Our Current Programs
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Truth Commission on Conscience in War
This Truth Commission will convene a group of interfaith leaders committed to launching a nationwide conversation to change current CO law, so that the conscience of soldiers and the just war tradition in religion may be included in regulations about Conscientious Objection. Current military regulations about Conscientious Objection require objection to war in any form. This requirement does not allow those in military service to object on moral grouds to a particular war.
The Axis of Friendship
In September 2008, Faith Voices worked with a coalition of Bay Area groups to create a Festival of Friendship with Iran in San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza. Faith Voices board members Brock and Soltani published an opinion piece about the Axis in the Boston Globe on September 10, 2008.
In February, we gathered over 400 signatures for a letter to President Obama, asking for diplomacy with Iran, rather than military actions. This letter was published on February 12, 2009, in the Washington Post, p. A3.
Poverty Truth Commission of the Justice Collaborative of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley
Faith Voices supports this program through:
Providing commissioners to serve on the Commission
Helping to organize events that focus on educating religious communities and leaders about poverty in the Northern California Bay Area
Saving Paradise Workshops
The book, Saving Paradise, co-authored by Faith Voices Director Rita N. Brock and board member Rebecca Ann Parker, offers a new life-affirming, this-worldly positive framing of Christianity. To further this new theological framing, the authors are offering opportunities for churches and organizations to create new visual, liturgical, and literary resources. These resources are posted online. For more information, contact rita@faithvoices.org.
Coalition of Theological Schools
In 2005, Faith Voices created a network of theological schools for education of the general public on shared religious values from various Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish traditions. The coalition cooperated on several joint educational programs and provided resources to clergy and lay leaders. This coalition continues to support projects, such as the 2008 Envision conference, described below.
Our Past Programs
Gather Heart (2005-2007)
Faith Voices offered this nationwide sermon-preparation program for clergy and other religious leaders seeking a collaborative approach using internet technology to enhance preaching and educational efforts.
Hard Road Home 2008
Faith Voices organized the Bay Area Premiere of Hard Road Home, a searing documentary about Julio Medina, a drug-dealing gang leader sentenced to Sing Sing prison. Julio served 12 years and emerged a changed man. He created Exodus Transitional Community, an amazing program run by people formerly incarcerated and dedicated to breaking the downward cycle of recidivism.
EnVision: the Gospel, Politics, and the Future, 2008
Faith Voices cooperated with New York Theological Seminary on the conference June 8-11 at Princeton University The event featured 500 attendees and over 60 speakers, including Randy Balmer, Rich Cizik, Andrea Smith, Obery Hendricks, Brian McLaren, Pamela Lightsey, Brenda Salter McNeil, Jay Bakker, Lisa Sharon Harper, Shane Claiborne, and Jim Wallis.
Redemption, 2009
Faith Voices worked with the Justice Collaborative of the Graduate Theological Union and the First Christian Church of Oakland to host rough cuts of director Amir Soltani’s documentary, Redemption, about those who survive poverty in West Oakland by recycling. The film screening was followed by a hearing of the Justice Collaborative Poverty Truth Commission.
Synanim 2004-2008
Faith Voices organizational members have used the social software, Synanim, an educational technology for initiatives that can be advanced by online exchanges of ideas and the development of a creative synthesis of user ideas. In 2009, Faith Voices took Synanim offline to reengineer its administrative interface.
In past uses, the Synanim technology has demonstrated its effectiveness in facilitating online discussion and identifying the values and applications of those values among diverse religious viewpoints. The written results of the Synanim process have been used as educational documents for wider audiences, demonstrating what religious values are shared and also how they apply to public policy. Participant numbers in past uses of Synanim ranged from 12 to 13,000. Among these past uses were:
Lift Every Voice: Christianity and the Future of America, 2004
A thousand progressive Christians, including clergy and educators, gathered online to create a document expressing the values of justice, healing, peace, and care for creation. The document was posted at church websites, read from pulpits, and used as a study document in many churches in preparation for the fall 04 election cycle.
Declaration of Interdependence 2005
In response to Hurricane Katrina, participants produced a Declaration of Interdependence.
Peace Not Poverty 2005
Thirteen thousand created the final document, which final leader Kelley Ogden read at the Beyond Iraq interfaith service at Riverside Church on April 4.
Beyond Iraq 2006
The Beyond Iraq statement was presented to the general public at the March for Peace, Justice and Democracy in New York City, April 29 and at a public presentation to the United Nations on May 1.
2008 Centennial Social Creed
Faith Voices worked with the National Council of Churches using Synanim as part of a national dialogue about creating a 2008 Centennial Social Creed for churches to commemorate the 1908 Social Creed. Both creeds published in Westminster Press, 2008, Prayers for a New Social Awakening.
Staff and Board
IRS Status, 501(c)(3)
