Introduction

Elections matter for ending hunger. Public policy affects whether our neighbors can eat, work, and thrive. The leaders we choose shape policies that create jobs, strengthen the safety net, invest in communities, and support global efforts that reduce poverty. In short: public policy affects hunger; elections shape public policy; therefore elections shape hunger.

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Scriptural Reflection

Scripture inextricably ties governance to justice. Governing authority is meant to promote good and restrain harm (Romans 13:1–4, NRSV). Leaders are called to protect those most at risk (Psalm 72:12–14, NRSV), to show no partiality (Leviticus 19:15, NRSV; James 2:2–4, NRSV), and to “speak out… defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8–9, NRSV). Our posture is summed up in Micah’s charge: do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8, NRSV).

Grace is our motivation, not an escape from responsibility. “Since we are justified by faith…we have peace with God” and “stand in grace”(Romans 5:1–2, NRSV). That grace frees us from fear and empowers us to respond to that grace by acting for others. Grace is not passive; it propels faithful action—advocating for justice, including through our participation in elections.

Scripture also gives concrete examples of faithful engagement in imperfect systems. Nehemiah used his role to secure resources and rebuild a city (Nehemiah 2:1–9, NRSV). Joseph stewarded public administration to prevent famine and save lives (Genesis 41, NRSV). Wise leadership, exercised well, changes material outcomes for communities.

From Reflection to Action

In a democracy, “we the people” share responsibility for choosing wise and just leaders. As Christians, we use our voices and our votes as an expression of loving our neighbor (see Matthew 25:40, NRSV). This is stewardship of influence, time, and resources.

We are nonpartisan. We don’t endorse candidates or parties. We urge policies that measurably reduce hunger—close to home and around the globe.

Connecting Civic Action to Anti-Hunger Impact

Our election engagement complements our ongoing advocacy with Congress. When we evaluate candidates through an anti-hunger lens and vote accordingly, we help secure outcomes like:

• Strong nutrition programs (SNAP, WIC, child nutrition and school meals).
• Effective international food security and nutrition assistance.
• Policies that address root causes of hunger (wages, employment, conflict, climate impacts, inequities).

Advocacy works. Alongside churches and charities, the U.S. government has the scale to make a historic impact on hunger. Federal nutrition programs provide roughly ten times as much food assistance as private churches and charities combined.

Civic engagement strengthens democracy—especially in times of challenge. By engaging our elected leaders through advocacy and the electoral process, we help ensure they remain accountable to the democratic principles set forth in the Constitution.

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Prayer

O God, our Creator,

through our elected leaders and our government, you sustain all you have made.

We pray for those seeking office in our country. Grant them integrity and wisdom to strengthen good governance and expand opportunity for people in need.

Give us courage to challenge candidates to address hunger and poverty.

As we prepare to vote, guide us by your vision of love, justice, and mercy.

In Christ’s name we pray.

Amen.

What Is Bread for the World?

Bread for the World is a Christian advocacy organization urging U.S. decision makers to strive for a world without hunger. We educate and equip people to advocate for policies and programs that end hunger in the U.S. and around the world. We work nonpartisan and in concert with churches and charities, elevating the leadership of those most affected by hunger and reflecting the diversity of Christian traditions in our nation.

Join Us

Speak up with us, pray with us, and give to fuel change.

For biweekly prayers focused on ending hunger, visit bread.org/PrayNow.

The post The Bible and Elections appeared first on Bread for the World.

This is the fourth in a five-part series on transforming assistance to fragile contexts to end hunger.

Although Latin America has less than 10 percent of the global population, almost half of all COVID-19- related deaths have taken place there, and many of the low-income countries hit hardest in the first year of the pandemic are in Latin America.

Latin America soon emerged as an epicenter of the global pandemic despite the fact that COVID-19 cases did not appear in the region until much later than they were apparent in Europe and the United States.

A major reason for this is that the majority of Latin American countries faced myriad political and governance challenges before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Corruption in government and low levels of both mandatory taxation levels and actual tax collection contributed to many problems that fueled the pandemic, particularly inadequate public health systems, very high levels of economic inequality, and poorly resourced public education systems.

In recent years, Venezuela has faced what some consider “the Americas’ greatest single humanitarian crisis.” The nation’s economy and political structure collapsed even though it possesses the world’s largest known petroleum reserves. More than 5 million people have now fled the country and an estimated 91 percent of those who remain live in poverty. Nearly a third of all Venezuelans—more than 9 million people— are food insecure or malnourished. These figures are expected to rise as the coronavirus continues to spread.

The dire pre-pandemic circumstances have exacerbated the death and suffering caused by COVID-19. 80 percent of Venezuela’s hospitals were understaffed and 60 percent were not equipped with basic necessities such as running water and reliable electricity.

For several years now, public protests have swept the country as people denounced the government’s poor policies and other shortcomings that led to an economic collapse and food shortages. In 2018, a disputed presidential election worsened the political situation. The Organization of American States, the European Union, and other international organizations declared that the result was not valid. 

According to a blog post from the U.S. Institute of Peace, the government has used the COVID-19 pandemic to oppress its critics; for example, quarantines that are necessary for public health are being used to “reestablish political and social control,” and the government is charged with concealing the true numbers of COVID-19 victims.

According to the International Crisis Group, Venezuela is now on the brink of a famine. Lines at public food distribution sites stretch for miles, clean water is scarce and medicine even scarcer. The country’s currency has been devalued so many times that it is worth almost to nothing, signaling surging rates of inflation. As early as the end of April 2020, inflation on food items had reached 251 percent. The only “option” for those who cannot find food in stores is to pay up to 10 times more on the black market, an impossibility for most.

In a further threat to food security, fuel shortages are preventing farmers from operating their equipment to plant crops. More than half of the agricultural land that produced crops in 2019 was projected to lie fallow in 2020. Some agricultural sectors are faring even worse—the dairy industry is working at just 12 percent of capacity and one in six sugar mills is currently operational.

Further problems in accessing essential supplies have been created by U.S. sanctions seeking to disrupt trade between Venezuela and Iran. U.S. sanctions on oil tankers traveling from Iran to Venezuela have caused the price of oil to increase by as much as 30 percent—this at a time when the pandemic caused global oil prices to fall to historic lows, and in a country rich in oil reserves.

The Venezuelan government has deployed the army to control rationing at gas stations across the country. Farmers wait hours in line for their insufficient rations of fuel, and those who can afford to buy more at exorbitant black market prices do this as well. The scarcity of fuel has repercussions further down the food supply chain as well—for example, produce often cannot be transported to distribution centers for lack of fuel.

Stay tuned to Institute Insights next month to wrap up this series on fragility with ways to move forward.

Jordan Teague is interim co-director, policy analysis and coalition building, and Rahma Sohail was the 2020 Crook fellow with Bread for the World Institute.

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Another election has come to pass in the United States, and God is still God — saving, loving, and ever present to all people and to all creation. In times of uncertainty and transition, the prophet Jeremiah speaks to us today through these timeless words of Scripture: “For I know the plans I have for you … to give you a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

For 20 days beginning on Nov. 6, Bread for the World members unite in prayer for our country, world, elected officials, and for all God’s beloved children who experience hunger and poverty, intensified by the two pandemics of COVID-19 and racism. A video from Rev. Eugene Cho along with Scripture verses and words for prayerful reflection over these next 20 days will be posted daily in English and Spanish at bread.org/prayer2020 and on Bread’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.

Please join in lifting this prayer:

“For I know the plans I have for you … to give you a future with hope”

—Jeremiah 29:11

The post Prayers to End Hunger: 20 Days of Prayer appeared first on Bread for the World.

As Christians, we bring our faith to our civic engagement, whether that is through the elections process or through our advocacy to elected leaders.

The leaders we elect make the decisions that impact people experiencing hunger and poverty here in the Unites States and around the world.

In our democracy, we seek to love our neighbors and God’s creation and we are called to elect wise and just leaders. As you prepare to cast your ballot, please pray for all presidential and congressional candidates:

Bread for the World has developed a bilingual website with everything you need to participate faithfully in the 2020 elections and vote to end hunger. Explore the website now in English and Spanish to deepen your faithful engagement in the elections and then go vote to end hunger!

The post Prayers to End Hunger: 2020 Elections appeared first on Bread for the World.

“Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and honor.” Proverbs 21:21 NIV

Recently, the United States surpassed 200,000 deaths due to COVID-19. This number includes the disproportionate rate of deaths among people of African descent. Bread for the World Institute has determined that for every 100,000 African Americans, about 26 have died, compared to nine among whites. In six states and the District of Columbia, the African American mortality rate is five times the national average.

The historic and recent occasions of police brutality have dramatically contributed to the disproportionate numbers of fatalities of African Americans due to racialized violence. At the same time, campaigns like Souls to the Polls, Turnout Sunday, and Black Lives Matter coalitions have mobilized for more protection of Black lives.

These events and campaigns have revealed the structural racial inequities that promote the lack of protection of Black lives and the related systematic efforts to dismiss and minimize the participation of people of African descent in the election of government leaders.

From 1619 to 1808, enslaved African sons and daughters were brought to the United States. Millions perished during the horrendous journey. The law of enslavement continued until 1865. As noncitizens in the United States, they were lawfully banned from participating in elections and decisions that governed their lives. Still they labored without wages and were subject to other brutal forms of human indignities while building the foundation of the economy today. This and other life-threatening conditions led to a dramatic loss of Black lives.

While the 14th Amendment to the Constitution in1868 granted African American men the rights of citizenship, this did not always translate into the ability for them to vote. Black voters were systematically turned away from the polls. To combat this, Congress passed the 15th Amendment in 1870. This action led to a promising Reconstruction period with African American electoral gains and roles in decision-making.

But the Reconstruction period was overturned by Congress and the Jim Crow era followed. Congress also removed military protections for Black lives. Many died from lynching. Despite the gains of women to obtain the vote with the 19th Amendment, the daughters of Africa—just like the sons of Africa—were systematically rejected from voting until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Voting matters when seeking to protect Black lives! This was demonstrated in 2008 when African Americans were able to vote substantially in the election of the first African American president, Barack Obama. One of his major achievements, with the Congress, was adding 20 million people to healthcare rolls, saving more Black lives.

This year’s election is just as important and timely for protecting Black lives. Voting is not an option if one cares about protecting Black lives: It is a mandate. Make a voting plan and vote. Black lives depend on it. It could be your one vote that makes the difference!

Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

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The following statement can be attributed to Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World:

“Bread for the World members are praying for President-elect Donald J. Trump and the new and returning lawmakers who will make up the 115th Congress in 2017.

“We are concerned that some of the policies Trump has discussed would increase hunger and poverty. If our next president deports large numbers of immigrants, for example, many of those people will suffer from hunger.

“On the other hand, Trump has promised to strengthen the job market for working people in both urban and rural areas across the country. Nothing is more important to progress against hunger and poverty in this country.

“Trump has also argued that hunger and extreme poverty around the world often contribute to violence that threatens U.S. national security. We look forward to working with the incoming administration and Congress on this issue.

“We know that dramatic progress against hunger and poverty is possible in our time. Bread for the World will persistently urge the Trump administration and the 115th Congress to provide help and opportunity to hungry and poor in the United States and around the world.”    

The post Bread for the World Congratulates Trump, Members of New Congress appeared first on Bread for the World.

The following statement was issued by Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World:

“Hillary Clinton’s economic plan would be much better for families who struggle with hunger than Donald Trump’s plan.

“Clinton again focused mainly on middle-class families. But some of her proposed investments would also benefit low-income families, and she made a couple explicit references to low-income families. She said ‘I want to raise the minimum wage because people who work full-time should not still be in poverty.’ Later in the debate, Clinton said that she favors enhancing Social Security benefits for low-income workers.

“Donald Trump, on the other hand, made no mention of low-income people. Bread for the World believes that his economic plan, his immigration plan, and his plan to dismantle the Affordable Care Act would all contribute to increased hunger and poverty.

“We are sad that none of the debates have paid much attention to people who are hungry and live in poverty in the U.S. and around the world. The candidates’ discussion of Syria might have mentioned that millions of Syrians have been pushed into desperate poverty, but the debate focused instead on U.S. military strategy.

“For Christians, voting is a sacred responsibility and our loving God invites us to defend the interests of hungry people when we make our voting decisions.”    

The post Bread for the World Urges Voters to End Hunger appeared first on Bread for the World.

Elections are always messy and emotional. They engage our deepest hopes and fears.

They are too often more about personalities than principles. And they are too often covered by the media more as a sporting competition than as a search for what’s best for the country.

Nevertheless, elections – at their best — are our chance to decide the directions our country will move in — they are our chance to discern who will best represent what we see as God’s justice.  Under whose leadership will the poor be delivered, the land flourish, the people live in peace, the nations be blessed.

But, of course, this election is not “elections at their best.”  This one is about our political system, at its worst.  This one is about discontent, disaffection, distrust, and, too often, disgust. 

This election is a mess.

So what do we do?

Well. We pray.  “God help us!”

We summon the faith that this justice we seek is God’s justice; that God wants to give it to us; and God will continue to offer it to us.

We pray “God help us choose a president who will seek your justice.”

“God help us choose a president, under whose leadership

. . . All people – of all colors — will be judged righteously

. . . The poor will be delivered out of poverty

. . . The land will flourish – and flourish sustainably

. . . Peace will break out in our communities and world

. . . Oppression will be put to an end, so that there will be no more refugee families fleeing halfway around the world with their young children

. . . Cities wrecked by abandonment and violence will once again be full of thriving, hopeful life

And under whose leadership there will be . . .

. . . a peaceful international order in which our nation is perceived as a blessing to all the nations.

Even in our disillusionment, it is important that we express this longing –

To hold it up to God.

To hold it up for each other.

And finally, we remind ourselves that we hold a vote as a blessing entrusted to us by God.  What we do with that vote is as much an issue of stewardship as what we do with our money, or our time, or the earth that has been entrusted to our care.  We hold that vote as an opportunity — and as a responsibility — to choose leaders who will seek — welcome — embrace — pursue God’s justice above all else — above power, above personal gain, above political party. Not just a president, but members of congress, state legislators, city council members, and judges.  Not to use that vote would be to bury this gift from God in the ground, like the fearful servant in Jesus’ parable.

And so we vote.

And then, when the country has made its choice, whether we are happy or sad — we go back to David’s prayer.

“God, give our leaders your justice!”

And, then, we go back to work. . . trusting that God gives us that justice, too.

Rev. Gary Cook is the former director of church relations at Bread for the World. This blog post is an excerpt from a sermon, “Give Our Leaders Your Justice, O God,” he gave on Oct. 9 at Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church in Louisville, KY.

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The following statement can be attributed to Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World:

“One in 5 children struggles with hunger, 43 million Americans live below the poverty line, and 631,000 American voters have petitioned Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and the moderators to discuss hunger and poverty in the debates. Yet hunger and poverty have hardly been mentioned in the first two presidential debates.   

“There are many actions the federal government could take to move us toward the end of hunger and poverty. But the only new action proposed last night was Donald Trump’s proposal to block-grant Medicaid. Block-granting programs is a way of cutting them – in this case, allowing states to cut back on health care for people in poverty. Currently 70 million people are protected by the lifesaving federal program.

“The last presidential debate takes place on October 19 in Nevada, where 1 in 7 households struggles to put food on the table. We hope to God that debate moderator Chris Wallace and the candidates will talk about how to provide help and opportunity to people who struggle with hunger and poverty. These problems affect tens of millions of people in our country, and Americans deserve to hear directly from the presidential candidates how they would address them.”

The post Hunger and Poverty Once Again Missing in Trump-Clinton Debate appeared first on Bread for the World.

“Both statements provide valuable insights into how each candidate would address hunger and poverty in our country and around the world, and in many ways stand in stark contrast to each other,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “The statements also set the stage for Martha Raddatz and Anderson Cooper, the moderators of this Sunday’s debate, to ask Trump and Clinton to defend their competing plans to reduce hunger and poverty.”

“One in five U.S. children struggles with hunger. So why has there been virtually no mention of hunger and poverty in the presidential and vice-presidential debates?” asked Beckmann.   

The statements were provided to Vote to End Hunger (VTEH), a coalition of 166 groups working to make hunger, poverty, and opportunity a higher political priority in 2016. These and other groups have been working for some time to make hunger and poverty election issues. VTEH has also been coordinating a social media campaign urging the debate moderators to ask about hunger and poverty.

In January 2015, faith leaders with the Circle of Protection began asking all major party presidential candidates to make a short video about what they would do as president to offer help and opportunity to hungry and poor people in the United States and around the world. The leaders received videos from Clinton and most of the other presidential candidates, but not from Trump.

In the statement that was just released, Trump discusses the need to address hunger and poverty. But the main solution he offers is his plan to promote economic growth by cutting taxes for corporations and high-income people, partly at the expense of programs that benefit low-income people.      

Trump notes that hunger and poverty around the world are a threat to international peace and stability. But he proposes to cut international development and humanitarian programs, calling vital programs such as maternal and child health “bloated and unaccountable.”

In previous statements, Trump has also called for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

Clinton’s newly released statement proposes a national goal of cutting poverty in half over ten years. She would promote growth and create jobs through a major program of public investment in infrastructure, affordable housing, education, and development in low-income communities. She would also raise the minimum wage and ensure that women are paid equally.

Clinton’s statement also discusses her work to raise the productivity of struggling farmers in poor countries and says she will fight to eradicate hunger worldwide.   

In previous statements, Clinton has promised comprehensive immigration reform and criminal justice reform, both of which would open opportunities for many families struggling with hunger and poverty. 

The post Trump, Clinton Release Statements About Hunger and Poverty in Advance of Oct. 9 Debate appeared first on Bread for the World.

The following statement can be attributed to Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World:  

“The vice-presidential debate, like the first presidential debate, made virtually no mention of hunger and poverty. How can this be when one in five U.S. children struggles with hunger?

“Gov. Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Kaine repeated the contrasting approaches of Trump and Clinton to economic recovery and immigration. Bread for the World thinks the Clinton-Kaine approach to both these issues would do more to reduce hunger and poverty – investment in working people rather than tax cuts for high-income people, and comprehensive immigration reform rather than mass deportations.

“Thankfully, Gov. Pence and Sen. Kaine agreed on three issues that are important to people in need – criminal justice reform and community policing in our country, and humanitarian protection for civilians in Syria.

“I hope, however, that the critical issues of hunger and poverty will be discussed in the October 9 presidential debate.”

The post Pence and Kaine Say Virtually Nothing about Hunger and Poverty appeared first on Bread for the World.

The following statement can be attributed to Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World:

“Lester Holt started the debate with a question about economic inequality and the bottom 50 percent of the income distribution. He also focused the second segment on the racial divide in America. But nobody — not Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump, not Lester Holt — mentioned hunger or poverty. Yet one in five U.S. children struggles with hunger, and 43 million Americans live below the poverty line. 

“Hillary Clinton’s answers to Holt’s question about the bottom 50 percent and the racial divide were more consistent with Bread for the World’s analyses than Trump’s answers. Bread for the World agrees that investing in people is a better economic growth strategy than tax cuts for corporations and wealthy people. We were pleased that Clinton specifically mentioned raising the minimum wage and pay equity for women. But we wish she had mentioned the importance of investing in low-income people too. Donald Trump expressed concern about the human costs of de-industrialization, but well-negotiated trade deals are not, by themselves, going to solve these problems.

“Trump’s solution to bridging the racial divide was law and order. Clinton, on the other hand, talked about strategies to reduce racial injustice and end systemic racism. She specifically called for steps to address racial discrimination in policing and the legal system.

“Clinton made a passing reference to what she did as Secretary of State to ‘open opportunity for people around the world.’ But that was as close as the debate came to any mention of all the people around the world who suffer from hunger, poverty, and disease. No one mentioned the hopeful fact that the world as a whole is making unprecedented progress against hunger, poverty, and disease. In all the talk about security, no one mentioned how economic opportunity for desperately poor people in poor countries contributes to global security.

“Since Donald Trump has given great prominence to his plans to deport millions of immigrants, that’s another issue that needs more attention in future debates.  His plan would cause hunger — or deepen hunger — for many, many families.

“Bread for the World’s members and partners ask our presidential candidates — and the moderator of the next debate — to give us more information and better answers to the question of what they would do to end hunger and reduce poverty in the United States and around the world.”

The post Hunger and Poverty Missing in the first Trump vs. Clinton Debate appeared first on Bread for the World.

“Hunger is a critical issue since more than 42 million Americans — or nearly 1 in 8 households — still struggle to put food on the table. Progress has been made, but there are still more hungry Americans now than before the 2008 recession,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “It is only recently that the presidential candidates started explicitly talking about hunger and poverty.”

On Sept. 15, Bread and other anti-hunger groups delivered the names of 631,000 voters to the campaign headquarters of both candidates and to Holt, who will moderate the first presidential debate tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern.  The voters signed a petition calling on the political parties, candidates, and Congress to make ending hunger a top priority.

After receiving the petitions, the Clinton campaign delivered a statement on reducing poverty to the group. A Trump campaign staff member said they were working on a statement. Previously, the major presidential candidates were asked for a video addressing how they will end hunger and poverty if elected president. Clinton sent a video; to date, Trump has not.  

A recent survey conducted by Bread for the World found that 1 in 3 voters says they will vote only for candidates who promise to make ending hunger one of their top priorities. Two-thirds of likely voters in swing states say that ending hunger should be one of the top priorities of government.

Beckmann added, “Clinton’s plan to reduce poverty, outlined in The New York Times Sept. 21, includes investing in good-paying jobs, creating more affordable housing, and focusing on the growing problem of extreme poverty – putting special emphasis on minority communities. She would also raise the minimum wage and guarantee equal pay for women, expand Early Head Start, and make pre-school universal.

“In his public pronouncements, Donald Trump argues that his proposed tax cuts would stimulate rapid economic growth. But the tax cuts would go mainly to high-income people and corporations, and they would entail cuts to many programs, including WIC (nutrition assistance to mothers and children) and programs that fight hunger and disease in poor countries. Trump has recently toned down his immigration plan, but it would still deport millions of people, increasing hunger and poverty among those families. He has recently announced a proposal to help many families with maternity leave and child care.” 

The post Will Clinton, Trump Detail Plans to End Poverty at Tonight’s Debate? appeared first on Bread for the World.

In February 1991, I was a senior in high school and had just turned 18. A few weeks earlier, on Jan. 17, then-President George H.W. Bush had started the war to force Iraq out of Kuwait, which Iraq had invaded several months earlier. As required by law, I registered for the draft. It really hit me on my birthday that year – as a war was actually being waged, I was becoming officially eligible to fight in a war. I realized that, if the war had dragged on, there was a real possibility that I could be recruited to go fight.

I had to wait 21 months before I had an opportunity to vote for president. In other words, when my country said I was officially of age, I was eligible to be sent off to war but not yet able to cast a vote for the person who would have sent me to war.

So I was eager to vote for the first time in a national election in November 1992. The year before, I had moved across the country to start college. With all of these new experiences and responsibilities, I felt like such an adult.

In this election, my wife and I will take our two girls, ages 5 and 9, with us when we vote on Nov. 8. This is so they can not only see that someone of their gender is able to make a run for the highest office in the land, but also so they see that it’s important to take part in choosing our leaders.

I want them to understand that we have a say in who our leaders are – the ones who can start wars and send Americans to deadly situations, the ones who inspire us and lead us through difficult times, the ones who formulate our policies that can touch the lives of so many people around the world.

Choosing our leaders – voting – is an adult thing, an important responsibility because of what our leaders have the power and ability to do.

Learn more about Bread’s I Vote to End Hunger campaign and then get involved to ensure that our next president and Congress make ending hunger a priority.

Stephen H. Padre is Bread’s managing editor.

The post Teaching my daughters the importance of voting appeared first on Bread for the World.

As Catholics, we are called to bear public witness to our faith, not to keep it to ourselves and our families. Otherwise, it would be impossible to fully embrace our commandment of loving our neighbor. Our public witness gives us the opportunity to influence politics through our faith, which teaches us about the common good, human rights, and human dignity. Therefore, faith is not and cannot be a private matter.

In this election cycle, we glorify God when we raise issues of hunger and poverty before our federal and local candidates. We need to tell them that we care about these issues and how, if elected, we want them to spend our tax dollars. We should turn our attention to this election as faithful Catholic citizens committed to justice and compassion, and responsibility for the common good.

But how can we evaluate the issues and candidates in light of our Catholic faith? Here are some guidance and resources to challenge you to get actively involved in the public square —by voting and engaging others in their civic duties in the next 49 days until Election Day.

Five steps to help you discern and bring your Catholic values into the process of electing leaders:

• Inform yourself about the church’s teachings. You can check the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website on faithful citizenship and Catholic social teachings. And if you want to be inspired, read the social dimension of evangelization by Pope Francis.
• Educate yourself about the issues. Listen critically to the candidates to learn what their plans are to end hunger and poverty in the United States and overseas.
• Let your candidates know where you stand on critical issues, like hunger and poverty. And commit yourself to vote to end hunger by signing Bread’s pledge.
• Pray regularly. Take your concerns for hunger and poverty, as well as your candidates for public office, to God and ask for God’s guidance and wisdom in your discernment. You can sign up for our biweekly prayer digest to keep hunger and poverty front and center in your prayer life.
• If you want to go further, you can also get your church involved in Bread’s I Vote to End Hunger campaign. You can find here easy actions for your church to participate with Bread. The USCCB also has some practical suggestions for churches on this issue.

With our Catholic vote, we can transform the future for those facing hunger and poverty in the U.S. and abroad. With faith rooted in the Bible, Catholic social teachings, and the papal documents, Catholics are encouraged to respond to the basic needs of human beings through social justice— food, shelter, health care, education, and employment.

Let’s make these issues a top priority for the next president and Congress.

Dulce Gamboa is associate for Latino relations at Bread for the World.

The post Catholics: Let your faith show this election season appeared first on Bread for the World.

Suggested resources from Bread are provided for each item.

An ideal starting point for churches thinking about how to engage in the election.

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By Curtis Ramsey-Lucas

Do not put your trust in princes,
In mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs they return to the earth;
On that very day their plans perish (Psalm 146:3-4)

To live a life of praise is to offer one’s whole self to God in worship and work. The antithesis of this life is to put one’s trust in human rulers, in those in whom there is no help and whose plans perish with them. The Psalmist is not suggesting we place no trust in those responsible for civil affairs. Without trust, society would descend into chaos. However, we are not to put our ultimate or unconditional trust or faith, in those who are only human, make mistakes, lose their way, and whose plans perish with them. Such faith we are to place in God alone.

Psalm 146 describes how God acts on behalf of those most in need, executing justice for the oppressed, giving food to the hungry. Prisoners are set free and the blind receive sight. Those who are bowed down or oppressed are lifted up and the righteous are loved. The Lord watches over the uprooted and supports the orphan and the widow. The Lord brings ruin to the way of the wicked.

Psalm 146 links God’s concern for justice with the very origin of creation and tells us that justice is now and forever will be the heart of God’s concern.  God’s compassion bends toward those we tend to forget.  But God remembers and knows their plight, just as God heard the cries of the Israelites in Egypt, “and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  God saw the people of Israel, and God knew their condition” (Exodus 2:24-25).

If the concerns which the Psalmist lists are God’s concerns, they should be our concerns also as believers who trust in God.   As we trust in God, we are challenged to keep God’s concerns before us in all that we say and do and how we exercise our rights and responsibilities as citizens including how we vote.

As we are called to integrate our faith and politics, we maintain a degree of skepticism regarding the claims and promises of politicians when they are candidates as well as once they are elected. We vote with a consciousness and perspective that encompasses more than our own self-interest.  We allow our self-interest to be challenged, shaped and broadened by God’s interest and concern.

There are beneficial and profitable solutions to hunger and poverty in our world.  Most of those solutions revolve around an ethic of abundance rather than scarcity and an ethic that values the dignity and well-being of others.  Yes, we are called to continue to provide and support food pantries with healthy food options but also consider whether or not the candidates you are supporting include addressing hunger and poverty among the policies they promote. 

Curtis Ramsey-Lucas is managing director, resource development at American Baptist Home Mission Societies, and director of interfaith engagement at American Association of People with Disabilities. This blog post was adapted from Does the Bible Tell Me How to Vote? Reprinted with permission of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.

The post In God we trust appeared first on Bread for the World.

Immigration as a policy issue – and immigrants themselves – have been much debated during this year’s election season.  Candidates of both major political parties, up and down the ballot, are squaring off, and the future of millions of men, women, and children without documentation hangs in the balance. 

Bread for the World is committed to ending hunger by 2030, but we won’t get there if the next Congress and new president don’t find a way to agree on immigration reform. Hunger and immigration are inextricably linked in the U.S.

Nationally, 1 in 5 children – about 16 million –  lives in a household where there is not always enough to eat.  Of these, an estimated 4.5 million children live with at least one parent without documentation and are twice as likely to experience hunger and poverty.  They are also less likely to benefit from anti-hunger programs like SNAP (formerly food stamps) and WIC.

Recently, Rev. Ray Rivera, founder of the New York-based Latino Pastoral Action Center (LPAC), spoke as part of a panel on immigration saying, “Immigration is an integral part of the mission of the church.”

He spoke about the more than 2,000 Bible verses that reference people who are poor and what he believes is God’s preferential option for them.  Speaking to an audience of Latino Pentecostal pastors at the National Latino Evangelical Coalition’s Beyond Conference, Rivera cited data by the Pew Research Center that in the U.S., 35 percent of people attending Latino Pentecostal churches are undocumented and as many as 15 percent of pastors may also be undocumented.  Both as a moral issue and a practical one, the Latino church must help fix the problem of immigration in the U.S.

Matthew 25:36-39 asks, “’…when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?  And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’”

For the immigrant, these are not abstract questions but expressions of very real ways in which they meet God daily.  We as the reader of God’s word are challenged to see in each person we encounter the opportunity to greet God with love and compassion by ensuring that hungry people have enough to eat and immigrants are treated fairly. 

Bread for the World offers elections resources that leaders and churches can use to raise questions about hunger and poverty when speaking with candidates for public office.  Visit bread.org/vote to learn how you can raise questions and work with others in your community to ask candidates what they will do to end hunger and poverty. 

Marco Grimaldo is senior associate for Latino engagement at Bread for the World.

The post Welcome the stranger this election season appeared first on Bread for the World.

“Voting is Christian stewardship,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “Bread for the World is taking this unprecedented action because we want to make hunger and poverty key issues in this year’s presidential and congressional elections. We want candidates to know that we, and millions of others, will vote to end hunger.” 

Bread’s grassroots activists are reaching out to voters and congressional candidates across the country, focusing on 12 swing states. The organization is also using digital ads to reach 50 million voters in these same swing states.

Bread is asking candidates: “If elected, what will you do to end hunger, alleviate poverty, and create opportunity in the U.S. and worldwide?” Bread is also working with other groups to ask the question. A recent survey conducted by Bread for the World found that 1 in 3 voters says they will vote for candidates who promise to make ending hunger one of their top priorities.

“We know that ending hunger is possible in our lifetime,” added Beckmann. “But we must elect leaders who will put us on track to do it. Ending hunger isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s politically smart. Helping hungry people is a compelling political issue to voters no matter their religious or party affiliation.”

As a Christian organization, Bread expects presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump and all other candidates in the 2016 campaign to act respectfully toward each other, and promote policies that provide help and opportunity for people who struggle with hunger and poverty.

The post Bread Unveils 2016 Election Platform and ‘I Vote’ Campaign appeared first on Bread for the World.

By Hope Watson

Even as a child, I was fiercely independent. I played on the swings when everyone else was jumping rope. I insisted on packing my Blue’s Clues lunchbox myself. And I would have rather stayed inside than be forced to accept help with tying my shoes. 

There are many things I could attribute this independence to. My leadership role as the oldest child, the example of self-sufficiency set by my parents, and a desire to establish myself among my peers are among the possibilities.

Each of these reasons is undergirded by my ties to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) over the course of my life.

CBF Christians believe in the autonomy of the local church – the independence of the local church. It should make its own decisions, guided by the will of God. We believe in the competency of every congregation to seek God’s intentions for their church and pursue them to implementation.

This concept is represented on an individual level as well in the principle of the “priesthood of all believers.” This says that every single follower of Christ has the intellect and spirituality necessary to interpret Scripture for him or herself and then to use that interpretation to guide his/her life upon righteous paths.

Out of this principle comes a unique learning opportunity. Because of the diversity in interpretations within the congregation, everyone must come to Bibles studies, small groups, and informal gatherings prepared to discuss these interpretations with open hearts, minds, and – most importantly – ears.

By listening to the varied understandings of others, we not only validate those sharing their experiences, but we also learn more about our own conclusions and sometimes even alter them based on another person’s comments.

Perhaps this model would be effective in this contentious political season. It could expand beyond the pews of our churches to the benches across from newsstands, to the watercoolers in our offices, and to the tables in our coffee shops.

As a Christian community, we have a unique opportunity – and obligation – to defuse divisiveness during this ruthless election cycle. We can do this by engaging in meaningful dialogue, especially with those who have interpreted political concepts differently. We can respectfully acknowledge differences and celebrate common ground. We can display a posture of good intention and give the benefit of the doubt that others are doing the same.

In the words of President Obama spoken at the recent memorial service for the police officers killed in Dallas, “Can we find the character, as Americans, to open our hearts to each other? Can we see in each other a common humanity and a shared dignity and recognize how our different experiences have shaped us?”

If we can, we’ll learn from each other’s opinions, rejoice in diversity of thought, and move toward an understanding built on compassion and respect.

Let’s discover what can happen if we dare to shout less and listen more, to embrace without rejecting, to be challenged instead of defensive.

Even in an election year, let’s dare to be God’s people. 

Hope Watson is an intern in the church relations department at Bread for the World.

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• hunger
• poverty
• the role of government in addressing hunger and poverty
• hunger/poverty-related statistics specific to some states
• development assistance focused on poverty

Feel free to download these and use them on your personal or congregation’s social media channels (websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.).

Click on the link below to find the memes on Bread’s Flickr page.

The post 2016 Election Memes appeared first on Bread for the World.

Vox, a news website founded by former Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein, has published an interview Klein conducted with Hillary Clinton on June 22 in Raleigh, N.C., following a major speech on her economic vision.

During the extensive interview, Clinton addressed extreme poverty and the working poor, two aspects of hunger that Bread is concerned about.

Klein prefaces the transcript of the interview (and also makes the video available) by noting, “It will give you a sense of how Clinton thinks, how she reasons, how she works through policy questions.”

Beginning last fall, Bread for the World, as part of the Circle of Protection, requested of all presidential candidates a video statement on what they would do to address poverty both in the United States and around the world as president. Clinton, now as her party’s presumptive nominee, submitted her video. Her counterpart, Donald Trump, as his party’s presumptive nominee, has not responded to repeated requests from the Circle of Protection for a video.

The following excerpt from the transcript of the interview with Clinton highlights her stance on some of the issues that Bread is concerned about:

Ezra Klein: Let’s start with poverty. Scholars have estimated that the number of American families living in extreme poverty, under $2 in cash income, has skyrocketed in the last 20 years.

You have about 1.5 million families and 3 million children in this kind of poverty. Given how many children are now in that condition, should we be following the model of countries — like Sweden, Germany, and now Canada under Trudeau — that have a universal child allowance to cut or eliminate child poverty?

Hillary Clinton:

Well, this is a very personal and important issue to me — because, as you know, I started out my work as a lawyer for the Children’s Defense Fund. And I have been focused on child poverty and what we can do to alleviate it for a very long time…

…we’ve got a big problem, and it’s a problem that’s a reflection on our political as well as our economic systems. And I do think we should focus on how we’re going to support more families, and there are a number of inputs. But trying to create more financial support is something that we should look at. I’m not ready to adopt a plan that comes from some other country, because we have to look to see how we would do anything in our federal system — and how it would be workable and what the cost-benefit analysis might be.

But while we’re looking at how we lift incomes — which is the defining economic challenge that we have for working, middle-class, and poor families — we need to do much more to provide the proven interventions in early childhood education that help families, even poor families, know more about how to better prepare their kids. We need to do more with nutrition — and we’re making progress with health care thanks to SCHIP [the State Children’s Health Insurance Program] and the Affordable Care Act.

So it’s not just a decision about whether or not to increase the child tax credit or some other means of providing a greater financial safety net. It’s also what we can do to really support families. And I think we have to move on both tracks.

Klein: But to ask a big-picture question about that policy shift: Something a lot of poverty scholars argue to me is that we made a very big change toward trying to support the working poor — welfare reform was, of course, part of that. It went, from the numbers I’ve seen, from bringing a million of these families out of poverty to around 300,000 in more recent years. Then there was the expansion of the EITC.

Do you think we do too little now to support the poor who, for whatever reason, cannot find or cannot keep a job?

Clinton: I do. I know there’s a big debate — and it’s an important debate — about welfare reform. Because when welfare reform was passed, there was an expectation — certainly on my part, and I think on the part of many who had supported it — that there would be a requirement that states would have to be contributing to the broadest possible safety net, particularly in economic downturns.

So we wouldn’t help the working poor, particularly through the EITC — which I think is one of the best anti-poverty programs that we have devised — at the expense of the poor. We would be providing a continuing safety net for the poor. And that’s one of the programs that I was referring to when I said after 2001, there were a lot of decisions made that basically did not carry on what had been not just the spirit but the requirements in the law, because we had set the base payment at the highest possible rate and expected states to do that.

So we are back to a serious problem of poverty, and I think we have to do much more to target federal programs to the poorest, where intergenerational poverty is once again a cycle. Congressman Jim Clyburn has a creative idea called the 10-20-30 approach, where you would put a percentage of federal funds — 10 percent of federal funds — in those communities that are most impoverished and have been for 30 years.

So I think we’ve got to address really systemic, generational poverty differently. We still have to lift up working people. We have to make it worth everyone’s while to work. We have to create more good jobs. We still have to have the training pipeline there. But we are now, unfortunately, back having to face poverty that we thought we had a better approach toward ending than it turns out — given the change in administrations and attitudes — that we did.

Stephen H. Padre is Bread’s managing editor.

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I took a day off last month from my summer internship at Bread for the World to work at the polling place in my precinct for the Washington, D.C., primary election. As a voter assistance clerk, I spoke with voters who had struggled through the humid June heat to vote in an election that held little significance in the eyes of the media.

As the last presidential primary in a city that does not have representation in Congress, elections in D.C. are relatively inconsequential in the United States as a whole. Even so, voters in my precinct worked to ensure that their voices, however ignored by the rest of the country, would be heard. Their commitment to political engagement and their belief in the power of their vote drove hundreds of my neighbors to the polls, despite car troubles, long walks, or tight schedules. It was an inspiring day.

By choosing council members and presidential nominees, these voters were shaping the future of hunger and poverty in their city. As a member of Metropolitan Memorial United Church in Washington, D.C., I have participated in serving meals to people in need. Many of those individuals being helped have jobs and are addressing their mental health issues but still suffer from homelessness and food insecurity.

God explicitly calls us to end injustices around us, and my internship with Bread this summer gives me an opportunity to practice my Christian beliefs in every assignment. Even in my relatively short time at Bread, I have developed a deeper respect and appreciation for voters who are determined to exercise their democratic right to alleviate hunger in their communities.  While the percentage of undernourished people in the world has fallen dramatically in the past 20 years –thanks in large part to programs of our federal government that voters and hunger advocates supported – we still have a long road ahead to end hunger in my lifetime.

What happens in the November elections, at the local and national level, will influence how serious our country is about setting a priority to end hunger for good. In August, Bread will formally launch its Vote to End Hunger campaign.  Our vote can and will make a difference in the lives of hungry people in my D.C. neighborhood and around the world. Bread has commissioned surveys, produced election resources, and met with candidates’ policy advisers to help magnify the importance of hunger and poverty issues in the 2016 elections. And more is still to come.

Voting to end hunger applies to all levels of government, not only presidential campaigns. Mayors, city council members, and board of education members are the types of elected officials who can also work toward ending hunger in our community if voters insist that ending hunger is a core component of their platform. Even though an election may seem unimportant, as it seemed in D.C., every ballot that is cast can have a lasting impact if we collectively exercise our right to vote at the national and local levels. Whether interning at Bread or volunteering in my voting precinct, I see my efforts as my faith in action to end hunger.

Catherine Winn is an intern in the church relations department at Bread for the World.

The post The Polls: Where faith and civic participation meet appeared first on Bread for the World.

By Galen Carey

Many political commentators are perplexed, and many American citizens are troubled by the current election season. The major party presidential candidates have reached historic highs in unfavorability ratings. While disagreements on the issues are expected, and indeed helpful in stimulating debate, policy differences have not been the center of attention in this year’s campaigns. Rather, the campaigns have highlighted the character flaws of the opposing candidates. In turn, some candidates’ appeals to fear, anger, and prejudice have tested the character of the voters.

How should faithful Christian citizens respond? Should we throw in the towel? Wring our hands? Engage in self-righteous abstention? There is a better way.

As my co-author Leith Anderson and I write in “Faith in the Voting Booth: Practical Wisdom for Voting Well,” there are many reasons for taking our electoral franchise seriously.

“The Christian’s vote matters not because it decides an election, but because it is an act of faithful stewardship of our citizenship. Voting is an act of Christian witness. Voter participation increases the legitimacy of elections, and thus the mandate of those elected. Voting puts politicians on notice that we care enough to participate. Even if our vote does not decide the outcome of a particular election, it is still needed. If we think others should vote, then we should vote too.” (p. 45)

We need to broaden our concept of voting to include more than simply pulling a lever or tapping a box on a touch screen. Voting begins when we start to notice the issues and challenges facing our community, state, nation, and world. It continues as we tune in to the political discourse and consider the various solutions that are offered. We may even propose solutions of our own.

Voting includes our efforts to engage with candidates, to let them know what issues concern us, and what policies we support. It extends as well to discussions with family, friends, and neighbors, listening to the ideas of others and offering our own. In so doing we help to create a constituency that calls forth from our candidates a more thoughtful platform and, when they are elected, a mandate for action.

Our voting continues as we follow up with our elected leaders, their staff, and appointees, reminding them of their promises and offering them our support for bold and well-conceived plans. Even if our leaders did not receive our support, they still represent us and need to hear from us.

Perhaps most important, we vote when we obey the biblical command to pray for our leaders. They often face what we might call, in Walt Kelly’s memorable phrase, insurmountable opportunities. The work of just governance is hard even in good times, and nearly impossible in times of crisis. We should pray for wisdom, courage, and sensitivity to the needs of those who are living with hunger and poverty. We can pray for our leaders when we are at home, in church, and when we meet with them.

Americans are blessed to live in a democracy where our leaders are accountable to the citizens. While our system is far from perfect, its flaws give us no license to withdraw. Rather, they call us to work toward “a more perfect Union” in which the voices and needs of all — and particularly the most vulnerable among us — are considered.

Galen Carey is vice president for government relations at the National Association of Evangelicals, and co-author of “Faith in the Voting Booth: Practical Wisdom for Voting Well.” He has been a member of Bread for the World since 1980.

The post Faith in the voting booth? appeared first on Bread for the World.

By Dulce Gamboa

Pope Francis calls us to get out of the margins and fight for justice. Hunger and poverty are some of the biggest matters of justice. This election year offers the opportunity for us to educate ourselves, other voters, and the candidates for public office about hunger and poverty.

This year my part in the fight for justice is also personal. I recently met all the requirements to apply for U.S. citizenship! After some paperwork, $680 in fees, a civics test, and a moral and character interview, I am now waiting to be sworn in. Taking this step is important for so many reasons in my life, but most importantly because I will be able to vote.  This presidential election cannot be more consequential, especially for the issues that I care about. And I didn’t want to watch this election cycle from the margins. In fact, I have 11 million reasons not to.

Casting my very first vote for president of the United States will be a big responsibility. As a person of faith, a soon-to-be citizen, and “hunger” voter, I have the moral responsibility to help elect candidates at the local and federal level who can commit to ending hunger in the U.S. and abroad by supporting comprehensive immigration reform, ending mass incarceration, and fixing the economic policies that have failed to prioritize the most vulnerable in our society. I strongly believe resolving these issues should be at the top of the agenda for our next president and Congress.

Pope Francis calls all Catholics to participate in public life. He says that voting is one of the most impactful vehicles for putting in places of authority hunger champions, immigration reform champions, and social justice champions. There are three principles from Catholic social teachings that can help Catholics and other Christians as we evaluate issues, political platforms, and candidates’ stands on issues that affect human dignity and perpetuate injustices:

• The principle of subsidiarity tells us that public institutions should adequately protect human dignity, meet human needs, and advance the common good.
• As a one human family, independently from our nationality, racial and ethnic background, or economic differences, the principle of solidarity calls us to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they live next door or on another continent. Loving our neighbor requires to eradicate racism and poverty in our world.
• The preferential option for the poor and the most vulnerable among us asks us to critically analyze the implications of the candidates’ proposals for people suffering from discrimination, oppression and injustices in our nation and beyond.

Achieving a world free of hunger and poverty requires a political commitment where we all play a role. In light of these principles, it is imperative for us to exercise our sacred gift to vote. Let’s elevate hunger and poverty in this electoral cycle and get out to vote.

Dulce Gamboa is associate for Latino relations at Bread for the World. She is originally from Mexico.

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By Marco Grimaldo

I am often asked wherein the Presbyterian Church finds its call to engage in advocacy and elections.  I love it when I get this question because I studied political science and public policy, and I can tell you that in the 114th Congress, there are 36 members who identify as Presbyterians. 

I grew up Presbyterian and so did my parents, so I know that Rev. John Witherspoon was the only clergy to sign the Declaration of Independence and that James Madison modeled his view of government in part on the Presbyterian model. 

But none of this really gets to the core of the question. Why should Presbyterians be involved in advocacy and elections?

The church I attend, Church of the Pilgrims in Washington, D.C., has concluded that all things flow from the communion table and that we are nourished both physically and spiritually therein. The Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church (USA) eloquently describes what happens in Holy Communion.  “Brought by the Holy Spirit into Christ’s presence, the Church eagerly expects and prays for the day when Christ shall come in glory and God be all in all. Nourished by this hope, the Church rises from the Table and is sent by the power of the Holy Spirit to participate in God’s mission to the world, to proclaim the Gospel, to exercise compassion, to work for justice and peace until Christ’s Kingdom shall come at last” (emphasis mine). In short, the Church, (you and me) responds to the love, mercy, and forgiveness of Jesus Christ by serving others with compassion, justice, and peace. 

Serving with compassion, justice, and peace means providing food to our hungry neighbors in the community but also lobbying to make sure they have help and opportunities to provide for themselves.  It means volunteering in mission and pressing for U.S. investment in development assistance worldwide. And it also means challenging candidates for public office to say what they will do to end hunger in God’s world. 

The next Congress and the next president will have the opportunity and responsibility of guiding us toward an end to hunger.  I have always valued the fact that Presbyterians are part of a connectional Church. That is to say that we believe we are inextricably linked to our sisters and brothers in the Church and by extension to all of God’s children.  Our unity is an act of God, and so we are compelled to live and work together, make choices together, and elect responsible leaders to serve the common good. 

So the next time you have a chance to meet a member of Congress or a candidate for office, ask them what they will do to end hunger.  Better yet, call or email them today and ask them to get back to you with an answer. 

Be tenacious and speak up for those whose needs go unheard.  At their best, elections are a tool to help our democracy work better.  Let’s work together and vote to end hunger.

Marco Grimaldo is senior national associate for Latino engagement at Bread for the World.

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By Jared Noetzel

Probably the single most-identified type of voter – at least by the media – in this election season is the seemingly ubiquitous “evangelical.” Do evangelical Christians actually behave in an election like the media says?

Evangelical politics in the U.S. is full of contradictions, disappointments, and opportunities.

A rough adaptation of John Richard Neuhaus’ saying applies: The first thing to say about evangelical politics is that for evangelicals, politics isn’t the first thing. In fact, for evangelicals, politics isn’t often the second, third, or fourth thing either.

Rather, the most important thing about evangelicals is what they believe. Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research, recently pointed out in Christianity Today that the best broad definition of evangelicals centers on four theological beliefs. Those who support all four can confidently be called evangelical.

This definition seeking is necessary because, unlike our Catholic, Methodist, or Episcopal friends, there is no central authority in evangelicalism. That means it’s difficult to say much with confidence about the “evangelical” approach to elections.

Nonetheless, evangelicals do bring their values into public life. Consider this from Dr. Ronnie Floyd, current president of the Southern Baptist Convention: “My primary allegiance isn’t to political ideology but to Jesus Christ himself and to the Bible as God’s final authority.” So the “first thing” to say about evangelical politics is that Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture is the first thing.

The electoral process gives a lot of attention to evangelicals, much of it deserved. However, for evangelicals, elections are just part of an on-going process of speaking and demonstrating Christian conviction grounded in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Voting, as important as it is, isn’t the most important thing we’ll do this year.

This is a position largely embraced by Bread for the World as a whole. Passing real legislative changes takes long-term commitment. Elections are part of the political process, but they’re not the whole of it.

And here, as in every other part of our political engagement, evangelicals will step into the conversation with a deep-seated conviction about Christ’s reigns over the world and a passion to work together for the common good.

Jared Noetzel is a project coordinator in the church relations department at Bread for the World.

The post Just who are those evangelical voters anyway? appeared first on Bread for the World.

By Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith

“Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me. And before I’d be a slave I’ll be buried in my grave. And go home to my Lord and be free.”

This post-Civil War African-American freedom song, often associated with the 20th century Civil Rights Movement in the United States, provides a helpful historical lens for understanding why elections have been important to African-American churches. For these churches, voting and other methods of engaging their public voices have been important in their quest in obtaining freedom from social and legal racism in the U.S. while relying on the biblical promise of a transcendent freedom in the afterlife.

Dr. Albert Raboteau at Princeton University points out the following concerning religious formation of African-American churches: “These Christians appropriated Christianity on their own terms despite what they were told or not told by their slave holders and U.S. law. African slaves experienced dissonance between their dignified African identities and the disempowering and undignified messaging of White colonizers and missionaries.”

This kind of social marginalization and oppression of people of African descent, and the acceptance of the biblical narrative of struggle, deliverance, hope, and faith have provoked and encouraged the faith of people of African descent. Such faith has informed their vision and mission to fight for a dignified and equitable quality of life as evidence of earthly freedom.

Historically, African-Americans were prevented from establishing independent institutional churches in the U.S.  Dr. Milton C. Sernett of Syracuse University points out that from the early 1600s until the early 1800s, the so-called “black codes” prevented people of African descent from organizing places of worship.  It was not until 1816 that the first independent Protestant denomination founded by people of African descent was organized worldwide – the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) – which celebrates its bicentennial this year. The AME church and successive independent Protestant denominations founded by people of African descent have had the mission of ministering to the social, spiritual, physical development of people of African descent and all people.

This mission of ministering has led to the historic embrace of voting as a means for moving toward freedom. Yet U.S. laws have consistently prevented and hindered voting by people of African descent.  

The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution made it legal for African-Americans to vote. However, Jim Crow laws, put in place in many Southern states, like literacy tests and poll taxes, made it difficult for them to fully exercise their right to vote. And even today, African-Americans still face obstacles. Three years ago, the Supreme Court struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, freeing nine states, mostly in the South, of the requirement that they seek federal approval before changing their election laws.

As a result, numerous states have imposed strict voter ID laws that civil rights groups say unfairly target African-Americans and other minorities. African-American churches have always been a beacon of hope, activism, and support.  

And in this election cycle, their involvement will be vital more than ever, once again fulfilling their larger vision of faith and freedom through the witnessing of voting.

Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith is the national senior associate for pan-African church engagement at Bread for the World.

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By Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy

As a Catholic woman and mother of three elementary school-age children, helping them to develop a sense of right and wrong is one of the most important aspects of being a parent.  As Jacob, Matthew, and Sarah grow, learn to read, and piece together the world around them, it is evident they are beginning to form their consciences. As a result, their questions have gotten more complex and insightful.

Recently, the most challenging questions the children have raised have been those associated with the 2016 presidential election. Amid the rancor of this election cycle, my husband and I have struggled to offer our children a positive vision of what political dialogue and civil discourse means in light of our Catholic faith. 

We have searched to articulate in a way that is relevant to this 11-and-under bunch how political life is a key dimension of our public Catholic discipleship. 

Pope Francis’ first apostolic exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, has something to say about faith and politics. In part, it reads: “An authentic faith . . . always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it. We love this magnificent planet on which God has put us…with all its tragedies and struggles, it hopes and aspirations, its strengths and weaknesses. The earth is our common home and all of us are brothers and sisters. The Church, ‘cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice.’”

In addition, the Catholic bishops of the United States have developed a tool called Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship to guide Catholics along the path toward political responsibility. Some critique the bishops’ document for failing to fully emphasize the keystone themes of Pope Francis’ pontificate—global poverty and environmental concerns. Yet the statement offers a useful framing for how Catholics can exercise their rights and duties as participants in a democracy.

The document reminds us that it is a lifelong task to form one’s conscience.  Four biblically grounded principles of Catholic social doctrine anchor the document: the dignity of the human person, the common good, subsidiarity, and solidarity.  The document reads, in part: “With this foundation, Catholics are better able to evaluate policy positions, party platforms, and candidates’ promises and actions in light of the Gospel and the moral and social teaching of the Church in order to help build a better world.”

As teachers of these young public citizens and future voters, my husband and I have found that everyday life presents our family with invitations for formation. When Jacob comes home from school asking why so many classmates rely on free- and reduced-price meals, we can talk about the dignity of the human person. When Sarah attends PTA meetings by our side, she sees her community coming together for the common good. When Matthew’s best buddies in school are from different religious and ethnic backgrounds, our family is enriched by authentic solidarity. 

For Catholics, retreating from political life and its respective duties is not an option.  Active and engaged citizenship is key to our faithful discipleship and gospel witness.  As the bishops state, “Our purpose is to help Catholics form their consciences in accordance with God’s truth. We recognize that the responsibility to make choices in political life rests with each individual in light of a properly formed conscience, and that participation goes well beyond casting a vote in a particular election.”

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy is the senior associate for national Catholic engagement at Bread for the World.

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Incluye una introducción a este asunto, una reflexión bíblica, acciones prácticas que puedes tomar, y una oración.

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By Bishop Richard H. Graham

We know that as leaders of the ELCA we have many opportunities and many responsibilities. Especially as the United States prepares for elections next November, we want to speak words of hope and blessing in the context in which we find ourselves. We are sensitive to the excitement, the drama, and the anxiety which national elections produce. Knowing that thoughtful Christians differ in their political convictions, we still seek to be faithful in reminding ourselves and others of truths we believe to be essential.

Reminding ourselves
We remember that many in this country are suffering from poverty, injustice, and from a deep sense of loss. Recent developments have left people asking whether they have any place in America, whether the future holds any promise, whether the powers that be care about them at all. People who feel this way, some black and some white, some old and many young, are the natural prey for demagogues. And their weariness saps the country’s strength. Jesus weeps over wasted and under-utilized lives. As pastors and shepherds we call for compassion from men and women seeking public office for all those who suffer.

We remember that God has called us as Christians to care for the strangers in our land. We remember as Lutherans that many of our own ancestors came to the United States as immigrants and refugees. We realize that wise and thoughtful people can differ on specific questions of national policy and national security. But we condemn misleading rhetoric that blames new arrivals to this country for all this country’s ills.

Most of all, we remember as Lutherans (many of us of German descent) that words have fearful consequences when they are used to inflame passions. We recall Fascist attacks on the Jews, and the evil they produced. And so we believe that it is not right and not responsible in our time to demonize our Muslim neighbors or the Muslim religion. No kind of expediency justifies language that encourages fear or hatred of someone else. Our catechism calls us rather to speak well of others and interpret their words and actions in the most favorable light.

Enriching our thinking and action
Our church, joyfully Lutheran and also deeply rooted in the American experience, has produced a solid body of material that enriches our thinking and our action just now. We commit ourselves to study this material and to share it with the people around us. We commit ourselves to share with each other the work we do that calls people to faithfulness and hopefulness at this moment.

Above all, we remember that the common good is the goal of all legitimate political activity. In a culture which seems to reward selfishness and greed, we insist that no one is exempt from concern for the neighbor. We rejoice in the knowledge that the freedom given us in Christ binds us to one another. We thank God for setting us in this country at this time, where so many blessings wait to be expanded and shared.

And as the elections approach, we remember that there is One to whom all earthly powers will eventually give way, Jesus Christ, to whom be all honor and glory now and forever.

Rev. Richard H. Graham is the bishop of the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Bishop Graham wrote this reflection for use at a recent meeting of all bishops in the denomination. 

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In 1 Samuel 8 the Prophet Samuel spoke against the request of the elders of Israel for a king.  This debate between Samuel and the elders is what can inform our understanding of our political situation today.

The Prophet Samuel lived through the tumultuous transition of the people of Israel from a collection of loosely organized tribes led by occasional charismatic leaders into a nation state governed by a monarchy.  Samuel began as an apprentice to the Prophet Eli.  Eli had several sons he hoped would follow him as prophets to the people of Israel; but God saw the corruption of Eli’s sons, so Samuel took over from Eli.  Now the situation appeared ready to repeat itself with the sons of Samuel. The elders of Israel came to him upset with the situation.  They said to Samuel, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.”

Samuel complained to God and the elders about the request for king.  At the heart of Samuel’s critique was the charge, spoken by God, that the request for a king displaced God.  Samuel presented himself as someone aggrieved by the elders’ suggestion. God told Samuel to listen to what the people said.  Instead, Samuel tried to dissuade them by cataloguing all the ways a king would abuse them. The king would conscript their sons into battles, redistribute wealth, and tax the people.  His words reverberated with the word take.  “The king,” Samuel warned, “will take and take and take and take until you are all slaves.” His strong warning fell on deaf ears. The elders remained adamant, “we want a king to fight our battles.” Samuel and the elders were locked into a partisan battle. Both seemed to talk past each other.

Samuel and the elders do not line up with our political parties today.  But there debate feels familiar.   We’re increasingly locked in partisan debates in our country; but do we miss some truth in what the other is saying just as Samuel and the elders missed what was true because of the intensity of their argument? Lost in their debate was the real question of justice.  Who would protect the poor from corrupt judges?   Who would protect people from the seizure of their property?   Who would protect workers from mistreatment?  Who would keep the sons and daughters from conscription in foreign wars?

Every election matters.  It mattered for the people of Israel that the elders convinced Samuel to appoint Saul king.  It matters who wins.  But regardless of who rules, we need people who will speak up for justice. Vote for the candidate you trust to speak for and take action on behalf of those who have the least in society. Not those who have the most.

Rev. Andrew Warner is senior pastor at Plymouth Church of United Church of Christ in Milwaukee, Wis. This is an adaptation of one of his sermons. It first appeared on the United Church of Christ’s Our Faith Our Vote website.

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By Bishop Jose Garcia

We can end hunger in our time. But it will take the collective political will of those in government, civil society, the faith community, and individuals. And what better time to summon that will than during a national election?

The purpose of this series of blog posts is to share how your individual engagement in elections can be part of your Christian witness, advance the values and principles of the kingdom of God, and help end hunger.

The leaders we elect make decisions that impact people who are poor and hungry here in the United States and around the world. If we are to end hunger by 2030, the new U.S. president and Congress we elect this year must put us on track toward that goal as soon as they take office. They can do this by enacting policies and programs that create jobs, strengthen the safety net, invest in human capital develop­ment, support community-initi­ated public-private partnerships, and support international efforts to end hunger and poverty world­wide.

The Scriptures underscore the importance of good governance and also show that wise leaders uphold justice and the common good, especially for those who are poor and needy (Psalm 72:12-14). Leviticus 19:15 and James 2:2-4 call leaders to govern without partiality.

After the people of Israel returned from exile in Babylon, the governor, Nehemiah, was able to ask the king of Persia to supply resources for the rebuilding Jerusalem because of his faithful role in the governance of Persia (Nehemiah 2:1-9). Daniel and the Hebrew children held positions of political influence in Babylon (Daniel 2:46-49). Earlier, Jo­seph served the good of his people through his active participation in the Egyptian political structure of his day (Genesis 41). They all exercised good governance in the midst of ungodly governmental and political structures.

In our democratic country, as we seek to care for our neighbors and God’s creation, we have the privilege of being involved in the election of wise and just leaders. Our country was founded on the idea that “we the people” are responsible for selecting our own leaders. It is from the people that authority is delegated to those who govern. We as Christians should participate in the processes of putting in place leaders who have a heart for justice. Evaluating candidates and then voting is essential to our democracy and faith.

In our democracy, constituents can ask questions and receive information about a candidate’s position on issues of hunger and poverty. Political campaigns, town hall gatherings, and meetings with candidates provide op­portunities for us to “give justice to the weak and the or­phan; maintain the right of the lowly and destitute” (Psalm 82:3). When we involve ourselves in elections, we “speak out for those who cannot speak…[and] defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9). In this way we continue in the tradition of the prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah, who called nations and their rulers to account for their behavior in “[judging all] people with righteousness, and [the] poor with justice” (Psalms 72:2).

Bishop Jose Garcia is the director of church relations at Bread for the World. 

The post Our role as Christians during elections appeared first on Bread for the World.

If you care about people who are hungry, then you should also care about this election.

Just as we as people of faith can make a difference through legislative advocacy in Congress, we can also work to end hunger in the way we vet and elect our leaders, both for Congress and the presidency.

Our Christian faith compels us to elect wise leaders who uphold justice and the common good, especially for people who are poor and needy (Psalm 72:12-14). The Bible underscores the need for good governance and for leaders who govern impartially (Leviticus 19:15; James 2:2-4).  

With that as our basis, Bread for the World, along with partner organizations, wants ending hunger and poverty to be a high priority for our next president and Congress. The time to make it so is during the election campaign.

Let’s Seize This Opportunity

One of the best times to raise the issues of hunger and poverty is during election campaigns. During these periods, current and potential office holders are listening the most and are making and establishing promises, priorities, and plans.

Elections are times to re-assess how our common resources — our taxpayer dollars — are being used and what the role of our government should be. They are times to discuss and set our priorities as a nation.

The 2016 elections are critical in our work. This year, we can elect leaders who will pass laws, fund programs, and create policy to put our nation and the world on track to end hunger by 2030.

The new Congress and president we elect in November will take office in early 2017, leaving only 13 years to achieve our goal. But we can do it.

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How Bread is Engaging in the Election

Bread’s Vote to End Hunger campaign involves strategic work by staff and activists in key congressional districts and states like Ohio and Florida. Bread will also provide resources for others to use in their respective districts. As part of our vote to end hunger strategy, Bread also works with the Circle of Protection and the Vote to End Hunger coalition.

Read about the launch of the Vote to End Hunger campaign in Iowa in October.

Hunger is not a partisan issue. That is why Bread works with our nation’s leaders – whoever they may be – in a bipartisan manner. Bread does not endorse any candidate or political party.

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How Can You be Involved?

Check out Bread’s elections resources (in English and Spanish).

Read Elections Matter: A Handbook for Participating in Elections (also available from the Bread store). It’s a comprehensive but easy-to-read and easy-to-follow guide for individuals and churches that want to be engaged with candidates during election seasons. It’s especially helpful for churches to understand what they can and cannot do during an election in order to comply with tax laws.

Bread will be adding additional resources to the page above in the coming weeks. Many of the resources from Bread will help individuals engage with candidates and other voters in places like town hall meetings and campaign rallies. Bread wants activists to ask this question of candidates: “If elected, what will you do to end hunger, alleviate poverty, and create opportunity in the U.S. and worldwide?”

Contact your Bread regional organizer for election work or events that are happening in your district or state.

From now through the November general election, Bread’s blog, social media, and newsletters will have regular updates on what Bread is doing and how individuals and churches can be involved.

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Videos from Presidential Candidates

On Jan. 13, the Circle of Protection released additional videos by two Republican presidential candidates: Ohio governor John Kasich and Florida senator Marco Rubio. The videos explain how they would work to address hunger and poverty both in the U.S. and around the world if elected president.

With the addition of these two videos, the Circle of Protection has now released ten videos by presidential candidates. The other candidates include Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Martin O’Malley, and Bernie Sanders. Watch the videos.  

The Circle of Protection invited all 2016 presidential candidates were invited to send a video, and additional videos will be posted as they are received. Transcripts of the videos are also available on the website. 

More than 100 Christian leaders, as part of the Circle of Protection, sent each presidential candidate a letter asking him or her to produce a video stating how they proposed to provide help and opportunity to hungry and poor people in the United States and abroad. 

“We are praying for a president who will make ending hunger and poverty a top priority of his or her administration. Are you that leader?” the letter asked. The letter is available at www.circleofprotection.us.

The Circle of Protection represents a diverse array of Christian denominations, churches, colleges, and agencies across the country. They will not publicly evaluate the policy positions or endorse any candidate.

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Bread Takes Part in S.C. Forum on Poverty with GOP Candidates

GOP presidential candidates gathered Jan. 9 in Columbia, S.C., for the Kemp Forum on Expanding Opportunity, hosted by the Jack Kemp Foundation. Bread was one of the forum’s sponsors.

Candidates who participated include former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Dr. Ben Carson, New Jersey’s Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Ohio’s Gov. John Kasich, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) moderated the poverty-focused event.

Each candidate acknowledged poverty as a reality that too many Americans have to endure and seemed to agree with the words of Arthur Brooks, president of the Kemp Foundation, when he said, “The cost of [poverty] is not financial—the cost of this is human, and we must all be in this fight.”

State block grants and the earned-income tax credit for low-income childless workers (adults without children and non-custodial parents) were two tactics discussed among the presidential candidates as a way to lift American families out of poverty.

Preceding the forum, Eric Mitchell, Bread’s director of government relations, said he hoped “the forum would bring forth hunger as an important issue to raise during the elections…[since] hunger is something that impacts our neighbors, classmates, people in our churches and our coworkers.” Mitchell made the remarks in an interview on a Columbia TV news program.

The candidates also discussed state block grants at the forum. Some candidates are proposing block grants as a resolution to poverty because states could administer programs at lower rates and then utilize unspent funds for other state programs.

As Rev. David Beckmann, Bread’s president, explained before the forum, however, “When the needs increase – as occurred in dramatic fashion during the Great Recession – a block grant is likely to run out before everyone in need is served. The structure of block grants also makes assistance more vulnerable to funding cuts and to having its funding diverted to other purposes.”

Reporting by Marlysa Thomas, Bread for the World Institute, was part of this article.

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Rallying Iowans

In advance of the caucuses earlier this week in Iowa, the state that kicks off the presidential primary election season, Bread was heavily involved in rallying the state’s voters and raising hunger as an election issue among the presidential contenders.

On Nov. 8 last year, Bread for the World, the four dioceses of the Iowa Catholic Conference, and Methodist, Lutheran, and Episcopal churches sponsored a Vote to End Hunger rally at Grand View University. The Des Moines university is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The rally was a local follow-up event to the more nationally focused launch of the Vote to Hunger campaign at the Iowa Hunger Summit the month before.

A state representative and a state senator spoke to the rally about their experience working to end hunger locally.

Bishop Richard Pates of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines and a member of Bread’s board of directors also spoke at the rally. Pates has been instrumental in leading a group in his diocese that is passionate about ending hunger. He has been outspoken in his state and nationally about the issue and is a helpful action-oriented leader in the state on behalf of Bread as well.

“The responsibility of voters is to communicate to those to be elected our priorities, our values that will enable those elected to fulfill the leadership of which Pope Francis spoke in his September 29, 2015, speech to Congress: ‘A good political leader is one who, with the interests of all in mind, seizes the moment in a spirt of openness and pragmatism. A good political leader always opts to initiate processes rather than possessing spaces,'” Pates said at the October Vote to End Hunger launch.  

To continue the momentum from the November rally toward the caucuses, Bread regional organizers launched a house meeting campaign. They conducted about 25 house meetings, reaching about 125 people. 

The responsibility of voters is to communicate to those to be elected our priorities and our values

Bishop Richard Pate

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Activists engaged in the election may want to print out and photocopy this summary and graphics as they engage with candidates and other voters (as handouts at events, for example) as a way of demonstrating that voters believe the U.S. government has a role in addressing hunger. The graphics can also be used on websites and social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

One of the best times to raise the issues of hunger and poverty is during election campaigns.

During these periods, current and potential office holders are listening the most and are making and establishing promises, priorities, and plans.

Elections are times to re-assess how our common resources — our taxpayer dollars — are being used and what the role of our government should be. They are times to discuss and set our priorities as a nation.

Download the survey and graphics using the links below:

The post 2016 Elections Survey Handout and Graphics appeared first on Bread for the World.

The post 10 Ways Christians Can Help End Hunger During Elections appeared first on Bread for the World.

[Note: this article appears in Bread’s 2015 November-December newsletter]

Editor’s note: Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins was a participant at an interfaith summit last month when Bread for the World and other partners brought together 100 religious leaders to discuss how to end hunger and poverty by 2030. This article is adapted from remarks she made the day after the summit.

By Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins

Our different faith traditions find common ground in the call for us to advocate for our neighbors – our local and global neighbors – who struggle with hunger and poverty.  Christians take our cue on this from the ministry of Jesus who saw to it that all the people were fed.

The 2008 financial crisis brought a food crisis as well – a 40 percent increase in food insecurity in this country. And yet, since 2011, powerful, political forces have pushed for deep and disproportionate cuts in all the programs that go mainly to people in poverty.  

As one local pastor said to me: “Our congregation feeds everyone from homeless families and disabled vets, to a grandmother raising grandchildren, to a city employee who works part-time and lives at a shelter.  We see new faces every week. As thankful as I am for the faithful response of church members – it is frustrating that, in truth, we are not addressing the root causes.” 

She’s right. We need to treat hunger as a systemic issue. Small groups of volunteers make a difference. But to get the job done, it will take all of us working together. This reality has already stirred leaders from all this country’s faith traditions to join to protect programs for low-income people. 

We’ve been surprisingly successful.

At our request, this year, all the leading presidential candidates – except one – have made video statements about how they would address hunger and poverty – understanding that addressing hunger is important to faith voters.

This month [September], faith-grounded advocacy steps to a new level, spurred by the pope’s visit and the international commitment to end hunger and poverty. The religious leaders who gathered at the September 21 End Hunger Summit agreed – with enthusiasm – to join in the effort to end world hunger by 2030. That’s in our lifetime!  

To that end, we will work toward a shift in U.S. national priorities between now and 2017 – starting with this fall, when Congress needs to steer away from brinksmanship and put an end to the sequester.  

With these priorities in mind, people of faith will be active in the upcoming election. We will make clear that we want a president and Congress by 2017 who will work together, who will reflect God’s special concern for hungry and poor people, our neighbors.

Today, we turn our efforts to end hunger in our time.

Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins is the general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada.

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By Adlai Amor

Elections matter. And Bread for the World, along with partner organizations, wants to ensure that ending hunger and poverty becomes a high priority for our next president and Congress.

In fact, we want them to take concrete actions that will put our nation and the world on track to end hunger by 2030.

With that goal in mind, the Vote to End Hunger (VTEH), a new coalition, took root last month with a formal launch during the Iowa Hunger Summit in Des Moines. The launch was the highlight of the summit, which culminated with the official presentation of the World Food Prize for 2015 to Sir Fazle Hasan Abed.

But can we really “vote to end hunger”? Approximately 700 hunger activists attending the summit jumped to their feet and cheered loudly that their votes indeed could end hunger.

Bishop Richard Pates, Roman Catholic archbishop of Des Moines, echoed this sentiment at the launch. “Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status gives us the opportunity to bring this issue to the forefront in the 2016 elections,” he said.

Who’s in the coalition?

The VTEH coalition (www.votetoendhunger.org) is being organized by the Alliance to End Hunger, Bread for the World, Feeding America, Meals on Wheels America, RESULTS, and Share Our Strength. VTEH adheres to a set of eight principles, among them “ending hunger is not a partisan issue.”

So far, dozens of organizations and individuals have signed on to the VTEH coalition. On Nov. 8, the four dioceses of the Iowa Catholic Conference, Bread for the World, and Methodist, Lutheran, and Episcopal churches, sponsored a Vote to End Hunger rally at Grand View University. The Des Moines university is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. 

“Throughout the world, countries such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Great Britain have made tremendous strides in reducing hunger. However, in the United States, we have seen little progress because our nation has not made solving hunger a priority,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “We need to vote for leaders who care about ending hunger, so the next president and Congress will work together and solve it.”

In the U.S., 1 out of every 7 households – more than 48 million Americans – struggle to put food on the table. These numbers include 5.4 million older Americans and 15 million children. Around the world, 795 million people experience hunger every day.

Support among the electorate

The growing interest in the VTEH coalition — and other Bread vote-to-end hunger activities — reflects the results of a recent elections survey commissioned by Bread. The survey, conducted by the Eleison/Mellman Groups, found that 6 out of 10 voters surveyed said that ending hunger should be a priority for the government. Nearly 4 in 10 of those surveyed, 39 percent, agreed that a candidate needs to “fight for government funding for anti-hunger programs to earn my vote.”

Among those surveyed, hunger is of most concern when described in the context of children going hungry, veterans needing food stamps, and working families unable to buy enough food. Programs focused on these three groups are perceived to be important and effective.

“We have seen what brinksmanship in Congress has done to those suffering from hunger and poverty in the U.S. and abroad,” said Eric Mitchell, Bread’s director of government relations. “We must make sure that our next set of leaders put ending hunger as one of their top priorities.”

Other election efforts

Bread’s participation in the VTEH coalition is part of our 2016 elections strategy. In last month’s newsletter, we wrote about the presidential videos project being conducted with our partners in the Circle of Protection (www.circleofprotection.us).

Bread staff are now preparing to focus on key congressional districts in Ohio and Florida and preparing resources for all Bread members to use during the elections in their respective districts. The materials will be available at www.bread.org/elections.

The Vote to End Hunger strategy builds on our 2014 work that tested elections strategies in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District. We used on-the-ground canvassing among people of faith, market research, and reaction to local advertising.

“The 2016 elections are critical in ensuring ending hunger is a national priority with the new president and Congress starting in 2017,” said LaVida Davis, Bread’s director of grassroots organizing and capacity building. “I call on all our members to be actively involved in making sure we elect leaders who consider ending hunger a priority.”

As a nonpartisan organization, Bread will not be endorsing any particular candidate or party in the 2016 elections.

Adlai Amor is the director of communications and marketing at Bread for the World. 

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By Bread staff

Through various events and outreach efforts during the visit of Pope Francis last month, Bread for the World rallied the faith community around the goal of ending hunger by 2030.

The pontiff has made concern for people who are hungry and living in poverty one of the themes of his papacy as well as a theme during parts of his visit.

Bread wanted to take advantage of Francis’ presence in the U.S. to cement the commitment of top leaders of American faith communities and ordinary people of faith to end hunger in our time.

Interfaith Summit

On Sept. 21, the eve of Francis arrival, Bread hosted a summit in Washington, D.C., of about 100 top religious leaders from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim denominations and organizations.

Several of them offered remarks on reaching the 2030 goal. They were:

• Rev. Carlos Malavé, executive director of Christian Churches Together
• Ruth Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service
• Rev. Dr. William J. Shaw, past president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
• The Most Rev. Richard E. Pates, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa
• Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World
• Suzii Paynter, executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
• Imam Mohamed Magid of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS)

“At this particular hour, we all join together to salute Pope Francis for speaking out against poverty and hunger, for seeking to protect the rights of indigenous farmers and to pursue justice,” Messinger said in her remarks. “We thank him for reminding us in the recent encyclical to stop and give thanks to God before and after meals because as he says there, ‘It reminds us of our dependence on God for life, strengthens our gratitude for the gifts of creation, acknowledges those who by their labor provide us with these goods, and reaffirms our solidarity with those in greatest need.’”

“Until all can eat, none of us is free. Until all can eat, we are each complicit,” she added.

Over dinner, the leaders conversed with each other and spoke about obstacles but also success stories in addressing hunger and poverty. They also signed a pledge committing themselves to push national leaders to focus on ending hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world (see below).

Before the dinner concluded, Rev. David Beckmann, Bread’s president, called the faith leaders assembled an “extraordinarily influential group of people” extraordinarily committed to their work.

He also spoke about the significance of the pope’s visit. “What I most love about Pope Francis is the way he grounds our work for social justice in our experience of God. I think that is what has brought us here tonight. That our experience of God, our communion with God can find real expression, credible expression by reforming the world to make it more consistent with the fact that God cares for everybody.”

“This is at the core of what it means to worship a living God,” Beckmann added. 

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Religious Leaders’ Pledge to End Hunger

The following morning, several of the religious leaders from the larger group gathered the evening before issued a formal call for a fundamental shift in the nation’s priorities – namely to end hunger and poverty by 2030. They held a press conference, organized by Bread, at the National Press Club so their message could be heard and spread by the media. Their call was officially contained in the Religious Leaders’ Pledge to End Hunger, which many of the leaders had signed on to the previous evening.

Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins, general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), spoke passionately about the integral role government can play in ending hunger and poverty by 2030.

“Since 2011, powerful political forces have pushed for deep and disproportionate cuts in all the programs that go mainly to people in poverty,” she said. “Starting this fall, Congress needs to steer away from brinkmanship and put an end to the sequester. We will make it clear that we want a president and a Congress by 2017 who will work together, who reflects God’s special concern for hungry and poor people – our neighbors around the world.”

“Today, we turn our effort to end hunger in our time,” she added.

Others who spoke represented various faith-based organizations, including American Jewish World Service, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Islamic Relief, National Latino Evangelical Coalition, and the Salvation Army.

For its part, the Salvation Army is launching an initiative to reduce “intergenerational poverty across the United States by transforming the lives of 100,000 families by 2030.”

Commissioner David Jeffrey, national commander of The Salvation Army in the United States, said that last year his organization served roughly 30 million people by providing meals, shelter, and other services.

“Serving such vast numbers of people, we are keenly aware of the trials that our clients face,” he said. “We also know that their struggles will persist if we keep treating the recurring symptoms of the problem and not the source. That is why we are expanding our focus from serving to solving.”

The pledge reads in part:

“U.S. faith communities are deeply engaged with many sisters and brothers who struggle with hunger and poverty, and we have become increasingly active in urging our nation’s elected leaders to do their part – defending low-income people in the national budget debate, for example. Our experience of God’s mercy and compassion for all people moves us to engage in God’s work of overcoming hunger and human misery, and our sacred traditions include visions of the world transformed.”

The faith leaders will take this message back to their communities to rally support for the change in our nation’s priorities.

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Outreach Efforts

During Pope Francis’ various public appearances on his three stops in the U.S., Bread staff and volunteers canvassed the crowds, encouraging people to take a pledge to end hunger (#Pledge2EndHunger). The canvassers wore bright orange Bread T-shirts and took photos as people made their pledge. The canvassers also passed out fans with information about the pledge printed on them. The fans said, “I’m a fan of Francis.”

Jennifer Gonzalez and Stephen Padre, editors in the communications department at Bread for the World, contributed to this article.

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We all know that Donald Trump has a lot to say. Much of it is controversial. But what Bread for the World cares about is what the candidate for the Republican nomination for president, as well as the other Republicans and Democrats in the race, has to say about policy. Specifically, Bread wants to hear what the candidates would do as president to end hunger.

To that end, Bread, as part of the Circle of Protection coalition, has sent each presidential candidate a letter asking him or her to state on video how they propose to provide help and opportunity to hungry and poor people in the U.S. and abroad.

Bread activists: View the videos received so far.

The presidential videos are a major part of Bread’s efforts to make hunger and poverty part of the national conversation during the campaigns for both president and Congress.

“Power needs to be local and limited because the closer government is to the people, the more accountable it is to the people who are being governed,” said former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) in his video. He also stated he would focus on helping every American earn the “maximum wage” instead of fighting over the minimum wage.

Among the Democrats who have submitted videos is Vermont senator Bernie Sanders. “What we need in this country and what this campaign is about is a fundamental change in national priorities,” he stated in his video. Sanders named creating jobs, raising the minimum wage, pay equity, and making college affordable as ways of addressing poverty.

Circle of Protection members, including Bread, will not publicly evaluate the policy positions or endorse any candidate. The coalition hopes to receive a video in response to its request from each candidate, and it will make public all videos it receives.

The Circle of Protection is distributing the videos through its members’ networks. Bread and other coalition members have been pitching the videos to media outlets, and they have received more than 48,000 views on YouTube. Media outlets from the Boston Globe to Mother Jones have carried articles about the videos.

Organized in 2010, the Circle of Protection is a group of 100 leaders from a diverse array of Christian denominations, agencies, and organizations across the country. Bread has a major leadership role in the coalition.

“We are praying for a president who will make ending hunger and poverty a top priority of his or her administration. Are you that leader?” the letter to candidates asked.

“We will be calling on people of faith to examine presidential candidates to see if they have a heart for poor and hungry people. We want to know how each candidate proposes to fulfill the mandate to those who govern to ’give deliverance to the needy’ (Psalm 72),” the leaders added in the letter.

According to the latest U.S. Census data, 49 million Americans are at risk of hunger, while 45 million live in poverty. One in five children lives in poverty. That is 15 million children, 5 million of them under age 6.

As a major step toward helping to end hunger by 2030, Bread’s goal is to have in place in 2017 a president and Congress who put hunger and poverty among their top priorities. This initiative of gathering videos from presidential candidates is preparation for that. Bread will also be active in several ways in congressional elections starting this fall.

“God wants opportunity for all people, but America hasn’t made opportunity for everybody a priority for more than four decades,” said Bread’s president, Rev. David Beckmann. “The world as a whole is making dramatic progress against poverty, and we want to encourage a fresh, bipartisan conversation about how to provide more opportunity for all Americans and for people around the world.”

Share the Videos

Feel free to further share and distribute the videos by the presidential candidates with your congregation, other groups, or as an individual with your friends, such as on your personal Facebook page.

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Bread for the World is an organization made up of Christians from a wide variety of traditions. Rarely does it allow one denomination – let alone a single person (except for Jesus) – to set the tone for a while. Yet Pope Francis has been a force of nature since he ascended to the papacy only two years ago, and Bread is grabbing on to his cassock tails as he visits the U.S. later this month and hopefully calls Americans of all faiths to end hunger and poverty in our time.

Francis’ U.S. visit will capture the attention of not only American Catholics, but also the broader religious community, the president, Congress, the secular public, and world leaders gathered for the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The pope is expected to refocus the country’s attention on the plight of the world’s poor. 

On the eve of his arrival in Washington, D.C., the first stop on Francis’ trip, Bread will gather many of the country’s top leaders of many faiths – not only Christian but Jewish, Muslim, and others – to welcome him to the nation’s capital. Bread will host the Interfaith Religious Leaders Summit, titled “End Hunger by 2030.” The dinner-hour summit will take place Sept. 21.

More than 100 faith leaders have been invited to the summit. They include heads of denominations and religious bodies, CEOs of faith-based agencies, and seminary presidents.

The pope’s visit comes at a critical point on the road to ending hunger. The campaign to choose the major parties’ nominees for U.S. president is well underway, and Bread is involved in efforts to push the candidates to address its issues through the Circle of Protection coalition. Bread wants to use this opportunity to drum up and consolidate support among faith communities across the country for ending hunger by 2030.

Ending hunger by 2030 will require having political leaders in place much earlier than that – by 2017. In January of that year, the U.S. will have a new president and a new Congress, and Bread has started to push candidates for these offices to make hunger and poverty a priority during their time in office.

The other major political part of Francis’ U.S. visit will play out in New York, where he will address the U.N. General Assembly. The body will be considering adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, which Bread hopes will also steer the world’s nations toward elimination of chronic hunger and poverty over the next 15 years.

At the Washington, D.C., interfaith summit, Rev. David Beckmann, Bread’s president, will deliver remarks. Also on the program are short addresses by several other faith leaders as pledges to the 2030 goal of ending hunger. The summit will produce a written pledge by the faith leaders that will be shared with the media the following morning at a press conference. Speaking at the press conference will be Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington. Wuerl, whose city and archdiocese are hosting the pope on his first stop, is helping to plan Francis’ overall visit. Wuerl is an adviser to Francis as a member of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for Bishops, the Congregation for Clergy, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Pontifical Council for Culture, and the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See.

Overall, the welcome summit of religious leaders as well as the visit itself of Francis to three East Coast cities will encapsulate a large part of what Bread is about. The papal visit will inspire the religious community to take action. Bread is hoping the new energy that emerges will result in a large-scale mobilization of people of faith to push the federal government – and candidates for office – to do their part in ending hunger. Thanks to Francis, faith and politics will come together.

Stephen H. Padre is editor of Bread newsletter and managing editor for Bread for the World.

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As the 2016 presidential election heats up, Bread for the World wants to make sure hunger and poverty are part of the national conversation.

To that end, Bread, as part of the Circle of Protection coalition, has disseminated videos in which presidential candidates explain how they would work to address hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world as president

The videos were made by Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, and Bernie Sanders. The videos can be found here.  Additional videos will be posted as they are received. The Hillary Clinton, Lindsey Graham, Martin O’Malley, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio campaigns have indicated that they plan to make videos.

“We are making hunger and poverty an election issue, so that the president and Congress who take office in 2017 will put us on track toward ending hunger and poverty,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “God has made it possible for our generation to dramatically reduce – perhaps even end – hunger in our country and around the world.”

The Circle of Protection is a group of 100 leaders from a diverse array of Christian denominations, churches, colleges, and agencies across the country. Bread has a major leadership role in the coalition. The Circle sent each candidate a letter asking him or her to produce a video stating how they propose to provide help and opportunity to hungry and poor people in the United States and abroad.

Circle of Protection members, including Bread, will not publicly evaluate the policy positions or endorse any candidate.

According to the latest U.S. Census data, 49 million Americans are at risk of hunger, while 45 million live in poverty. One in five children lives in poverty. That is 15 million children, 5 million of them under age 6.

The Christian leaders see the videos as the beginning of an active debate about how to alleviate hunger and poverty, and hope these issues will be at the center of the presidential campaign.

“Christians are deeply concerned about the suffering of hungry and poor people,” said Galen Carey, vice president for government relations at the National Association of Evangelicals. “We expect our presidential candidates to move beyond platitudes about the middle class and inspirational rags-to-riches stories. We are looking for well-conceived initiatives that can actually be implemented and that will help millions of people rise out of poverty at home and abroad.”

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The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has begun to release women and children who had been seeking asylum or other relief in the United States from immigrant detention centers.

Most of the women and children at the detention centers came to the U.S. during last year’s influx of immigrants from Central America.

While a positive development, this decision also highlights the need for reform of our immigration system.

The United States currently lacks comprehensive immigration reform. In 2013, the Senate passed a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill. However, the House did not bring the bill up for a vote. During the last two years, there has been no further votes on a comprehensive immigration bill.

However, the issue of immigration reform has recently been thrusted into the spotlight due in large part to the 2016 presidential race. There may be an opportunity to finally see movement on the immigration front in this country.

That would be welcomed news given the harrowing experiences these women and children have endured. When women and children, who are escaping from hunger, extreme poverty, domestic violence, human trafficking, oppression, and gang violence, are placed in family detention centers, that are pits who trample over these very vulnerable ones, this cannot be called justice.

When addressing the issue of immigration, the root causes reveal that there has been a perfect storm where the structures that should facilitate education, job opportunities, adequate housing, health, and food at the table of families and individuals, are limited in their work because of the sin of greed, oppression, abuse of power, corruption, selfish interests and apathy that works against the “least of these.”

However, the church can be a prophetic voice that calls for those in authority to exercise their responsibility to seek the well-being of their marginalized citizens, “defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor” (Psalm 72:4). The word of God is clear that when stomping down on luckless prisoners, and when the least of these are deprived of their rights and dignity as men and women created in God’s image, and they are refused justice, God will notice and will deal with them (Lamentation 3:34-36 and Matthew 25:31-46).

We applaud the Obama administration’s decision to revisit the family detention policies.  This is a first good step.

Please join Bread for the World’s advocacy efforts by asking your U.S. senator and U.S. representatives to support a fair and comprehensive immigration reform.

Bishop Jose Garcia is the director of church relations at Bread for the World.

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Churches and the Elections
An ideal starting point for churches wanting to be involved in the election. A list of nine things congregations, their leaders, and members can do to be engaged in the 2016 campaigns for Congress and the presidency. Suggested resources from Bread are provided for each item.

Elections Matter handbook
A comprehensive but easy-to-read and easy-to-follow guide for individuals and churches that want to be engaged with candidates during election seasons. Includes coverage of legal issues for churches’ involvement in campaigns as well as practical ways to raise the issue of hunger with candidates. 24-page booklet.

10 Ways Christians Can Help End Hunger During Elections
Ideas for using your church and your faith to help end hunger during elections

Bread’s Election Platform
Steps that the new president and Congress taking office in 2017 must take to put the U.S. on track to end hunger by 2030

Presidential Candidate Videos
Since 2010, Bread has been working with more than 100 heads of denominations and other Christian leaders to ensure funding for anti-hunger programs. For the 2016 elections, the Circle asked presidential candidates: “What would you do as president to offer help and opportunity to hungry and poor people in the United States and around the world?” Almost all candidates submitted videos. View their videos and download a study guide to use with them.

Effectively Using Public Meetings to Engage with Congressional Candidates
Town hall meetings are excellent venues to ask potential office holders questions about policies to end hunger

The Bible and Elections
A brief examination of the biblical approach to voting and participating in elections and the democratic process in the United States. Includes an introduction to the issue, a Scriptural reflection, practical actions you can take, and a prayer.

Faith & Elections series on Bread Blog
Bread Blog is exploring faith and elections through the lens of different faith perspectives. Use these regular blog posts for individual reflection or share them with others (congregations have permission to republish/reprint posts from Bread Blog when credit is given)

Hunger and Poverty State Fact Sheets
What is the prevalence of hunger in your state? One-page fact sheets for each state (plus Washington, D.C.) that are ideal for printing out and distributing at public campaign events (such as at an information table at a town hall meeting) so voters can understand the scope of the problem close to home.

Social Media Kit for #IVote2EndHunger
A simple-to-use kit of tips and instructions on engaging candidates on social media. Designed for a person who is already active online and using social media.

Election memes
Memes (internet/social media graphics) that address hunger, poverty, the role of government in addressing these issues, hunger/poverty-related statistics specific to some states, etc. Feel free to download these and use them on your personal or congregation’s social media channels (websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.).

Bread for the World’s 2016 Elections Survey and Graphics
Bread for the World commissioned The Mellman Group and Eleison LLC to survey 1,000 voters on the issue of hunger and the 2016 elections. This fact sheet and graphics provide the main findings of that survey and show that voters believe that hunger is an issue the U.S. government should address.

Recursos en Español

Manual: Las Elecciones Son Importantes
Una guía comprensiva para hablar con los candidatos y sensibilizar la política del hambre.

10 Maneras que los Cristianos Pueden Ayudar a Erradicar el Hambre Durante las Elecciones
Descubre las maneras que pueden utilizar su iglesia y su fe para terminar el hambre durante las elecciones.

Plataforma Electoral de Pan
Pasos que el nuevo presidente y Congreso deben tomar en 2017 para poner a Estados Unidos en camino de acabar con el hambre para 2030.

La Biblia y las elecciones
Un breve análisis en el contexto bíblico del acto de votar y a la participación en elecciones y en el proceso democrático en Estados Unidos.

Cómo llevar a cabo una reunión con un miembro del Congreso (o personal) en tu distrito
Cómo emprender un método de propugnación – la visita personal en el despacho regional o estatal de un miembro del Congreso.

Escribiendo una carta al editor de tu periódico local
Cómo emprender un método de propugnación – utilizando los medios de comunicación para que lo que te importa a ti lo sepan los demás, incluyendo miembros del Congreso.

Utilizando las reuniones públicas de manera eficaz para entablar una conversación con tus miembros del Congreso
Cómo emprender un método de propugnación – asistiendo a una junta comunitaria, u otra junta pública con un miembro del Congreso o candidato al Congreso.

Additional Resources on Carrying out Advocacy

Advocacy 101: Making a Difference in Congress
Explains the federal legislative process and how citizens can get involved

Guía de Acción Cívica
Explica el proceso federal legislativo, y cómo pueden participar los ciudadanos.

The Biblical Basis for Advocacy to End Hunger
This booklet presents the broad themes from the Bible that guide our work

La Base Bíblica
Este folleto presenta los temas generales de Biblia que guían nuestro trabajo.

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