FAITH ALOUD IN THE NEWS!

Early this morning in the stltoday.com’s blog “Political Fix” an article was posted about our recent name change from The Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice to Faith Aloud. The press is great and we love being considered an important topic but the title of the article is misleading. We do far more than simply advocate abortion rights here at Faith Aloud. We support the entire goal of reproductive justice and the numerous other causes that intersect with it. Please comment on the article and let StlToday.com know what you think of what we do, the difference between abortion rights and reproductive justice and how essential it is to have a spiritual and ethical voice for reproductive justice. This is just one more way to get our voices heard. Let’s really speak out and let everyone know how much we love Faith Aloud.

Links:

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/political-fix/political-fix/2008/09/missouri-abortion-rights-group-changes-name/

www.FaithAloud.org

Your Silence Will Not Protect You -Audre Lorde

Even Judy Shepard thinks you should vote. In a recent talk at Webster University Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard said that voter apathy was a black mark on our country. It was so nice to hear someone else advocating for the power of voting.

There were other interesting intersections between Judy Shepard’s speech and the reproductive justice movement. For example Judy Shepard continually advocated telling “our stories” and how personalizing issues is essential in the fight to erase hate. Jennifer Baumgardner‘s book, Abortion and Life, seeks to do the same thing for women who have had abortions. Baumgardner who created the “I had an Abortion” project seeks to liberate women from the secrecy of abortion. Her book shows photos and shares stories of women who have had abortions—some famous, some not—and by doing so personalizes the issue of choice.

If we want people to understand the reality of abortion then we have to be willing to share our stories. We cannot let fear silence us. Similarly, if we want people to understand the intersection of LGBTQ issues, Reproductive Justice issues and matters of faith then people have to speak up about their experiences of living these intersections. We need Catholic lesbians who will talk about abortions and Jewish gay men who talk about sex-ed in schools. We need trans communities partnering with faith communities to talk about bodily autonomy and access to good reproductive health care. If we don’t all start raising our voices, by voting, by talking, by speaking out, how will anyone know that we exist? How will anyone know our needs aren’t being met? I can’t tell you how many times people have said to me, I didn’t know there were people of faith who believed that. Well of course you didn’t because people are talking about it. So let’s talk, let’s vote, let’s SHOUT FAITH ALOUD.

Links

http://www.matthewshepard.org/site/PageServer

Proclaiming our Faith Aloud…

There is a new name to watch out for in the world of reproductive justice—Faith Aloud.

At an official meeting of the Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, held yesterday September 16^th 2008, the Governing Board voted unanimously to disaffiliate from the national Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and to continue their work for reproductive justice as a new independent organization called “Faith Aloud”.

Here at Faith Aloud, we plan to continue the mission of promoting reproductive justice goals through religious, spiritual and ethical communities. We will continue to fight for justice in legislature. We will continue giving spiritual support to women’s clinics. We will continue to train and inspire young people as activists for justice in their communities. We will continue to counsel women and families. We will continue to spread the word that people of faith consider sexual autonomy and reproductive freedom to be crucial matters of social justice and human rights.

Faith Aloud pledges to diligently explore the intersections of many reproductive justice and other social justice issues such as environmental, LGBTQ and economic justice. We pledge to keep growing and working until justice is a reality for all people regardless of gender, sexual identity, race, nationality, creed, ethnicity, sex, or economic status.

WE PROUDLY PROCLAIM OUR FAITH ALOUD.

Your Voice is more important than ever.

It’s true, even though it often doesn’t seem that way your voice, my voice all our voices still have a great deal of untapped power. I often wonder what happened to make the current twenty and thirty somethings so apathetic to the political process. I could of course venture a guess or two, but nothing I come up with seems to encompass the general malaise that seems to have permanently affected the x, y and z generations. Despite what you think, and what I think on my more pessimistic days, we still have a voice in the political process. First we have to vote… on everything. Imagine what the political landscape would look like if 100% of those folks 18-30 voted. Can you imagine such a thing? Everything could change. So get registered.

For Missourians, use this website: http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/s_default.asp?id=voter.

Otherwise check out : http://www.rockthevote.com/home.html.

Get your friends to vote. Get your coworkers to vote. Get your siblings to vote. I know everyone this time of year is talking about voting and such but seriously stop and imagine doubling the amount of voters under 30. Can we be that generation? Could we rival the 1960’s in terms young adult political activity?

Another way to get our voices heard is talk to our representatives. In fact, let’s flood their inboxes, mail boxes, and voicemail with our voices. Especially on issues that matter. Like the new The Department of Health and Human Services regulations 45 CFR Part 88 which will allow institutions as well as individuals to refuse to provide women access to contraceptive services and information, and redefines abortion to include common methods of contraception such as Birth control pills and IUD's. These new regulations conflict with requirements of the Title X family planning program which ensures that women have access to a broad range of contraceptive options and that pregnant women receive non-directive counseling upon request. You can read the whole document here: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2008pres/08/20080821reg.pdf .

How dare the federal government decide what’s best for all of us without hearing our voices. You can contact your representatives and senators using the following sites: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml and http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=MO .

I for one think it’s time that our apathetic generations get off our butts, stop simply complaining about the state of our country and do something. Clearly, the only option is raise our voices, to make our society acknowledge our ability to make good choices and to never be afraid to proclaim Our Faith Aloud.