This is the best response I’ve heard to the religious discrimination act signed into law this week:
http://www.ameliaaldred.com/?p=217
Evidently the Governor is planning to try to ‘clarify’ it. I’ve never seen so many angry Hoosiers in one place, physically and spiritually, than at today’s demonstration of an estimated 3,000 at the State Capitol.
Today marked the beginning of another step forward in our social justice efforts. This was our first nonviolent civil disobedience training class here in Indianapolis for Indiana Moral Mondays. About 15 people showed up, most of whom were in leadership positions of various sorts in the Indiana Moral Mondays (IMM) movement. Also helping me were other Keystone leaders, Ted, Wayne, and John. I was a little more nervous than usual, although our Keystone Pledge of Resistance group here has held six such training sessions. There were a number of considerations when I converted the Keystone Training manual into one for IMM. I do enjoy teaching these sessions, and having the Keystone experience, and my experienced Keystone friends, is very helpful. In addition, three members of my local meeting also attended.
Please respond to the poll here: POLL: Nonviolent civil disobedience
Christian joined Gilbert, Debbie and I at the weekly Peace Vigil in front of the Federal Building. One thing Christian enjoys is dancing and he gave new meaning to the word “activist”. He generated a lot more interaction than we usually have and we were glad to have him join us.
It is always interesting to be spending an hour in front of the place where I may be arrested if the State Department recommends approval of the Keystone Pipeline.
Weekly Peace Vigil at Federal Building, Indianapolis
Peace Vigil
March 13, 2015
To the residents of our community:
The death of Tony Robinson is a horrible tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Tony Robinson’s family and friends. We are sorry that we have lost the life of an African American teenager in our community.
Black lives matter. Our history, both nationally and locally, with respect to our African American community is unacceptable. Many of the incidents, shootings, and deaths that we see reported on the news find their root cause in the intolerable disparity present in our community. That disparity and its attendant injustice may have arisen from our history, but we allow it to continue.
This past weekend in Selma, President Barack Obama said “[Our national creed is] the idea held by generations of citizens who believed that America is a constant work in progress; who believed that loving this country requires more than singing its praises or avoiding uncomfortable truths. It requires the occasional disruption, the willingness to speak out for what is right, to shake up the status quo. That’s America.” We thank those community leaders and citizens who enacted those words before they were spoken. It is time we all joined them. We must do better. We are here to ask each of our constituents to accept along with us the challenge of ending the shameful racial disparities in our community. Every one of us must be a part of the solution. Black lives have to matter to each and every one of us. We must be the City and County where a Black youth, a Latino youth, an Asian youth, a Native American youth, a White youth, where any young man or woman feels that this is a community they belong to, a community full of opportunities. A community where their dreams can happen, not end.
Jointly signed by the following City of Madison Alders, Dane County Supervisors, and Madison Municipal School District Board members:
This is the work of the Indiana Moral Mondays Environmental Justice group:
Solar power is a moral issue
posted by Frank Rosenthal
March 10, 2015
In keeping with its values of social and economic justice and the use of resources for the common good, Indiana Moral Mondays stands for the promotion of renewable sources of energy.
Our current use of energy is unsustainable. It is causing air pollution resulting in tens of thousands of premature deaths and health disorders, such as asthma, birth defects, etc. It results in high releases of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, that is increasing global warming. The cost of energy for homes and transportation is a major burden on low-income people, with the proportion of income spent on it being greater at lower incomes.
Solar power can help. First, solar power is an inherently cleaner form of energy production. It does not produce air pollution. Unlike the use of most other sources of power generation, there are no emissions. Although there are some marginal environmental burdens associated with its original installation and eventual recycling of materials, these are much less than those associated with the use of conventional energy sources. Second, solar power is sustainable. It is not subject to diminishing supplies, fuel prices, and environmental risks. Third, solar systems can reduce the economic burden on people by giving them the option to produce their own power, and sell some of it back to power companies. Once the hardware is paid for, electricity continues to be generated, free of charge. Fourth, the expansion of solar power in Indiana will bring needed jobs in manufacturing, installing and maintaining the systems. Finally, per kilowatt-hour of power produced, solar power contributes much less to global warming than non-renewable forms of power generation. All of these considerations are particularly important for minority and low-income populations, the disabled and the elderly. Air pollution levels are highest in these communities, and affect people disproportionately due to relatively poorer overall health. People in these communities are more at risk economically from rising fuel prices and can benefit from added employment opportunities. These communities and populations will also be hit hardest by global warming. The predicted impacts on public health, due to climate change, will impact them the most, as will the predicted rise of food prices and water shortages. Also, the elderly and indigent have less access to air conditioned environments and are more prone to heat injury during heat waves.
Recently, the cost of solar power has been decreasing dramatically . This presents the possibility of increasing the proportion of electricity is produced by solar power, which is currently very small. Policies to encourage the use of solar energy should be encouraged at the State and Federal level. A bill (HB 1320), proposed in this session of the Indiana State legislature, would have cut the financial incentives for installing solar power systems by reducing the amount of credit that people can get by feeding generated power back into the “grid” (“net metering”) . This bill was heavily supported by the utility companies and by conservative political groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Fortunately, the bill has not gone forward in the current legislative session. But we should be vigilant about any new attempts to derail progress in increasing the use of renewable energy sources. And we should strongly encourage efforts to advance the use of solar power to satisfy energy needs.
Speaking up
In following what I have been taught about not bothering those in a meeting who are busy with other things than activism, I am realizing that often results in other Friends and others not knowing what it is we would like to have help with and/or share in the work we are doing.
This is what I would like to see for and from Friends and allies today.
It seems there are leaders and followers. People of faith are both. Following our spiritual guidance, however we practice that, shapes both our beliefs and our actions. People of faith are leaders because others see our lives as an expression of our faith, and can follow our example if they choose. Whether we promote ourselves as examples or not, others see us that way.
There is a tension between spiritual practice and how that is expressed in the world. Our spiritual insights highlight social injustices, because a fundamental tenant of any faith is the value and equality of every person. A person of faith is able to translate his/her faith into work for social justice, making whole one’s attention to and expression of one’s faith.
Different people approach this different ways. There are those who feel their faith is expressed in the actions of their daily lives, and are not drawn to participate in social justice activism. Then there are those who feel the way God’s work is done in the world is by identifying issues of injustice and actively working to address them.
My view is the latter. God does continue to guide us, and we are the instruments of his will. We need to expose injustices and connect with allies to correct them.
But there are so many issues. How do you decide what to work on? I feel strongly about two things related to this.
The first is that you absolutely have to be, or become if not already, in tune with your spiritual core. That needs to be floating in the periphery of your consciousness continually. When you observe something or are asked to do something, you check with your core, and that will, hopefully, inform you of what to do. That makes it easier to decide when others ask you to help them. Your decision isn’t clouded by external pressures, and that takes a lot of anxiety out of your life, but more importantly keeps you focused on what you are called to do. Over time, each little step along this path builds a body of spiritual work you can draw upon during those times of confusion we all face. The dynamics of life mean we are continually confronted with new situations and choices. But the key for the person of faith is that those new situations are actually variations of old situations (there is nothing new under the sun). But more importantly, this is how our faith grows, as we learn from the faith of others, and they from ours.
Secondly, I fall into the group that believes one’s faith must be expressed in action. It is not enough to be paying close attention to your spiritual life, if that doesn’t move you to act on what is being revealed to you. People of faith are nonviolent revolutionaries. We hold our public institutions and officials accountable to do the political work to keep our society working well. We cannot not engage in addressing injustice, because injustice only survives by implied consent, and silencing dissent.
What specifically would I like to see locally? North Meadow Friends are doing a good job with the meeting for worship.
One thing I would like would be an exploration of how we as a meeting see human relations. The situation in Ferguson highlighted a number of issues. That community was so oppressed by those who were supposed to be serving it. Unfortunately, that is not an isolated situation. We still have significant problems with race relations, economic injustice, and law enforcement. I think it is important for white people to be aware of the economic and political advantages we have and work to address those inequalities in our own lives.
I think we also need to work at learning more about people of color. We still do not live in a truly integrated society. The only way to fix this is to get to know people of color. We are very fortunate to have the Kheprw Institute (KI) community that is willing to work with us. I would like to see a close relationship built between North Meadow and KI. Shared community discussions and work would be great.
I’d like to see North Meadow meeting become the KI of our neighborhood, with open community discussions and work projects.
Finally, I’d like to see others at North Meadow get involved in the Indiana Moral Mondays movement. This is the civil rights movement of our time, and it needs the help of Friends. And it is a great partner for Friends to work to express their faith.
The following statistics are related to not using a car for the year 2014. This ONLY reflects the commute to and from Riley Hospital. Many of you know I came to the decision to refuse to own a personal vehicle about 40 years ago.
Report Period: 1/1/2014 – 12/31/2014
Savings Report For Jeff Kisling
Estimated cost savings during this timeframe are $208.77 *
Mode Trips Vehicle Miles Saved
Carpool 2 2.85 mi
Vanpool 0 0.00 mi
Transit 4 27.04 mi
Bike 88 165.56 mi
Walk 204 368.80 mi
Telework (Home) 0 0.00 mi
Drive Alone 0 0.00 mi
Total vehicle travel savings: 564.25 mi.
Pollution Reduction
Reduction in Carbon Monoxide: 25.7997 lb
Reduction in oxides of nitrogen: 2.7865 lb
Reduction in organic compounds: 2.0899 lb
Reduction in Particulates (PM10): 0.0435 lb
Reduction in Particulates (PM25): 0.1008 lb
Greenhouse Gas Reduction
Reduction in carbon dioxide (and other gasses): 437.8580 lb
Total Pollution Savings: 468.6783 lb.
Dear Friends,
Here in Indiana we are at a pivotal juncture in our work for peace and social justice. Many years of darkness are now seeing the awakening of interest and concern about social justice and political issues. The attempts to re-start the Indiana Friends Committee on Legislation (IFCL), and the launch of the Indiana Moral Mondays (IMM) movement last year represent some of our work in responding to this. Other work has involved the Keystone Pledge of Resistance, working with the KI Eco Center, Indianapolis homelessness, and Indy10 (Ferguson/police brutality).
I find the points below from the FWCC Strategic Plan to be interesting in this context.
This work and interest has again revealed the tensions that can occur between spiritual life and social action.
The pivotal moment is related to Indiana Moral Mondays. We are in the middle of the first legislative session since we (IMM) organized. We’ve had a lot of meetings, including meetings and prayers in the Capitol building, work on social media, attended hearings and met with representatives. While we might have had a little influence on a few things, the party in power continues to shut us out of many, many things, like consideration of raising the minimum wage, changes to the Board of Education, etc. Many things clearly at odds with the wishes of most of the people of Indiana.
This is the type of situation Moral Mondays was created to address, using nonviolent civil disobedience as the moral response to these injustices. This past week there have been numerous discussions about this via email with a few of the IMM people concerned about this. I think where we are at is this: having reached the conclusion that civil disobedience is called for, who is going to lead that?
From the discussion:
The only things I know we have not done that may be effective with these folks are:
1 – Get massive support from faith leaders and church goers.
2 – Cite the state constitution and refuse to leave the statehouse until they hear the people. Rev. Barber said this will bring all kinds of media.
A number of us at North Meadow Circle of Friends are involved with IMM. The question is, are we led to take this on? My impression is most of the rest of North Meadow Friends are already uncomfortable with some of this political activity, and I’m pretty sure would not want to be involved in this. This seems to me to be related to the point below about some constituencies we currently serve not being able to embrace the change that is needed. Others with a longer history with the meeting might correct me.
Do we need to reconfigure ourselves into some kind of Quaker action group—not leaving the meeting, but not trying to deal with these issues there?
It is scary to consider where this might lead. That is where our faith comes in. Can we empty our hearts and minds and deeply listen and discern what is really called for at this moment? Can we use this opportunity to be, and help others be, the change we want to see?
These parts of the Quaker vision are very interesting and point to new ways of moving forward.
• Focus on the vital work that needs to be done to build connections among Friends from different branches. “If FWCC did not exist, it would need to be invented”
• Embrace the possibility that the tools and channels of connection now available may result in a very different presence and approach to our work
• Be prepared to take risks, strike out in a new direction and invite Friends to join us as we venture into new territory
• Recognize that some of the larger constituencies we currently serve may not embrace the change that is needed, and new or emerging constituencies may need to be cultivated and strengthened
• Be a catalyst in forging collaborations and networking among Friends’ groups and organizations
• Focus on telling stories of ministry and lives transformed by the Light, and on strengthening relationships among Friends at the local level in new and enlivening ways
Quakers, social justice and revolution 