This page lists our reports and commentary from all of December, 2007

For an index to all our reports from the
Witherspoon conference on global mission and justice >>

And for all our reports
from the Ghost Ranch Week of Peace >>

The New York Times, in a report on the struggle of Florida farmworkers for fair wages, features the role of religious groups, and specifically that of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

The report begins: 

In a colorful, often clamorous pressure campaign that has relied on support from college campuses and church groups, a group of farmworkers has persuaded McDonald’s and Taco Bell to have their tomato suppliers pay their pickers more.

But the workers’ efforts have recently collided with two big obstacles. Burger King has rejected the demands to have its tomato suppliers pay higher wages, and the main group of Florida tomato growers — calling the farmworkers’ tactics “un-American” — has threatened a $100,000 fine against growers that cooperate with McDonald’s or Yum Brands, the parent of Taco Bell, to pay their pickers more.

The only way you can describe this industry is the way it was described 40 years ago: It’s a harvest of shame,” said Lucas Benitez, a co-founder of the farmworkers’ group, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. “The wages are so low that a lot of workers are just surviving.

The closing paragraphs: 

But the Rev. Noelle Damico, national coordinator of the Campaign for Fair Food for the Presbyterian Church, said the church planned to continue putting pressure on Burger King and the Tomato Growers Exchange to increase wages.

“For years we’ve provided charity to farmworkers in South Florida, and we started asking, ‘Why are farmworkers who work six days a week and often 10 or 12 hours a day still needing help from charity?’” she said.“We saw that something was very wrong.”

The full story >>

The Evangelical Rebellion 

Chris Hedges, who graduated from Harvard Divinity School and is the author of American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, analyzes the rise of Mike Huckabee’s standing in the Republican primary campaign as showing “a seismic shift in the tactics, ideology and direction of the radical Christian right.”

He continues:

Huckabee may stumble and falter in later primaries, but his right-wing Christian populism is here to stay. Huckabee represents a new and potent force in American politics, and the neocons and corporate elite, who once viewed the yahoos of the Christian right as the useful idiots, are now confronted with the fact that they themselves are the ones who have been taken for a ride. Members of the Christian right, recruited into the Republican Party and manipulated to vote against their own interests around the issues of abortion and family values, are in rebellion. They are taking the party into new, uncharted territory. And they presage, especially with looming economic turmoil, the rise of a mass movement that could demolish what is left of American democracy and set the stage for a Christian fascism.

Jewish Voice for Peace: No Holiday in Gaza

The news round Israel and Palestine has been relatively quiet of late. In the aftermath of Annapolis, little has changed, and, if one scans the mainstream media, one might think that little is really happening since the conference. But in the Gaza Strip, much has been changing as the suffering there is intensifying. Yet we hear very little about it.

While Israel has been openly speaking of and planning a large-scale invasion of Gaza for months now, the current thinking in the government and the military is leaning toward avoiding such a step. Unfortunately, this sounds a lot better than it is. Instead of invading Gaza, Israel is stepping up its military incursions and air strikes in the Strip. The reason given for this is the ongoing mortar and missile fire coming from Gaza at Israeli towns nearby. Indeed, the residents of Sderot, a working-class town near Gaza, have been witness to constant rocket fire. The obvious fact that Israeli incursions and attacks in Gaza have been going on all this time and the fire at Sderot continues would seem, however, to contradict the Israeli government's statements that their attacks on Gaza are aimed at preventing the rocket and mortar fire across the border.

At its Stated Meeting September 18, 2007, the Heartland Presbytery passed an overture calling for the restoration of the PC(USA) Office of Environmental Justice.

White Liberals Have White Privilege Too!

Alex Jung, an editorial intern at AlterNet, and an Asian-American, explores a reality many of us would like to ignore. He begins:

It often seems that the only way liberals can talk about race is to encircle the "racists" and point at them -- either for a laugh or a morality tale. The former is one of the many tricks that faux news personality Stephen Colbert employs in his caricature of a conservative. His racist schtick makes fun of racists, and there's a comfortable distance between the satire and the show's mostly liberal viewers. The critique goes down easy because it represents something the viewer isn't.

On the other hand, the website www.blackpeopleloveus.com, featuring a liberal white couple, Johnny and Sally, enters murkier territory. Well-intentioned Johnny and Sally hang out with their black friends, who, as the namesake indicates, love them. Part of the site's subversion -- and subsequent confusion -- comes from the fact that its humor is not so separate from liberal Americana. ...

At these satires' roots is a distinction between challenging a Don Imus-type racism and the investment in something called white privilege. In the 1980s, a white feminist, Peggy McIntosh, came up with the metaphor of an "invisible knapsack" to analyze white privilege. It's unconscious, elusive, pervasive, and white liberals have as much of it as white conservatives do. McIntosh listed some ways she has white privilege. Her list ranges from the broad: "I can, if I wish, arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time," to the supposedly trivial: "I can choose ... bandages in 'flesh' color and have them more or less match my skin."

The full essay >>

Comments?
Please send a note,
to be shared here!

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom God favors!

Luke 2:13-14

This update memo includes links to information on:

The Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA) is seeking nominations for four ministry awards that will be celebrated during the social welfare ministries group’s reception at the 218th General Assembly in San Jose, CA, next June.

The groups offering awards are Presbyterians for Addiction Action (PAA), the Presbyterian Association for Community Transformation (PACT), Presbyterians for Disability Concerns (PDC), and the Presbyterian Serious Mental Illness Network (PSMIN).

Deadline for nominations is Feb. 15, 2008. Nominations must include the name of person/congregation being nominated, the contact person for the nominee with addresses and phone numbers for both, and a two page description of the ministry, including why they are deserving of this recognition.

Nominations should be mailed to: PHEWA, 100 Witherspoon St., Rm. 3226, Louisville, KY 40202-1396.

Pope condemns the “climate change prophets of doom”

The London Daily Mail reported on December 12 that Pope Benedict XVI “launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.” His comments were prepared for delivery on World Peace Day on January 1, but they were released as delegates gathered on the Indonesian island of Bali for UN climate change talks.

In this message, entitled "The Human Family, A Community of Peace," Pope Benedict says that "Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow," and he adds: "It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances.”

The Daily Mail reporter adds: “His remarks reveal that while the Pope acknowledges that problems may be associated with unbridled development and climate change, he believes the case against global warming to be over-hyped.”

Read the full article >>

From the Orthodox Church: a more pro-creation stance

Witherspoon Issues Analyst Gene TeSelle notes that the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Bartholomew of Constantinople, addressed the same issue out of the Orthodox theological appreciation of creation. He issued an Encyclical in September, 1999, in which he proclaimed September 1 as “the annual day of prayer for the environment.” This concern for the natural world, says TeSelle, is grounded in the Orthodox faith in God's presence in the whole world – especially through incarnation – and the role of icons and the liturgy and other sensory factors in devotional life.

In addition, the document praises the Committee on the Environment of the World-wide Federation of Organizations of Engineers, which had just met in Thessalonike and proposed that a binding "Global Code of Ethics" for the environment be drafted.

Why the Democrats could lose in 2008:
Pragmatism is not enough

Faith-based progressive groups such as the Network of Spiritual Progressives and Sojourners have been developing political voices proclaiming (in the tradition of the prophets) ridiculously unpragmatic values such as justice and decency and human rights and mutual respect. Now Robert Parry, author of the new book Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq, is developing a very similar critique of the current campaigns of the Democratic Party candidates.

Voters want more than a few new (or revived) social programs, he argues. They want a clear reaffirmation of constitutional values and human rights, respect for the values of truth and accountability, and real steps toward peace.

He concludes: “More than anything, many in the Democratic base want to send a message to the Democratic leadership that –regardless of what the professional pollsters might say -- principles do matter to Americans.”

The proposed Social Creed – seen from the Right

We have reported frequently on the “Social Creed” which will be presented during the coming months in commemoration of the Social Creed adopted 100 years ago by the Federal Council of Churches. It may be helpful to pay attention to the arguments that will be leveled against it in the PC(USA) General Assembly in June of 2008, and in many other assemblies and discussions.

The Institute on Religion and Democracy has not set forth just such a critique, and we encourage you to take a look at it and note the main lines of attack.

Torture, Terror and Security:
Theological Considerations for Tomorrow's Leaders

February 3-5, 2008, Columbia Seminary, Atlanta, GA

No2Torture, the Peacemaking Program, the Peace Fellowship and three seminaries (Columbia, Princeton and Fuller) are co-sponsoring this exciting event, inviting all academically connected Presbyterians – faculty, students, chaplains – to join this conversation, aiming to “share our best thinking about how to equip ourselves and others to be faithful in these times.” 

Brief presentations will catalyze our thoughts, worship will sustain us, and considerable time will be given to working with others doing this work from across the country.  Presenters include: Hassan al Menyawi, visiting faculty Davidson College, Muslim cleric and torture survivor; Scott Horton, human rights attorney and columnist for Harper's magazine; and George Hunsinger, Professor of Systematic Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary.  Others soon to be announced. 

The costs have been kept to a bare bones minimum and some funds to help with student travel. 

Documentary explores scripture and homosexuality, while also telling five families’ journeys of faith

We have reported before on the new film For the Bible Tells Me So, which was shown at the Covenant Network of Presbyterians’ conference in Atlanta. It is now being released more widely around the country, and Presbyterian News Service has published a story about its production and its content.

More on Jesus and Christmas

Some Christians just say No to the whole thing

 Pastor John Foster, of the United Church of God, follows what used to be the norm for many Christians, “rejecting the celebration of Christmas on religious grounds.”

In fact, the massive celebration of Christmas that we are used to today was not the norm through much of the 19th century. “Schools and businesses remained open, Congress met in session and some churches closed their doors, lest errant worshippers try to furtively commemorate the day.”

"The whole culture didn't stop for Christmas," says Bruce Forbes, a religious studies professor at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. "Government went on as usual, business went on as usual, school went on as usual."

But family and commercial pressures have made the holiday a big deal. Meanwhile, some individuals, like Phillip Ross, an elder at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Vienna, West Virginia, know the church has historically been dubious about the holiday. But as the father of two, even though he decided as a teenager to reject Christmas, he has had to deal with the demands of his children, which have include gifts, decorations, and a tree.

"I have a love-hate relationship with Christmas," says Ross. "It seems obvious to me that there's nothing scriptural about it, but that's a hard sell with children."

Christian "ex-gay" movement grows, brainwashing thousands

In a lengthy survey of various programs claiming to “cure” homosexuals, Casey Sanchez begins by looking at “Love in Action” in Memphis, Tenn. But he views it in the wider context of some 200 similar programs around the country, and says:

Today, Love in Action is part of a booming phenomenon that is also known as the "sexual reorientation therapy" movement, an effort that is reflected in the hundreds of programs attached to religious organizations across the United States. Although the stated aim of the movement is to turn gays straight and bring them to God, it actually now has as much to do with battling the gay rights movement by trying to prove that sexuality is not an immutable characteristic like race or gender. Ex-gay ministries began as redoubts for men and women trying to reconcile their faith and sexuality. But in the hands of the anti-gay Christian Right, they have become full-fledged propaganda machines depicting gays as sex-addicted, mentally ill, and stunted heterosexuals.

Jesus sends a letter about Christmas

This has been circulating on the Internet for at least a year, but if you haven’t seen it, we have it here.

For what seems to be an earlier version of Jesus’ letter, a lament that “they’re leaving me out of Christmas,” here’s one sample >>

"You Can't Steal My Christmas"

Dear Children,

It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival. Although I do appreciate being remembered anytime.

An Overdose of Public Piety

Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer criticizes what he considers the excessive use of religious rhetoric in the current campaigns, noting that “there's nothing wrong with having a spirited debate on the place of religion in politics. But the candidates are confusing two arguments. The first, which conservatives are winning, is defending the legitimacy of religion in the public square. The second, which conservatives are bound to lose, is proclaiming the privileged status of religion in political life.”

He begins:

Mitt Romney declares, "Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone." Barack Obama opens his speech at his South Carolina Oprah rally with "Giving all praise and honor to God. Look at the day that the Lord has made." Mike Huckabee explains his surge in the polls thus: "There's only one explanation for it, and it's not a human one. It's the same power that helped a little boy with two fish and five loaves feed a crowd of 5,000 people."

This campaign is knee-deep in religion, and it's only going to get worse. I'd thought that the limits of professed public piety had already been achieved during the Republican CNN-YouTube debate when some squirrelly looking guy held up a Bible and asked, "Do you believe every word of this book?" – and not one candidate dared reply: None of your damn business.

Celebrity worship is a threat to evangelicalism

The celebrity worship prevalent in evangelicalism poses great risk to the soul, says columnist William McKenzie, and it can lead a movement off track.

He begins:

If you spend any time within evangelicalism, you hear people speak in reverential tones about the pastor at this church, the seminar led by this speaker or the book by this author. It's easy to feel as if you need to hear that speaker, attend that church or read that writer to establish your credentials as a believer.

He sees this focus on persons as a real threat to the integrity of the evangelical churches, and bases his argument on a recent book by Frank Schaeffer entitled Crazy for God. The book details the story of his father, Francis Schaeffer, who “ran L'Abri Fellowship in Switzerland, where he attempted to give an evangelical response to the day's counterculturalism.” Francis Schaeffer was one of the pioneers of modern evangelicalism, and himself became “a worshipped figure,” and that, argues Frank Schaeffer, led to the “evangelical icon worship” that grew up around such leaders as Pat Robertson, James Dobson, James Robison and Jerry Falwell. And these charismatic leaders, he goes on, were the shepherds “led the sheep directly into the Republican Party.”

McKenzie agrees with Frank Schaeffer when he says: "Big-time American Christianity is incompatible with the Gospel. It is part of the entertainment business. No matter what you think you are doing, you are really just another celebrity in a celebrity-obsessed culture." 

The full article, in the Dallas Morning News >>

New Fair Trade Web site launched

Cyber-marketplace hopes to boost sales and wages of Peruvian artisans

Presbyterian News Service reports that a non-profit organization related to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has launched a Fair Trade Web site aimed at helping disadvantaged Peruvian artisans find a new marketplace for their goods and earn a sustainable wage in return. 

The Partners for Just Trade (PJT) Web site makes it easy to purchase Peruvian handcrafts and other products online and educates consumers about the meaning of fair and just trade.

PJT is a proponent of Fair Trade — a model of international commerce that ensures farmers and workers in developing countries receive a just price for their products, which helps them compete in the global marketplace and promote development in their financially strapped communities.

Urgent -- House may vote today (Dec. 12) on torture

This message comes to us from the National Religious Campaign Against Torture

NRCAT has just learned that the House may be voting as early as tomorrow, Wednesday, December 12, on legislation -- the Intelligence Authorization Bill -- that includes a provision that is very important to our goal.

The provision would require all federal agencies -- including the CIA -- to abide by the requirements of the Army Field Manual on Interrogations.  The Army Field Manual does not allow torture (including waterboarding) or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.   The President has threatened to veto the bill because of this provision.

Please email or call your Representative; urge them to SUPPORT THE ARMY FIELD MANUAL PROVISION IN THE INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION CONFERENCE REPORT and let them know how important passage of this provision is to you and to our country.  You can reach your Representative by calling the House Switchboard at (202) 225-3121.  Alternatively, you can click here to look up your Members' direct lines and email addresses at by entering your zip code and then clicking on the names of your Members.

For your information: NRCAT recently sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey to ask him to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate the destruction of the CIA interrogation videotapes.

Thank you for your help and your commitment to end torture.

Sincerely,

Linda Gustitus, President
Rich Killmer, Executive Director

Shopocalypse now

The real enemy of Christmas is the mall

Looking for a clear and accessible critique of the marketization of Christmas?

Here’s one nice bit a material to ponder, partly because the author, Rod Dreher of the Dallas Morning News, offers a few well-aimed barbs at both the Left and the Right.

He begins:

If it's December, it must be time for that recent American holiday tradition, the Christmas Wars, in which secular Puritans and politically correct fellow travelers set out to take the Christ out of Christmas, while simultaneously providing conservative talk radio and TV hosts with plenty of material. Ho-ho-hum.

To be sure, as exploitative as the right-wing outrage sometimes is, it really is appalling to have to endure the pettiness of the American Civil Liberties Union and sundry village atheists, who seem deathly afraid that somebody somewhere might have some theistically inclined fun this time of year. That said, I can't recall an actual ACLU lawsuit or politically correct blue-nosery interfering with my celebration of the holiday. Can you?

The whole essay >>

A new affirmation of the call to care for God’s creation

Al Gore and chairman of scientists’ panel gave important statements in receiving the Nobel Peace Prize

You may want to see the full texts of these important statements.

To see Gore’s address:

For R. K. Pachauri’s address

What might we do with this material to extend its effect?  Here's a suggestion from one friend: 

I am forwarding this message to my entire address book and urging you to insist that your elected representatives and favorite presidential candidate do the difficult and right thing in the months and years ahead to save the planet for human life.

Joseph P. Hoar and David M. Maddox, two retired generals, write in Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, “Our group is not a formal one, but we have come together because we believe that national policies governing treatment of detainees in counterterrorism operations have placed American military personnel at increased risk, undermined U.S. intelligence gathering efforts, and stained the reputation of the United States around the world.”

Why speak out against the Institute on Religion and Democracy?

Steven D. Martin , who recently produced a short, critical film about IRD with the title, Renewal or Ruin?, has posted the first in a series of very personal statements about the reasons for his concern about IRD.

He opens:

I begin with an apology. I am one of those people who stays in the background, consuming the pearls that appear on this site, but rarely contributing. I've decided that it is time for me to jump into the game. I will, God willing, contribute regularly to Talk To Action about a subject that I'd rather not talk about, but must.

I tend to want to stay in a state of blissful ignorance: that's why when people started sounding alarm bells some years ago about the Institute on Religion and Democracy, I didn't pay much attention. Something so sinister either must be either an illusion conjured up by alarmists, or must operate on such a high level as to not affect me as I work in the trenches of pastoral ministry. My denial changed at Annual Conference in June of 2006.

Form of Government Task Force revises documents based on denomination-wide comments

Separate recommendations will address Chapters 1-4 and the rest of The Book of Order

From Presbyterian News Service --

Based largely on denomination-wide feedback, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Form of Government Task Force (FOGTF) has voted to present the two key parts of its work to the 218th General Assembly (GA) in separate recommendations.

The nine-member task force, charged by the 217th General Assembly (2006) with reorganizing the denomination’s Form of Government, voted during a meeting here Nov. 29-Dec.1 to recommend that the Book of Order:

be amended by striking the text of Chapters I-IV of the current “Form of Government” and inserting a new section entitled, “Foundations of Presbyterian Polity,” and

be amended by striking the text of Chapters V-XVIII of the current “Form of Government” and inserting a new “Form of Government.”

The documents are already posted on the Web:

"The sad reality is that many children born in minority communities today are ... on a 'cradle to prison pipeline'. When we see how simple it is to get them on a 'cradle to college pipeline', it is tragic, and much more costly to society, economically and socially if we don't do so." – Episcopal Congressman Robert Scott (D-VA)

The United States has the largest prison population in the world – 2.2 million in state and federal prisons and millions more in local jails. Incarceration without effective re-entry programs is inhumane for the prisoner, unsafe for communities, and expensive to the taxpayer. According to recent testimony before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, prison costs are estimated at $200 billion each year.

S. 1060, the Second Chance Act of 2007, which passed the House this Fall by an overwhelming vote of 347-62, would invest in prisoner reentry programs that have helped released prisoners learn how to lead productive lives and reduced the likelihood that they will return to prison. More and more states are trying this approach, but they need federal assistance. Your voice is needed to urge the Senate to take up this important piece of legislation.

Diversified Theological Education: Equipping All God’s People, edited by Ross Kinsler

Ross Kinsler is a Witherspoon member, has been a participant in some of the Ghost Ranch Seminars co-sponsored by the Witherspoon Society and the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, and has provided good material for this website before.  Click here for Ross and his wife Gloria's thoughts on the Biblical principle of Jubilee in relation to the increasingly globalized economy.

The central concern of Diversified Theological Education, which includes Theological Education by Extension, is access. TEE and DTE models have made enormous progress in the urgent task of opening access to and equipping all God's people for ministry and mission. This has many interrelated dimensions: Geographical, economic, cultural, ecclesiastical, gender, race, class, pedagogical, and spiritual access. The case studies in this anthology come from Zambia, South Africa, Ghana, India, Nepal, Australia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Guatemala, Canada, United States, and Russia.

March on Burger King -- an update

The Rev. Noelle Damico, who staffs the PC(USA) Campaign for Fair Food, provides more news from the Miami action last Friday:

This past Friday, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers led over 1,500 people in a powerful, peaceful march on Burger King. Presbyterians were prominent throughout the event.  More >>

Also, as part of an apparently concerted attack on the farmworkers' movement, the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange issued a statement charging that "CIW is using today's march in Miami to mislead the public about Florida's tomato industry in a desperate attempt to pressure Burger King into adopting a 'penny-per-pound' deal that does not exist. There is no such arrangement in effect between producers and fast-food companies, which continue to buy Florida tomatoes."

A little observation from your WebWeaver:

In solidarity with the large demonstration against WHINSEC (Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) at Fort Benning, Georgia, Rick Ufford-Chase, director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, mustered a group of volunteers who put together a two-day event on 17 and 18 November that gathered protesters from all over the southwestern United States.

Tucson is only about 80 miles from the border with Mexico. It was here that Rev. John Fife, a Presbyterian minister, and Jim Corbett, a Quaker, founded the Sanctuary Movement to aid refugees fleeing torture and persecution at the hands of dictatorships backed by the United States. Moreover, the U.S. army’s intelligence school is located at Fort Huachuca in the town of Sierra Vista, an hour’s drive southeast of Tucson. The intelligence school trains the “interrogators” who go, among other places, to WHINSEC. Tucson, therefore, is an ideal place for an education about immigration and torture.

The Fall 2007 issue of the Witherspoon newsletter is here.  It features reports from the Witherspoon conference on "Becoming Neighbors" -- a conference on global mission justice.  You'll find most of the material -- and more -- in our online reports.  But now you'll have it in print as well. 

We just received a very helpful listing of resources for the First Sunday of Advent -- and for all of Advent -- from the Rev. Bruce Gillette. 

Presbyterians join with Coalition of Immokalee Workers in march on Burger King

Presbyterians from Florida and across the country joined hundreds of farmworkers and their supporters in a peaceful march on Burger King headquarters in Miami Friday, November 30. Marchers demanded that the fast-food giant join McDonald’s and Yum! Brands in working with farmworkers to improve wages and working conditions for tomato pickers.

Immokalee leader addresses shareholders

As shareholders arrived at Burger King’s annual meeting on Thursday, Nov. 29, they were greeted with a large banner that read “Burger King Exploits Farmworkers.” Meanwhile, inside the meeting Lucas Benitez, a farmworker and one of the founders of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, addressed the shareholders during their open question portion of the meeting (which is required of all public companies by the S.E.C.). Read Lucas’ address.

New York Times op-ed writer calls the action of Burger King, in concert with the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, “penny foolish.”

The two groups are acting to undo the penny-a-pound raise for tomato pickers, which the CIW has won Taco Bell and McDonald’s over recent months. The author, Eric Schlosser, concludes:

Telling Burger King to pay an extra penny for tomatoes and provide a decent wage to migrant workers would hardly bankrupt the company. Indeed, it would cost Burger King only $250,000 a year. At Goldman Sachs [one of three private equity firms that control most of Burger King’s stock] that sort of money shouldn’t be too hard to find. In 2006, the bonuses of the top 12 Goldman Sachs executives exceeded $200 million — more than twice as much money as all of the roughly 10,000 tomato pickers in southern Florida earned that year. Now Mr. Blankfein should find a way to share some of his company’s good fortune with the workers at the bottom of the food chain.

Read Schlosser’s column >>

For more background on this campaign against justice >>

And whadda ya know – The Institute for Religion and Democracy is joining in on the attack!

Director of Presbyterian Action (part of IRD) Jim Berkley offers the lead quote: “That the Presbyterian Church actually discharged many missionaries in 2004 at the same time it hired a labor activist to promote this action is a travesty.”

Were you in Miami for the action on Thursday?
Do you have thoughts about this struggle for justice, and the resistance it has aroused?
Just send a note, to be shared here!

For an index to all our reports from the
Witherspoon conference on global mission and justice >>

And for all our reports
from the Ghost Ranch Week of Peace >>

A major
Ghost Ranch event this summer!

July 28 - August 3, 2008

Paths toward Peace and Justice:
Spirituality, Earth-Care, and the Prophetic Word in a time of Violence

More info >>

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