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.

Some pictures from the thank you party!

We hope you enjoyed the thank you party! We had a really nice turn out and all enjoyed the delicious food provided by Bryan Young catering. Everyone had a really nice time, and it was great hearing about the bike ride. Our intern, Autumn, put together two slide shows: a goodbye one for Adele and Saskia and a bike ride one highlighting Becky's journey. Here are some photos from the event!




































ps.

Thanks to C.J. for taking pictures!

The blog is in transition

Hi Everyone! We just wanted to let you know that the ride blog is transitioning to a general MORCRC office blog. All of the wonderful pictures and information from the Wanderlust ride will be maintained, but from now on the posts will be about all sorts of awesome pro-faith pro-choice activities.


Stay tuned!

Last Wanderlust audio

Here is the last audio blog from Becky! Enjoy!

Gabcast! 2000 Miles for Justice! #20 - Last Wanderlust audio