” said Linda Hartke, president and CEO of the service.

Listen: Drug Laws That Changed How We Punish

Sharing this link in preparation for NT-NL's upcoming workshop, The New Jim Crow in Texas. Listen to NPR's news report on how US drug laws changed the way we imprison citizens.

"The United States puts more people behind bars than any other country, five times as many per capita compared with Britain or Spain.It wasn't always like this. Half a century ago, relatively few people were locked up, and those inmates generally served short sentences. But 40 years ago, New York passed strict sentencing guidelines known as the "Rockefeller drug laws" — after their champion, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller — that put even low-level criminals behind bars for decades.Those tough-on-crime policies became the new normal across the country. But a new debate is under way over the effectiveness of tough sentencing laws."