Listen to ELCA Advocacy’s “Here I Pod” for Season 2 Episode 2 with host Regina Banks as we explore FEMA Changes and Lutheran Disaster Response.
On June 27, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the new state budget for Fiscal Year 2025-26 that makes sweeping cuts to Medi-Cal access for immigrant adults as a way to offset the state’s $11.8 billion dollar budget deficit. A handful of legislators led efforts to oppose these harsh cuts with us and our work continues to urge all of our state representatives to equitably invest in and support immigrant Californians.
The budget decisions at the state and federal levels will exacerbate the harms immigrant communities are already facing in their communities. The deployment of federal immigration agents, the military and National Guard for indiscriminate raids in Southern California and the Central Coast have created fear and chaos and resulted in the kidnapping of thousands of community members.
Despite these challenges, we cannot give up! The fight for healthcare access is not over. Several groups remain committed to fighting against the Medi-Cal rollbacks and won’t stop until we win.
“For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us” (Ephesians 2:14).
In Ephesians, either Paul or his disciple invites us to see our vocations, the gifts and responsibilities entrusted to us, as holy offerings to the household of God. In this divine architecture, all are called to build the Kin(g)dom of God through mutual dignity, truth-telling, and service. The text challenges us to submit our vocational lives, be it as lawmakers, policy professionals, caregivers, or neighbors, to the self-giving love of Christ, who is our peace. Ephesians reminds us that vocation is not just, or even primarily, about personal fulfillment.Vocation ispublic discipleship. When we honor our own gifts and recognize the vocations of others as sacred, we resist the alienation and hierarchy that mark so much of our civic and political life. This is especially urgent for public servants, who often bear the emotional and physical toll of conflict and unrest. The church must continue to name their labor as sacred and stand with all who bear vocational burdens in pursuit of the common good.
This week, we grieve and condemn a series of recent violent political acts that have shaken our collective conscience. U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) was shoved, forced to the ground, and handcuffed by security after attempting to ask a question at a press conference while defending the integrity of public servants. And there was a devastating attack on Minnesota lawmakers that left State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, dead, and State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, hospitalized with serious injuries. We name these acts for what they are, political violence. We reject them with our whole hearts.
We are living through a pivotal moment in our nation’s history. The atmosphere is charged with division, fear, and escalating threats against those who serve in public life. But as Bishop Elizabeth Eaton reminded us last year, “division and violence don’t have to be our inevitable future.” Our call, as people of faith, is not to retreat but to show up with courage, love, and conviction.
Lutheran theology grounds us in a robust understanding of vocation: “Freed through the Gospel, we are to serve others through arenas of responsibility such as family, work, and community life”[1]. For those of us in the ministry of public policy, whether in Washington, Sacramento, or our own congregations, this means stepping boldly into advocacy as peacemakers, peacekeepers, and truth-tellers, even when it is costly. Political violence has no place in our shared life. We mourn those whose lives have been stolen by it, we stand with those who have been targeted by it, and we recommit ourselves to the long, faithful work of peacebuilding.
Jesus’s commandment to us to love one another as he loved us must inform our participation in the democratic process. Our faith should give us the strength to listen to our opponents when we want to denounce them, to respect those with whom we disagree, even when our instincts are to respond to fear and hate with disdain and rejection. We must have faith in ourselves and our ability to remain calm in the face of chaos, to preach love when surrounded by anger.
May we resist dehumanizing rhetoric, confess the violent tendencies within ourselves and our culture, and renew our collective courage to live as disciples of the Risen Christ, who breaks down walls and calls us to be bridge-builders, justice-seekers, and peacemakers.
In faith and fierce hope,
PAX,
Regina Q. Banks, JD
Director, Lutheran Office of Public Policy – California
[1] (Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All, p. 7)
What is CSW?
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a function commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It occurs for two weeks every year, bringing together representatives of United Nations member states and civil society organizations to further efforts for global gender equality. This year marked 30 years since the adoption of the Bejing Declaration and Platform for Action, so the focus was on analyzing the progress made in its implementation and how we can continue to move forward and work towards achieving gender equality globally.
What is the Bejing Declaration and Platform for Action?
The Bejing Declaration and Platform for Action is “the most comprehensive global policy framework and blueprint for action.”1 Specifically, it outlines the vital objectives and actions for the advancement of global gender equality in the following 12 critical areas of concern:
- Women and Poverty
- Education and Training of Women
- Women and Health
- Violence against Women
- Women and Armed Conflict
- Women and the Economy
- Women in Power and Decision-Making
- Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women
- Human Rights of Women
- Women and the Media
- Women and the Environment
- The Girl Child
Why was it important that we were there?
Churches are essential places for the formation and growth of societal and cultural norms. It does not matter how many women hold government positions or if a constitution states gender equality is the law of the land if society does not view us as equals. Especially in a time when religion is being used to further marginalize and discriminate against women, we need to be present and clear that our faith views all of God’s creations as equal. In the ELCA’s social statement on Faith, Sexism, and Justice: A Call to Action, the church acknowledges how “Misuses, misunderstandings, and the limitations of translations have led to and still reinforce beliefs and actions that devalue women and girls.”2 The Church’s recognition of this injustice and inequality on the basis of gender and sex calls on us to “Seek and encourage faithful dialogue, discernment, and, when possible, joint action on issues of patriarchy and sexism with other members of the body of Christ and with partners of other religions and worldviews.”3
Personal Reflections
Attending the 69th Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations was a remarkable and educational experience. It was inspiring to see the progress made in the 30 years since the unanimous adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action by 189 countries. However, per the United Nations’ 2024 Global Gender Gap Report, no country has reached full gender equality, and it will take over 100 years to reach it at current rates. While it is important to acknowledge all the advancements that have been made, it was hard not to be frustrated and disheartened by all the work that is still needed, especially when it feels like we are regressing. Throughout the week, women from around the world recounted their experiences of surviving gender-based violence, the continuation of child marriage, and the lack of equal access to education and health care.
One concept I repeatedly heard throughout the week is that equality is not a gift given from the top; it is a right fought for from the bottom. While I know there is still a long road ahead, I have faith that, as Lutherans, we will continue to show up and work towards an equitable and just world in God’s image.
- United Nations Women, Platform for Action (New York: United Nations Women, 1995), 7, https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/CSW/PFA_E_Final_WEB.pdf. ↩︎
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Faith, Sexism, Justice: A Call to Action (Chicago: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, August 9, 2019), 18, https://elcamediaresources.blob.core.windows.net/cdn/wp-content/uploads/Faith_Sexism_Justice_Social_Statement_Adopted.pdf. ↩︎
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Faith, Sexism, Justice: A Call to Action, 9. ↩︎
Categories
AIQ News: 2/12/24
On February 12th, we held a special hour-long session of AIQ that focused on the impacts of Executive Orders and funding freezes on social, health, and human services in California. The recording of our session will be shared at noon on Friday. In the meantime, we would like to provide resources that explain the potential impacts on Californians.
On January 10th Governor Newsom released his proposed budget for the State of California. It is important to note that this is the first iteration of the budget, it will be revised in May before a final version is passed this summer. Click here to read the proposed budget in its entirety.
To further understand the proposal and learn more about its expected impacts and shortfalls, click here to read the California Budget and Policy Center’s report.
As we head into a new Legislative Session, we want to highlight all of the bills we followed last year that were signed into law.
Categories
Voting Faithfully
A Video Guide to the 2024 California Ballot Propositions, available in English or Spanish!
Here is a link to a video recording of last night’s event on our YouTube Channel. A Guide to the 2024 California Ballot Propositions or Guía para el votante de la medida electoral de noviembre de 2024. Please share with others.
These recommendations by the Policy Council of the Lutheran Office of Public Policy-California are made within the framework of the principles, values, and commitments of ELCA Social Statements and Social Messages. Voter Guide
Bills are moving quickly through policy committees as we approach the legislative recess next week. Key bills to call in support of include:
- AB 1851 (Holden)- clean drinking water in schools pilot program. This bill is being heard in Senate Environmental Quality Committee on Wed., July 3rd
- AB 660 (Irwin)- food date expiration labeling reform. This bill is being heard in Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday, July 1st.
Additionally, check out Governor Newsom’s State of the State Address that was released on June 25th.
NOTE: AIQ will now be on hiatus until Wednesday, August 14th as the legislature goes on summer recess starting July 3rd. See you in August!