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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.

Voices from the Holy Land Online Film Salon: "BOYCOTT"

Voices from the Holy Land presents an online film discussion of the acclaimed film: BOYCOTT on Sunday, 9 October 2022 at 4:00 pm ET / 1:00 pm PT.

A bracing look at the far-reaching implications of anti-boycott legislation sweeping the U.S. and designed to penalize businesses and individuals that choose to boycott Israel due to its human rights record. BOYCOTT illustrates how these laws are being used as templates to stop us from boycotting around other justice issues, further limiting our Constitutional right to free speech.

A legal thriller with “accidental plaintiffs” at the center of the story:
When a news publisher in Arkansas, an attorney in Arizona, and a speech therapist in Texas are told they must choose between their jobs and their political beliefs, they launch legal battles that expose an attack on freedom of speech that has swept across 33 U.S. states

BOYCOTT is an inspiring tale of everyday Americans standing up to protect our rights in an age of shifting politics and threats to freedom of speech.

The film will be available for free viewing for a few days only, through a special arrangement with the film producers at Just Vision.

You must register to receive access to the film and to join the discussion.

When you register, you will get an email on October 4th, with a link and password to watch the film. You will have 4 days to watch the film for free before the discussion on Oct 9th.

THE PANEL:

Bahia Amawi: protagonist of the film Boycott, free-speech plaintiff vs. Texas Attorney General and Pflugerville, TX School District

Special Guest Panelist, Peter Beinart: Editor-at-Large, Jewish Currents; CNN Political Commentator and MSNBC contributor; Professor of Journalism and Political Science, Newmark School of Journalism, CUNY; Nonresident Fellow, Foundation for Middle East Peace; Publisher, The Beinart Newsletter

Jen Marlowe: JustVision filmmaker, author, playwright, journalist, and human rights activist

Mnar Adley (moderator): Editor-in-Chief, MintPress News

This event is sponsored by:

United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR) and Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA)

Supporter Organizations
• Friends of Sabeel North America • Mennonite Palestine Israel Network • Pax Christi USA • Episcopal Peace Fellowship Palestine Israel Network • Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) • Quaker Palestine Israel Network • CAIR Houston • MD4BDS • Unitarian Universalist for Justice in the Middle East • Indiana Center for Middle East Peace • Disciples Palestine-Israel Network • Virginia Coalition for Human Rights

Register today to watch the film for free Oct 5-9

Join us for this discussion with a remarkable panel on Oct 9th!

Western Methodist Justice Movement Provides Episcopal Discernment- Through a Social Justice Lens

The Western Methodist Justice Movement (WMJM) hosted a Jurisdiction-wide web event in July 2022 to “develop questions with a social justice focus for episcopal candidates.” The intention for these questions is to “assist annual conference delegations and other groups to keep social justice concerns before episcopal candidates through the discernment process of electing new bishops this November 2022.”

During the web event, the 60 participants were organized in small groups and asked to share their thoughts via Menti polling and conversation. Two documents were provided as resource materials for these conversations that originated from jurisdictional work groups that met in July of 2021:

1. The theological and missional context of the work of bishops with a report section entitled “the role of the episcopacy.”

2. A Values Rubric “that lifts up inclusion, contextualization, connectionalism, and decolonization. The rubric is designed to assist in viewing the work of ordering and administering the ministry of the church in a new way.”

You can find videos explaining each of these resources here (scroll to the bottom of the page).

Participants considered what the Book of Discipline outlines as the role of Bishops as well as what the Western Jurisdiction looks for in Bishops. Participants were invited to lift up values, and questions were developed around 9 values via small groups. You can access the list of the 14 questions here.

The Press & Palestine: The Bad, The Ugly...and a Shift?

Access the latest recording and resources from MFSA and UMKR's webinar, "The Press & Palestine: The Bad, The Ugly...and a Shift?"

Justice and Healing for Native American Children

"The Peninsula-Delaware and Baltimore-Washington Conference Committees on Native American Ministries invite United Methodists to observe a special time of prayer and action from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, as they remember the atrocities associated with tribal children once taken from their families and placed in boarding schools.

 'Justice for our Children: Healing for Our Communities' is the theme of this year’s observance, which pays particular attention to those children who died at the schools and whose bodies were buried far from their homes. The observance also marks the 'spiritual deaths' of hundreds of Native children whose culture and spirituality were taken from them. You can find more information about this history here."

What can you do to raise awareness?

• Sign this petition and invite others to sign on.
• Choose a location such as your church lawn, a government building, or park and hold a prayer witness.
• Invite people who will stand in solidarity with you. Perhaps there is a Native American drum group or a singer and dancers who could invite. Consider someone who can speak briefly on the purpose of the meeting. Invite a spiritual leader or pastor or a singer to say/sing a prayer.
• Wear orange. It’s a strong color to draw attention to the event and it symbolizes the sun as it sets and rises.
• Host a study at your church on Native American culture
  • “Giving Our Hearts Away” by Rev. Dr. Thom Whitewolf Fassett is an excellent resource.
  • “Kill the Indian, Save the Man” by Ward Churchill is an excellent in-depth historical account.
  • “Education for Extinction” by David Wallace Adam is another good in-depth historical account.
• Review the U.S. Department of the Interior’s 2022 Report on Indian Boarding Schools.
• Read the news article from Reuters documenting Secretary Haaland’s first visit with survivors
• Host a movie or film night at your church.
  • Buried Truths: America’s Indigenous Boarding Schools
  • Unseen Tears: The Native American Boarding School Experience 

Now's the Time for Action

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

1. Tell Congress to reduce funding for ICE detention capacity and shrink the cruel immigration detention system. 
2. This election season, pledge to vote your values and fight for your rights and encourage your friends and family to do the same. 
3. Reject U.S. support of the Marcos Dynasty in the Philippines and sign the Unity Statement. 
4. Tell Congress to protect children in agriculture through co-sponsoring the Children's Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety (CARE Act). 
5. Tell your Senator to pass the Equality Act so that all people have comprehensive, nationwide protection against discrimination.
6. Contact your Senators and demand they vote yes on the Women's Health Protection Act. 
7. Send a message to your legislators in Congress to speak out publicly and also urge the Biden administration to press Israel not to fulfill its plan for ethnic cleansing and destruction in Masafer Yatta. 
8. #Standwithblackgirls and encourage your legislators to pass the Pushout Act H.R. 5325 (IH) – Ending Punitive, Unfair, School-based Harm that is Overt and Unresponsive to Trauma Act of 2019
9. Call on Congress to pass an Afghan Adjustment Act which will help keep families together and ensure lasting protection for at-risk Afghans. 
10. Write your Representative to join Representative Susan Wild and urge the Administration to hold officials responsible for grave human rights violations in the Philippines accountable through targeted sanctions.

In Case You Missed It

1. Access the latest recording and resources from MFSA and UMKR's webinar, "The Press & Palestine: The Bad, The Ugly...and a Shift?"
2. Access all five sessions in the Stealing the Earth webinar series, and explore the Dismantling the Doctrine resource list.