For many of us living in the United States, Thanksgiving is a time when we get together with family and friends. We share food, fellowship, and the things that we are […]
Psalm 100 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God. It […]
Open enrollment to sign up for or renew health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) began November 1 and ends December 15, 2017. The ACA Marketplace allows individuals to […]
With Republicans on Capitol Hill and in the White House desperate to post a big legislative win, their push for so-called tax reform – the label being used to sugar-coat […]
Written by Council intern Katie Withers. Katie is a Master of Social Work student at North Carolina State University. Two weeks ago, Partners in Health and Wholeness, a program of […]
Written by Council intern Yolanda Santiago-Correa. Yolanda is a Duke Divinity School student and was born and raised in Puerto Rico. September 20, 2017: a date that every Puerto Rican […]
If we are not angry today, we have no faith. If we are not frustrated today, we have no hope. If we are not bereaved today, we have no love. […]
As I continue to follow court cases addressing Gerrymandering at both the federal level (Gill v. Whitford) and in North Carolina (Common Cause v. Rucho), along with the latest move […]
Yesterday farmworkers and farmworker allies from across the state came together to celebrate Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead. On Día de los Muertos, which originated […]
It has been a little over a week since our third PHW Faith and Health Summit, themed “Making Connections: We’re Worth It.” The day began with worship and a keynote […]
The period to enroll or renew health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Marketplace, is just around the corner. This year the enrollment period is significantly shorter […]
To the Republicans who run the N.C. General Assembly, the concept of judicial independence – central to our bedrock American principle of checks and balances and to the rule of […]
After failing to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration now has its sights set on our Clean Power Plan. For this one, they won’t have to […]
Partners in Health and Wholeness invites you to join us in Greensboro on Friday, October 20, for our Faith and Health Summit. There will be excellent workshops on many relevant […]
On Thursday, October 19th Partners in Health and Wholeness will host our 2017 Faith and Health Summit. Thursday’s events include a community gardens and permaculture tour throughout the city of […]
Yolanda will be with the Council during the 2017-2018 academic year as an intern through Duke Divinity School. She introduces herself below: My name is Yolanda Santiago-Correa. I am originally […]
There are no words… and so my words come from the Psalms where laments make up the largest category. This lament from a portion of Psalm 142: With my voice […]
At many levels, Americans are confronting issues of race relations and racial justice with an intensity that echoes the climax of the civil rights movement five decades ago – as […]
It has been nearly fourteen months since Colin Kaepernick first knelt during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner prior to the start of his team’s games. The decision not […]
The Council is excited to introduce you to our newest staff member, Lindsay Barth. Lindsay joined us earlier this month in the position of office manager. She introduces herself below: […]
September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Our work at Partners in Health and Wholeness, and with the NC Council of Churches, begins with the hope to see all North Carolinians […]
Remarks offered at the Duke Energy Progress Rate Increase hearing on Monday, September 25. Right now I have the privilege or the pain of owning two houses in Durham, NC. […]
It has been three years since 400,000+ people came together in the streets of New York City for the first Peoples Climate March in 2014, and we’ve achieved a lot. […]
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues to be one of the most divisive laws passed in the United States in recent history. After several failed attempts by Congress this year […]
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline met more opposition last week. This time in the form of a prayer gathering by faith leaders outside the Department of Environmental Quality office. DEQ and […]
Over the past week we have experienced a thousand-year flood in Houston and the most powerful storm ever to form in the Atlantic. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt says now is […]
The Council is excited to have Katie Withers, a Master of Social Work student at North Carolina State University, interning with us for the 2017-2018 academic year. Katie introduces herself […]
In surveys conducted during the months leading up to the 2016 election, large numbers of Americans reported little interest in the political process. They said things like, “nothing will change,” […]
Life is unpredictable. This truth is paramount with an oncoming hurricane or tropical storm. Many North Carolinians already live with daily anxiety and mental health concerns. How can we take […]
This week, the Trump administration announced it will end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an Obama initiative protecting hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants from deportation. This protection […]
On April 26, 1865, my great-great-grandfather was camped a mere five miles from where I now live in Durham, NC. He was from the upstate of South Carolina, as am […]
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and we want to hear what you have to say. The theme of this year’s PHW Faith and Health Summit is, […]
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12 […]
Today, Friday, August 18, 2017, South Main in Durham, NC, is closed to traffic. Civil employees have been sent home. Some banks and many businesses in the downtown area have […]
Two weeks ago, the President endorsed a new bill in the Senate designed to cut legal immigration levels in half over a decade, a potentially extreme change to policies that […]
When President Trump stepped to a White House lectern on Monday and rebuked the instigators of the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va., that had erupted two days before, he was […]
Before I came to call the great state of North Carolina home, I was a proud Virginian for the first twenty-six years of my life. I grew up in a […]
The three federal judges could have just come right out and said it: The Republicans who rule the N.C. General Assembly have elevated foot-dragging to a fine art. Their stall […]
Update: This position has now been filled. The Council is hiring an office manager to work in our Raleigh office. The full job description is below and at this link. […]
Five years ago, President Obama created the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program to enable young people brought to this country as children to come out of the shadows […]
Even when the opportunity before you is grand, it is hard to leave a place you love. Today is my last day at the Council of Churches, after 16 years […]
The optics, as they say, are terrible. But in a state whose motto is “To Be Rather Than to Seem,” it’s even more important to look at the substance. And […]
By Andrew Hudgins, NCCC Program Associate for Operations, for The Resistance Prays News: In a speech delivered to law enforcement officers last week, President Trump seemed to endorse police brutality […]
We find ourselves in a better place than we might have been when it comes to health care policy. Remaining ever vigilant and recognizing that there is still much work […]
Better get used to it. The N.C. General Assembly, after an all-too-brief adjournment during July, is about to reopen for business in its marble and masonry maze on Raleigh’s Jones […]
Wednesday’s federal-policy-by-tweet announcement that children of God who are transgender could no longer serve in the military may have distracted attention from another action by the federal government. The Department […]
The U.S. Senate’s vote this afternoon moves the debate forward to potentially repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. What that will look like is anybody’s guess. Senators Burr and […]
Governor Roy Cooper has announced his strong opposition to offshore drilling and seismic blasting along North Carolina’s coast. “Our coast is part of our identity,” he said, speaking to the […]
The Council is partnering with Raise the Wage NC to encourage faith communities to hold a Labor Sabbath this Labor Day weekend, September 1-3. Faith leaders can adapt their holy […]
More than 10,000 individuals and 50 organizations have signed a petition asking Governor Cooper to revoke the world’s largest wood pellet manufacturer’s flawed air quality permit in Richmond County. At […]
No one seems completely clear on whether the Senate will vote next week on health care or what they will vote on if they do. That might be deliberate in […]
Wartime profits are a thing — from the people who make the machines we use to kill other people to the garment factories that provide clothing for the people who […]
Jennifer Copeland, the Council’s Executive Director, has been honored with the 2017 Francis Asbury Award by the NC Conference of the United Methodist Church. The award, named for one of […]
We were delighted to meet many of you at the Wild Goose Festival last week. Council staff members enjoyed spending time with friends from across the country, hearing your stories, […]
Yesterday, the Senate unveiled a revised version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act. According to a report from our friends at the North Carolina Justice Center the changes, and their […]
With so many issues confronting us, our nation’s involvement in acts of torture is fading from the public’s priorities for concern. Five years and $40 million in the making, the […]
Just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus […]
It is becoming a national trend for politicians to “divide and conquer” by attacking the wind industry while supporting other forms of clean energy. This is fracturing the renewable energy community as folks […]
Presented with a new state budget that, whatever its occasional virtues, is mainly about easing tax burdens on the well-off while grinding opponents of legislative Republicans into the dirt, Democratic […]
Late yesterday afternoon the Congressional Budget Office released their score of the Senate’s proposed health care plan and the numbers are extremely troubling. As our friends at the North Carolina […]
I have been blessed with the opportunity to visit Cuba on two occasions: the first in 2000 on a mission trip with a Baptist church and the second last September […]
For at least the next month, drivers along I-40 West between Statesville and Hickory will see an important reminder of God’s directive to be a welcoming presence to the most […]
It has been a busy year and is shaping up to be an even busier summer. We hope you’ll support our work.
Members of the United States Senate have released their proposed health care plan, all 142 pages of the “Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017” developed in secrecy, with a score […]
By now the strategy is familiar – the strategy used by the N.C. General Assembly’s Republican chiefs to try to make a fundamentally flawed state budget appear, well, not that […]
First celebrated in 2001, World Refugee Day is held annually on June 20. The day marks a worldwide effort to raise awareness of the plight of refugees and recognize the contributions of […]
The tragedy of gun violence in this country seems unending. We pray for those impacted, whether in a South Carolina church two years ago, a Florida club one year ago, […]
The Republicans who took control of North Carolina’s General Assembly with the elections of 2010 were, it could be said, licking their chops. They knew that when they came to […]
UPDATE In separate, party-line votes on June 8, the state House and Senate rejected Gov. Cooper’s attempt to convene a special session for the purpose of redrawing legislative voting districts. […]
Photo courtesy of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. Under President Trump’s recent executive orders, many people’s lives have changed, especially the lives of those who have come to North Carolina […]
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I headed north for my sister’s graduation. Being only a few hours away from Niagara Falls at that point, we decided to […]
We were already living in a time of profound consequence. President Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement means that while the needs of our endangered climate are increasing, […]
The exhilaration of Easter is fading into memory, and we are left with more routine matters. Unfortunately, the matters that are becoming more and more commonplace have frightening implications: tweets, threats, […]
As followers of the Prince of Peace, Christians are not always particularly peaceful people, which is what makes North Carolina’s return to the national stage as a foothold for intolerance […]
Following the elections of 2010 – tilted as they were by an intense right-wing pushback against President Barack Obama midway through his first term – Republicans in the N.C. General […]
For more than two decades, the NC Council of Churches has called for access to health care for all. The score from the Congressional Budget Office makes it undeniably clear […]
Plenty of analysis is already happening around the 2018 budget proposal out of the White House. The Washington Post provides two helpful graphics here and here. More is being written […]
Last week was a mixed bag for children and youth in terms of activity at the General Assembly. Among accomplishments was further progress on raising the age at which juveniles […]
The Council is a sponsor of the Wild Goose Festival in Hot Springs this July. Members of the staff will be leading workshops and sharing resources. We hope to see […]
Remarks delivered at the NC Justice Center’s 2017 Defenders of Justice Awards where the Council was recognized for Grassroots Empowerment. In 1960 Terry Sanford ran for Governor of NC. By […]
So, the question as always comes down to one of vision. The elected chieftains who decide how much money North Carolina’s state government will spend, what it will be spent […]
About this time two years ago, I accepted the offer to become the next Executive Director of the NC Council of Churches. We agreed that I would spend two weeks […]
By now, most of us have read “Dark Money” or heard enough about the subject it explores to recognize that money is suffocating our democracy. Add to this styptic environment […]
The next Partners in Health and Wholeness Mini-grant Cycle will begin June 5. Interested congregations must apply to join the PHW Collaborative (previously PHW Certification) by May 31 to be […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director [For more information on bills, including committee referrals and re-referrals, texts of bills, procedural histories, and recorded votes, go to the General Assembly website […]
Multi-faith pilgrims on a moral high road unified to honor God’s creation at the Peoples Climate March last month on the National Mall. The event, which came as a crescendo […]
Sermon preached on May 7, 2017 at Church of the Nativity, Raleigh. When I was in kindergarten, we memorized the 23rd Psalm. Of course, it was the King James Version, […]
If you haven’t, here’s a bit of encouragement from Council staff.
The passage of the American Health Care Act by the House of Representatives reflects a political choice on a life-or-death matter. If House members truly believed that this was the […]
We often struggle to address mental health in our communities of faith. This Mother’s Day, as we honor those who bring forth life and contribute so much to our communities, […]
If you’re part of the Christian tradition then you have probably heard the story of the good Samaritan more times than you can count. A man is traveling along a […]
Remarks delivered at the Workers’ Memorial, April 28, at the Old Capitol Building, Raleigh Micah 7:1-4, 6:8 God has always had a preferential option for the marginalized and the down […]
As Shakespeare’s King Lear famously put it, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.” Top Republicans in the N.C. General Assembly now might well […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director [The deadlines for the introduction of most new bills have now passed, and we are in Crossover Week. By the end of the week, […]
Two of the most volatile elements on a college campus are alcohol and hormones. These ingredients contribute to sexual assault (23.1 percent of female and 5.4 percent of male undergraduates), […]
The public is opposed to efforts to replace the Affordable Care Act, but some members of the U.S. House of Representatives seem determined to forge ahead anyway. The latest version […]
A change in New York law earlier this month leaves North Carolina alone in a place 49 other states have found to be indefensible: only NC automatically prosecutes 16- and […]
Crowds are gathered on this Earth Day in Washington, D.C. and in cities across the country to march for science and protect the deeply held value of truth and facts. […]
How many times do we have to say it? Well, it’s worth repeating – especially in the aftermath of recent income tax filing deadlines, when the subject becomes a sore […]
