Faith in the Public Square

Several faith-based agencies working with refugees are not happy with the way the Biden administration has chosen to leave Afghanistan. Religion News Service (RNS) reports  those groups include Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service , World Relief , Church World Service , the Episcopal Church (which resettles refugees through Episcopal Migration Ministries ) and HIAS (founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society). According to RNS, in June, those organizations  urged  President Biden to implement plans to evacuate Afghan translators, soldiers, cultural advisers, embassy clerks and others who have worked with American armed forces, media or nonprofits and allies and to authorize as many SIVs as necessary to make that possible. President Biden told the nation this week that one reason for the turmoil was that “some of the Afghans did not want to leave early, still hopeful for their country. And part of it is because the Afghan government and its supporters discouraged us...

Earlier this week, an interfaith group met informally at Al-Hidaya Center in Latham to begin planning a strategy to support passage of a bill in Congress “to promote justice, equality and human rights for Palestinian children and families by prohibiting Israeli authorities from using U.S. taxpayer funds to detain and torture Palestinian children, demolish and seize Palestinian homes, and further annex Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.” Known as HR 2590, the bill is endorsed by a wide range of national organizations that include the American Friends Service Committee, Church World Service, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, National Council of Churches USA, Oxfam America, Pax Christi USA, Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in America, The Episcopal Church, The United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society, and the United Church of Christ. Supporters of the bill say that “Israel has the dubious distinction of being the   only country in the wor...