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This week, I was going to write another installment in my series on denominational social statements, but instead I’ve decided to highlight two events from the week that illustrate how Texas faith leaders are leaning into their traditions’ teachings and speaking out for justice.
On the morning of July 7 in Houston, a federal immigration enforcement agent shot and killed God’s beloved child Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
In response, Texas faith leaders have issued a statement calling for an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation; full transparency regarding all federal evidence; meaningful policy change in ICE enforcement operations; and restoration of trust and an end to enforcement that terrorizes communities.
On the morning of July 7 in San Antonio, faith leaders held a press conference to call on public officials to support free and fair elections in November.
The press conference was one of several across the country in which American faith leaders called on public officials to pledge to abide by the US Constitution and state election laws; refuse to comply with any unlawful Executive Orders or data requests from the Department of Justice that seek to restrict voting; and do their part to certify and/or seat the rightfully elected winners of elections this November, regardless of their party affiliation.
Watch clips from the press conference
Read the coverage in the San Antonio Express-News
Read the entire post on Substack
In other news, we are continuing to schedule webinars and in-person events, including our upcoming Ready...Set...Go! events in Denton, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston (coming soon). Due to circumstances, the Upcoming Events block is not displaying cooperatively in this edition of the enewsletter, but you can find ALL our upcoming events on our Events page.
We understand it's July. We understand it's hot. We know many of you will be on vacation at points. We want to stress, however, that there is not really "downtime" per se in democracy—it's more of a "tap-in, tap-out" thing. We love it when you let us know you are tapping out for a week, or a month. If you're around and looking for ways to engage, we can put you to work!
This is an exciting time in our state and country. Exciting doesn't necessarily mean good or bad. It's what you do with the excitement that counts. |
