Jim Fuglie's News from the Trail
Fellow Democrats,
My old friend Karl Limvere, once communications director for the North Dakota Farmers Union and now pastor of the Zion United Church of Christ in Medina, showed up in the news last week. Karl is one of a group of local ministers who has organized a group called the Dakota Progressive Clergy Network.
The group is comprised of a number of pastors from mainline Bismarck churches, who have been meeting informally for several months to talk about faith issues and their impact on the lives of their congregations. They’re currently doing a series of programs in Bismarck called “Religion and Society.”
"Our hope is to bring the discussion of religious morality back to the central theme of our Biblical heritage," Limvere said last week. "Being a follower of Christ means that we respond through the grace and love of God with compassion and care to serve basic human needs. The true moral test of a society is how we care for the 'widow and the orphan' and not how we impose our ethical judgments upon each other."
Hmmmm. That could have been taken right out of the Democratic-NPL Party’s platform, I thought when I read that comment. See, I get tired of hearing Republicans say you can’t be a Democrat and a Christian. I know a lot of good, solid church-going Democrats. And I’ve heard some Republicans complain about Christian fundamentalists having their hands around the neck of the Republican party.
The second program in their series will feature speaker Adam Taylor, director of campaigns and organizing at Sojourners/Call to Renewal, based in Washington, D.C. Taylor's talk is on "Religion and Economic Justice," at Bismarck's United Church of Christ, 1200 E. Highland Acres Road. It’s this Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
Taylor currently serves as the Director of Campaigns and Organizing at Sojourners, a 34-year-old Christian organization that integrates spiritual renewal with social justice. He formerly served as the Executive Director of Global Justice, an organization that educates, trains, and mobilizes students around issues of global human rights and economic justice. Before co-founding Global Justice, Taylor worked as an Associate at the Harvard University Carr Center for Human Rights.
I’m pleased that Karl and others in his group are heading this effort. I hope you’ll take time to check out one of their programs. These aren’t Democrat or Republican events. But it sounds like truly progressive members of our community will enjoy them.
Welcome back, Merle
Your Democratic-NPL Floor Leaders, Senator David O’Connell and Rep. Merle Boucher, are on the road nearly as much as I am this time of the year, trying to bolster the numbers of their ranks in the next session of the Legislature. Merle has just completed inpatient treatment for alcoholism, and he and I met last week with candidates in Districts 7, 5 and 15. One of the more poignant moments of the campaign for me so far was when Merle got up in Devils Lake to deliver his first speech since going back on the campaign trail, and began his remarks “Hi. I’m Merle Boucher, and I’m a Democrat.” You bet you are, Merle. And a darned good one too.
Welcome back.
Voting early
Absentee ballots will be available in the next week or so in most counties, and both parties are now urging their supporters to vote early in case of bad weather on Election Day. Republicans did a big mailing last week. A couple of our good local Democrats-including one of our staff-- received their absentee ballot applications from the Republican Party. That’s good. I hope they mailed to a lot of us. Our mailing goes out this week. I think it will only go to Democrats. When it comes to you, go ahead and use the application form and send it in. Vote early. Don’t take any chances. This is a critical election for us.
See you on the Trail.
Jim
My old friend Karl Limvere, once communications director for the North Dakota Farmers Union and now pastor of the Zion United Church of Christ in Medina, showed up in the news last week. Karl is one of a group of local ministers who has organized a group called the Dakota Progressive Clergy Network.
The group is comprised of a number of pastors from mainline Bismarck churches, who have been meeting informally for several months to talk about faith issues and their impact on the lives of their congregations. They’re currently doing a series of programs in Bismarck called “Religion and Society.”
"Our hope is to bring the discussion of religious morality back to the central theme of our Biblical heritage," Limvere said last week. "Being a follower of Christ means that we respond through the grace and love of God with compassion and care to serve basic human needs. The true moral test of a society is how we care for the 'widow and the orphan' and not how we impose our ethical judgments upon each other."
Hmmmm. That could have been taken right out of the Democratic-NPL Party’s platform, I thought when I read that comment. See, I get tired of hearing Republicans say you can’t be a Democrat and a Christian. I know a lot of good, solid church-going Democrats. And I’ve heard some Republicans complain about Christian fundamentalists having their hands around the neck of the Republican party.
The second program in their series will feature speaker Adam Taylor, director of campaigns and organizing at Sojourners/Call to Renewal, based in Washington, D.C. Taylor's talk is on "Religion and Economic Justice," at Bismarck's United Church of Christ, 1200 E. Highland Acres Road. It’s this Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
Taylor currently serves as the Director of Campaigns and Organizing at Sojourners, a 34-year-old Christian organization that integrates spiritual renewal with social justice. He formerly served as the Executive Director of Global Justice, an organization that educates, trains, and mobilizes students around issues of global human rights and economic justice. Before co-founding Global Justice, Taylor worked as an Associate at the Harvard University Carr Center for Human Rights.
I’m pleased that Karl and others in his group are heading this effort. I hope you’ll take time to check out one of their programs. These aren’t Democrat or Republican events. But it sounds like truly progressive members of our community will enjoy them.
Welcome back, Merle
Your Democratic-NPL Floor Leaders, Senator David O’Connell and Rep. Merle Boucher, are on the road nearly as much as I am this time of the year, trying to bolster the numbers of their ranks in the next session of the Legislature. Merle has just completed inpatient treatment for alcoholism, and he and I met last week with candidates in Districts 7, 5 and 15. One of the more poignant moments of the campaign for me so far was when Merle got up in Devils Lake to deliver his first speech since going back on the campaign trail, and began his remarks “Hi. I’m Merle Boucher, and I’m a Democrat.” You bet you are, Merle. And a darned good one too.
Welcome back.
Voting early
Absentee ballots will be available in the next week or so in most counties, and both parties are now urging their supporters to vote early in case of bad weather on Election Day. Republicans did a big mailing last week. A couple of our good local Democrats-including one of our staff-- received their absentee ballot applications from the Republican Party. That’s good. I hope they mailed to a lot of us. Our mailing goes out this week. I think it will only go to Democrats. When it comes to you, go ahead and use the application form and send it in. Vote early. Don’t take any chances. This is a critical election for us.
See you on the Trail.
Jim
posted by Dem-NPL at 10:42 AM
<< Home