Ian Wind
Graphic Courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Weather Service Hurricane Center
A United Methodist Insight Column
As I write this on Monday, Sept. 26, several family members and longtime friends are directly in the path of Hurricane Ian. If the hurricane continues on its current track headed for Tampa Bay, I shudder to think of the damage that will occur from massive storm surge and hurricane-force winds.
I have written many times before about how the climate crisis is intensifying storms like Hurricane Ian and its immediate predecessor, Hurricane Fiona, which devastated Puerto Rico last week and is ravaging Maritime Canada now. These episodes will only get worse.
For United Methodists, the United Methodist Committee on Relief offers the most reliable way to help the victims of Fiona, Ian, and other storms. UMCOR not only helps with immediate funds for relief, its staff and partner organizations often are first on the ground after a disaster and stay long after other agencies have left. In the case of Puerto Rico, UMCOR has worked with the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico to bring aid since Hurricane Maria destroyed the island's power grid and thousands of homes back in 2017. The island also was battered by a swarm of earthquakes in early 2020 and by the coronavirus pandemic.
One of my current heroes, the multi-talented entertainer and philanthropist Lin-Manuel Miranda and his activist father Luis A. Miranda Jr.,n an op-ed for The Washington Post, describe how dismally the U.S. government has failed to aid Puerto Rico since Maria. The Mirandas also remark on how non-profit organizations have stepped in to provide both relief and recovery for Puerto Rico. These non-profit organizations include UMCOR and its partner, the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico, because churches are usually the first community organizations to respond in disasters. For a fuller picture of how UMCOR and United Methodist Volunteers in Mission aided Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria, read my colleague John W. Coleman's excellent article on the Global Ministries website.
Now after Fiona, we United Methodists can take action immediately to help hurricane victims.
We can give immediately online to UMCOR's U.S. disaster response – remember, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory – at https://umcmission.org/advance-project/901670/. If you prefer to pay by check, your donation can be sent through your local United Methodist church marked for Advance Project 901670. Donating now also will increase UMCOR's resources to aid Florida after Hurricane Ian makes its expected landfall somewhere on the states Gulf coast.
Please pray for the people of Puerto Rico and Canada harmed by Hurricane Fiona, and for the safety of all those in the path of Hurricane Ian. Then let's "put feet on our prayers" with generous donations.
Christian nationalism affects immigrants, anti-LGBTQ legislation
Christian nationalism's effect on both Christianity and democracy in the United States presents a threat that escapes many Christians. However, Insight continues to find Christian individuals and groups concerned about the effects of Christian nationalism, such as this post from Public Religion Research Institute’s (PRRI) Sept. 26 newsletter:
"The Washington Post’s Opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin writes that one principle uniting many of the world’s major religions is the moral imperative to care for the sick, the weak and the vulnerable. By contrast, Rubin argues that the transportation of undocumented immigrants from border states to Northern, Democratically controlled areas by GOP Governors is the result of Christian nationalism burrowing its way into some conservative Christian churches and the Republican Party, citing a recent speech by Robert P. Jones, Ph.D., president and founder of PRRI. Jones argues that underlying the notion that “America was divinely ordained to be a Promised Land for European Christians, a kind of new Zion. A model for the rest of the world… [is] its implied presupposition was that White people were superior to all other races because they were the bearers of ‘civilization’ and Christianity. This is the logic of white supremacy and domination.”
PRRI also reports another disturbing development linked to Christian nationalism:
"The Christian Nationalist Boot Camp Pushing Anti-Trans Laws Across America: Sarah Posner for Type Investigate reports on a 'growing cohort of right-wing lawmakers and Christian nationalist groups that are working to pass some of the most extreme anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion measures in the nation.' There are currently nineteen states with bills aimed at banning gender-affirming care, including the Arkansas Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act, or SAFE Act. Posner notes that the bill relied on the testimony of conservative faith-based groups but eschewed the position of mainstream medical organizations that support gender-affirming care. PRRI research finds that 60% of Democrats, but just 33% of Republicans, would be comfortable having their own child tell them they are transgender."
When was the last time you or your congregation checked on the influence of Christian nationalism in your community or state?
Inclusive Spaces
Graphic Courtesy of PRRI
Religion's role in creating inclusive public spaces
Partly in response to developments such as those above, on Sept. 28 at PRRI and E Pluribus Unum will present findings from a major new national public opinion survey, with samples of attitudes in 13 southern states, that explores American attitudes on reckoning with Confederate memorials and creating more inclusive public spaces.
A Sept. 28 panel discussion will address the development of strategies, based on the survey's findings, to foster dialogue and conversation among faith and community leaders toward more inclusive spaces in the future. RSVP here.
Media Mentions as of Sept. 26, 2022
'Nice Old Methodists' continue serving with NOMADS - Park Rapids Enterprise
Waleska UMC members provide gift bags to security officers | Religion - Cherokee Tribune
Fights over slavery once divided this Brookside church. Now it's closing - KCUR
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011. This content may be reproduced elsewhere with credit to Insight.