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Dear Justice-Seeker,

This issue of MFSAVoices is jam-packed with resources and information. So much so that it won't all fit in your email message so be sure to click view entire message at the bottom of this email to view the entire issue. Our newsletters are designed to be used all month long. So take a quick glance and take note of important dates to add to your calendar but also come back in the following weeks to work your way through the action items.  

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We continue to see the urgency of our work to make broad systemic change. Change that honors the dignity and worth of all people, puts people over money, and honors the earth and all her inhabitants. Since 1907, MFSA has been shining a light on injustice and organizing to change it.  

You make our collective work possible by your witness for justice every day in your church, community, and Annual Conference. MFSA does not receive any financial support from the United Methodist Church's giving channels. 100% of our budget is funded through your membership dues and your generosity in giving.

KNOWING THE NAKBA: 

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine to Create the State of Israel

The Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948 has been called the poisonous root of all that has plagued the Holy Land since that time, with a never-ending impact that pervades the Middle East and the entire world.

We cannot hope to understand the present turmoil in the Holy Land - let alone achieve a just peace for all those who live there - without knowing where and how the conflict began: with the ethnic cleansing of indigenous people from their homeland.

Join us for this unique educational and thought-provoking presentation, with moving recollections from living Nakba survivors, expert historical analysis, and riveting video clips.

Saying Goodbye to Emily Burns, Development and Communications Coordinator

I have had the privilege of working as MFSA’s Communications and Development Coordinator since August 2021, and now as I approach the end of my time with MFSA I give thanks for all I have experienced and received during my time here! This work has accompanied me during my time in graduate studies working toward a Master of Social Work. MFSA has provided a connection to other Justice-Seeking people of faith and organizations who are taking action on the issues I was learning about in the classroom. All of the advocacy and partnerships gave me a wider lens through which to consider issues of reproductive justice, Palestinian liberation, decolonialism, climate justice, racial justice, and many others.

I now embark on my next steps in my profession working with individuals who are living with the impact of all those very issues. I am grateful for the work of MFSA and will carry all that I have learned from this network of Justice-Seekers with me as I take my next steps!

MFSA Endorses the Do No Harm Act

The Do No Harm Act is a critical bill that protects people’s civil rights, and access to healthcare and government-funded social services. The bill amends the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to address real-world examples where RFRA has been misused to cause harm.  

Religious freedom is a shield that protects, not a sword to harm others or to discriminate. That’s exactly how RFRA was supposed to work when enacted in 1993. But since then, the law has been used to:

• Deny employees insurance coverage for birth control and HIV prevention medication
• Allow taxpayer-funded employment discrimination by organizations that take federal money to provide social services
• Let taxpayer-funded foster care agencies turn away prospective parents because they are Catholic, Jewish, or LGBTQ

The Do No Harm Act restores RFRA to its original intent. The bill preserves RFRA’s power to protect religious freedom while clarifying that it may not be used to harm others. RFRA should never be used to exempt anyone from laws that protect other people’s basic civil rights.

As Justice-Seeking People of Faith, we support the #DoNoHarmAct because it protects the fundamental American principle of religious freedom—the right to believe or not, as we see fit, so long as we all do not harm others. Take action today by urging your legislators to co-sponsor and support the Do No Harm Act!

MFSA Organizational Racial Audit Report

You have been hearing updates for the last three years on MFSA's work conducting an Organizational Racial Audit. We are pleased to announce that we have completed the Organizational Racial Audit and want to share it with you-individuals, churches, and other organizations. 

Read the Executive Summary, Full Audit Report, and watch the Justice-Seeking Movement wide presentation of the MFSA Organizational Racial Audit Report on the new Racial Audit Report page on our website.  

Help the Fair Food Program Expand to Protect More Farmworkers

John Oliver's HBO show Last Week Tonight featured an in-depth look at the history of ongoing exploitation of farmworkers in the US, and he highlighted Coalition of Immokalee Worker's Fair Food Program as a solution to this problem. You can watch the segment here. 

You can show your support of farmworkers and their fight for dignity by signing a petition to expand the Fair Food Program and "call on Wendy's, Publix, and Kroger to join the Fair Food Program without further delay, because justice delayed is justice denied."

Now's the Time for Action

Here are a few ways you can seek justice and work for broad systemic change:

1. Show your support of farmworkers and their fight for dignity by signing a petition to expand the Fair Food Program to protect more farmworkers. 
2. Join the fight against anti-trans discrimination by learning what anti-trans legislation is proposed in your state and access information to contact your state legislator.
3. Encourage your congregation to sign the Apartheid-Free Pledge and take action against Israeli Apartheid. 
4. Help protect land and life in Wadi Foquin and the West Bank, and sign the petition to stop Israeli Settlement Expansion. 
5. Help buy up medical debts through RIP Medical Debt. Learn about churches who have had successful medical bill forgiveness campaigns. 
6. Discover more campaigns targeting companies making a negative impact on Palestinians lives and human rights, from the The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) and use Investigate! to discover corporations involved in incarceration and immigrant detention, the Israeli occupation, and the border industries.
7. Hold Siemens and Chevron accountable for fueling Israeli apartheid and climate disaster. 
8. Contact your legislators and tell them to to support the Banning All Neurotoxic Organophosphate Pesticides from our Food Act (The BAN OPs Act) to make a difference for farm workers and their families. 
9. Sign ICHRP-US's open letter to President Biden on human rights in the Philippines. 
10. Tell Congress to reduce funding for ICE detention capacity and shrink the cruel immigration detention system. 

In Case You Missed It

1. Access the latest recording and resources from MFSA and UMKR's webinar, "Apartheid Free Communities: Exposing and Rejecting Israeli Apartheid, Occupation and Settler-Colonialism"
2. Watch MFSA's Organizational Racial Audit Webinar.
3. Visit the Racial Audit Report page on our website. 
4. Access all five sessions in the Stealing the Earth webinar series, and explore the Dismantling the Doctrine resource list.