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Last week I went to a press conference in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. It was an especially swampy summer day and I was one of two, maybe three, members of the media in attendance. The faith leaders who spoke about voting rights were passionate, even with a thin crowd that was mostly half-curious tourists and a very sweaty Sojourners editor slathered in sunscreen. The topic changes, but the dynamic is often the same: People: “Why aren’t faith leaders speaking out about [insert topic here]?” Faith leaders: “Um, well, we have been speaking out, actually.” As people committed to faith and justice, we know this is how it goes sometimes. This work isn’t always (ever?) glamorous. But still: We go to the trainings, we show up, we speak out. We do the thing, even if no one seems to listen. It often feels like nothing seems to change. Until one day, it does. As Bekah McNeel recently reported, faith leaders across the country have noticed a shift in the past few months: People are listening. Though clergy have long been speaking out against the violence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, there’s a new boldness driving faith-based organizing efforts. More clergy are showing up and they’re getting noticed, which makes their work more effective. “The stoles and the collars really do have power,” one organizer told McNeel. This new wave of energy is just in time: The Department of Homeland Security has been quietly investing in alarming new surveillance technology that seems to eerily echo Jesus’ promise to his disciples that “even the hairs of your head are all counted.” Meanwhile, Mary Fontana reminds us that the militarized tactics of DHS and ICE—while reprehensible on many levels—aren’t even effective. “We cannot solely enforce our way to a functioning immigration system,” she writes. Elsewhere this week: In Idaho, questions about religious liberty, dignity, and inclusion are playing out in church bathrooms. A Netflix retelling of Little House on the Prairie has multiple episodes directed by Indigenous filmmakers. And though I’ll admit the first paragraph of this review grossed me out, it’s well worth reconsidering the Bible’s most reviled disease. Finally, a very online editor considers the social media phenomenon of filming oneself “going analog.”
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