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Eboo Patel speaks about the importance of respecting people’s diverse religious and non-religious identities. He suggests that we find ways to develop mutually inspiring relationships between people of many faiths and backgrounds, perhaps by working together on one or more common actions for the common good.

In New Orleans and Boston, as well as other cities and rural areas in the country, there are 1.6 million young people, most aged 16 to 24, and some as young as 14, who are living on their own without the supervision of an adult. These young people are referred to as “Unaccompanied Youth,” and they may live in parks, cars, hallways or hidden on the street, or undeveloped areas. In addition, there are perhaps as many or more than 10,000 unaccompanied and undocumented youth in US detention centers that are not necessarily oriented to children. Some have families here in the U.S. whom they wish to join. Many come to escape the violence they experienced in their communities in Central and South America. These children are caught while crossing our borders.

The dream for our country envisioned by republican and democratic presidents in the 1940s, 50s and 60s has given way to the unending greed of corporations and certain wealthy individuals. Now, corporations and wealthy individuals consider themselves exempt from paying their fair share, and feel entitled to the use of our taxes, to giant subsidies in the form of tax exemptions and to proportionately low tax rates.

This is not the time to cut SNAP, the food stamp program. 46 million people live in poverty as defined by the Federal government, and 21% of our children live in poverty.

There’s no basic living wage in the United States for unskilled workers who mow our lawns, fix our roads, provide care for elders and children, clean our buildings and hotel rooms and provide fast food and wash the dishes, and take care of many everyday tasks. Instead individuals, businesses and corporations rely on paying low wages and using the income from tax payments to provide subsidies with food stamps, rental vouchers, heath care, childcare and the earned income tax credit etc., etc.

We are so ready to punish others for causing misery to children, but we let those in our country suffer and die. For instance, what have we done to curb the sale of guns that are used to shoot 20,000 of our children every year, killing 5,000 and maiming many others? We don’t even know how many children are shot accidentally.

A Reminder – Promise the Children is a Unitarian Universalist – related organization that works to mobilize individuals and churches and to raise awareness of the need to advocate for children’s programs, particularly those that serve the most vulnerable. This reminder is written by Joshua Leach, a second year Master of Divinity student at Harvard Divinity School who is currently serving as a ministerial intern with Promise the Children UU.

Promise the Children advocates should press their federal legislators to fund WIC adequately so as to support all eligible mothers and children. We urge volunteer advocates to call or write their legislators and thank them for their support in the past and continue in the future. Promise the Children sponsored a forum north of Boston about ending homelessness and invited a young pregnant mother with a four-year old child to speak about her experience. A single mom, Jane (a pen name) read more…

In Massachusetts, our Governor Patrick may sign a 3 strikes bill, without considering amendments made in several other states, because mandatory life sentencing is expensive and does not increase public safety. Call the Governor today (617-725-4005) and tell him “don’t sign this bill”. A disproportionate number of prisoners in our U.S.A. jails are people of color who have committed minor crimes and sometimes no crime at all. Perhaps they are of Hispanic or African American decent. The cost of their read more…

How wealthy do people have to be? There is a huge cost to making profits out of salaries that are too low to pay the cost of living. Companies paying minimum wage of $7.25/hour, also offer part-time work so they don’t have to pay for vacations, sick time, and medical care. These companies rely on public welfare, paid by the taxpayer. to fund housing vouchers, health care and food stamps and more.

“How blessed are you poor! For the Kingdom of God is yours. (Luke 6:20 CJB) Unlike the values behind this Biblical quote, many of us who are Christian frequently humiliate and punish those who live in poverty. We idolize and protect the rich. Some of us realize that poverty can be a result of too few jobs, of part-time work, and wages that are too low to pay for food and housing. Rather than paying a living wage, our wealthy corporations pay a low wage and refer laborers to the subsidies for housing, food and health care provided by the taxpayer. Profit is their motive, and healthy families with growing children are forgotten. The funding for the wage subsidies is never enough and is subject to change by a vote from the members of Congress.