Displaying items by tag: USA

North Carolina Baptists on Mission and the North Carolina conference of the United Methodist Church have made a name for themselves during previous hurricanes and disasters by feeding people, clearing debris, gutting uninhabitable homes and rebuilding them. On 12 September, in preparation for Hurricane Florence, they were deciding how to deploy their volunteer armies and equipment. ‘God has opened a lot of doors and given us a lot of opportunity,’ said the Baptists. ‘We are thankful for that. We want to glorify God if we have opportunities to, and we’re looking for the best way to do that right now.’

Most Israeli Jews believe in God. The US is the most God-fearing country in the West. The figures for faith in God are almost identical for the two nations, leaving other ‘Christian’ countries far behind. At a time when Jewish settlers and evangelical Christians appear to run foreign policies in both Jerusalem and Washington, it is hard to escape the conclusion that religion has a pivotal role in the special relationship between them. Also the tense political relations between Israel and the EU and between the EU and Washington are defined by religious beliefs. Israelis and Americans view Europe as godless and decadent, while Brussels believes Israel and the USA are drifting into fundamentalist crazy-land. These specifics come from a recent poll by the Dialogue Institute that surmised, ‘Religious beliefs are also a reliable marker for political views’.

Donald Trump's former personal attorney and ‘fixer’ pleaded guilty to eight felony counts, including two that implicate President Trump and Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman who was found guilty on eight counts in a separate case. Meanwhile Trump is tweeting repeatedly that the campaign finance regulations Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to are not crimes. We can pray for America’s president and all who hold positions of authority and influence in government to be men and women who walk in righteousness, integrity, wisdom and truth. May any who are dishonest or irrational be removed from their positions of power. See

Police in Chicago have asked for more help to combat gun violence after over sixty people were shot in one weekend. More than thirty were gunned down during just one three-hour period on Sunday. Police said most shootings were gang-related. Donovan Price, a pastor and emergency administrator, said, ‘This is just out of control. It's a war zone going on right now. Chicago is just crazy.’ But in a country where it is easier to buy a gun than spray paint and there are nearly as many guns as people, not everyone wants stricter gun controls. President Trump has repeatedly vowed to intervene in Chicago, where law-enforcement officers have struggled with intractable violence problems. Pray for Trump to release enough federal help for control to be more successful.

The Christian relatives of Richard Russell say they are ‘stunned and heartbroken’ after the airline worker stole a passenger plane from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on 10 August, and was killed when he crashed 25 miles away. The FBI is leading an investigation, and President Trump was briefed on the incident, and tweeted his comments. The family said, ‘This is a complete shock to us. We are devastated by these events, and Jesus is truly the only one holding this family together right now.’ We can pray that their testimony of God’s favour in times of trouble receives as much media discussion as the terrible event.

Less than three months after winning a Supreme Court case backing his religious freedom of expression, Colorado Christian cake artist Jack Phillips is facing yet another battle. A new complaint was recently filed against him after an attorney asked him to make a cake pink on the inside and blue on the outside, representing a transition from male to female, to celebrate a gender transition. Phillips declined to make the cake, because of his religious beliefs. On 15 August attorneys representing him and his Masterpiece Cakeshop filed a lawsuit to fight this new complaint, which they said constituted a ‘doubling down of anti-religious hostility’ by Colorado officials. They said, ‘Colorado is ignoring the message of the US Supreme Court by continuing to single out Jack for punishment and to exhibit hostility toward his religious beliefs.’

Jamie Carlton posted a video on Facebook showing three children - Haylie, 13, brother Reagan, 6, and their friend Ashley - returning a wallet containing $700 to its rightful owner. The kids are heard saying, ‘We found your wallet outside your car and we just thought we would give it back to you’. One of them hides it by the door and says, ‘I'm going to put it over here so no one takes any money’. When the children were contacted, Haylie said that they thought it would be a good thing to do because they really didn't need the money. Jamie said, ‘This happened at my house in Aurora, Colorado. If this doesn't renew or at least refresh your faith in humanity, you need help.’

On 6 July we prayed for those fighting 70 wildfires across California, Colorado, and eastern Canada. By 2 August the California fires had reached ‘uncharted territory’ in what has become an endless summer of flame. Over 1,000 homes were torched in just one of the enormous wildfires that have scorched 320,000 acres, killed, maimed and left whole communities homeless. Pray for those in small close communities struggling to provide disaster relief efforts while also being directly impacted by the disaster themselves. Pray for good communication and networking between churches and aid agencies and those needing shelter, household supplies, food and clothing. Pray for families sheltering in churches, schools, community buildings, etc. after evacuating their homes, who have no idea when they will be able to return home, or if they even still have a home to go to. Pray for communities in shock after fire damage, and for others watching fires advance.

The USA has the greatest inequalities, highest mortality rate, most regressive taxes, and largest public subsidies for bankers and billionaires of any developed capitalist country. According to the IRS, billionaire tax evasion amounts to $458 billion dollars in lost public revenues annually. Corporations sheltered over $2.5 trillion dollars in overseas tax havens and they paid no taxes. Bankers earned billions in profits from mortgage foreclosures of working class households through ‘favourable’ legal rulings. Over 20 million individuals lost their properties due to illegal or fraudulent debts. Silicon Valley’s billionaires pay manual and service workers poverty level wages. Class inequalities are reinforced by ethnic divisions. White, Chinese and Indian multi-millionaires exploit Afro-American, Latin American, Vietnamese and Filipino workers. Inequalities are a result of low wages, based on big profits, financial swindles, multi-trillion dollar public handouts and multi-billion-dollar tax evasion.

Across the US there is growth in organisations portraying Islam as a threat, in what has become known as the Islamophobia industry. It has more than tripled in two years. An Al-Jazeera investigation revealed the tactics they use to instigate a fear of Islam, including manipulating social media to create a false narrative that Muslims are trying to take over the country. Anti-Muslim messages proliferate in social media with bought-in followers, fake accounts, and robotic amplifiers. The investigation also shows how the organisations suppress the rise of a Muslim political voice in America, and uncovers how ‘dark money’ is fuelling them - tens of millions of dollars funnelled through anonymous donor funds. The report unveiled the donors of the dark money; a strategy of infiltrating US university courses and monitoring mosques; a filmed training session by an ex-FBI Agent teaching ‘theories’ about Muslims; and connections between key members of the Trump administration and the Islamophobia industry.