The 2014 legislative session is set to end on March 8. On the line is a long-overdue increase in the state minimum wage, or in practical terms: the prospect for a better life for West Virginia's working families. Our state senators MUST stand with working people and raise the minimum wage in West Virginia to $8.25 per hour and index it to inflation and increase the tipped minimum wage. ALL workers deserve a living wage and no one who works full time should toil in poverty. Lobbyists from fast-food corporations like McDonald's and state hospitality industry groups are working hard to convince lawmakers that they cannot afford a minimum wage increase and that a raise would be bad for families and the economy. We know—and studies show— that these "bad for the economy" assertions are just not true. It's the workers who cannot afford NOT to get a raise.

We demand that you not eliminate New York’s dedicated bank tax giving Wall St an additional $350 million of our states resources annually, but expand Wall St taxes. After foreclosing on millions of families’ futures, Wall St. banks gave over $90 billion in bonuses to executives last year. We should be requiring Wall St. to repay our communities. We demand that you rescind your proposal to give $750 million of our state’s resources away to millionaires by reducing inheritance taxes. In the most unequal state in the country inheritance taxes which only impact the wealthy few should be increased not reduced. Instead of offering the wealthiest homeowners in our state $1 billion of our state’s resources in your property tax "freeze" mechanism we demand that you make our property tax system more progressive not less. We further demand that you allow New York City to raise taxes on millionaires to ensure a dedicated funding stream for its universal pre-kindergarten program. Our faith traditions require us to reject your budget proposals as unjust social contract. His Holiness Pope Francis has recently characterized trickle-down economics as "a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power." We reject these tax breaks for the wealthiest among us that require teachers, healthcare workers, and librarians to live on less. We cannot accept a state that denies children the educational resources they need to succeed; that requires young people to go deeper into debt for college, and the elderly to live with less care. We cannot accept a state that denies the homeless and hungry in our state the services they need. In the words of Walter Brueggeman “prophetic ministry does not consist of spectacular acts of social crusading or of abrasive measures of indignation. Prophetic ministry consists of offering an alternative perception of reality and in letting people see their own history in the light of God’s freedom and his will for justice.” Our state policies must promote the inclusive society we are morally obligated to build together - one based on mutual respect and compassion; and one that upholds the golden rule to treat our neighbors as ourselves. We hope to meet with your office, as soon as possible, so that you can stand with us in the cause of justice, and reject any policy that results in harm to the many for the benefit of the few.

These nuns need you. A few weeks ago, Sister Donna Quinn of the National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN) asked me to help spread the word that their coalition of more than 2000 Roman Catholic sisters has endorsed providing birth control through the Affordable Care Act. Because of their faith, they believe “that women should not be singled out by any organization or group through its refusal to insure a woman’s reproductive needs.” The nuns are bravely speaking out just as those on the right want us to believe that birth control use is immoral. In just a few weeks, the Supreme Court will be hearing two cases where company owners who don’t support contraception personally are denying their employees insurance coverage for birth control as mandated by the Affordable Care Act. The lawyers for these corporations (one of which is Hobby Lobby) go so far as to call birth control use sinful and immoral. To make it worse, the owners are claiming that including contraceptives in health care violates their company’s religious freedom. Sister Donna and the nuns at NCAN know differently, and they're bravely standing up to their hierarchy. But they need us to stand with them -- to say that as people of faith we support universal access to contraception. We believe women should be able to make personal decisions about their families, their bodies, their sexuality, and their health – not their employers. And we want to make clear that the sin is not a person using birth control. The sin is denying women the right and the means to plan their families. Indeed, it is precisely because life is sacred that we support the intentional and moral use of contraception. We know that religious freedom means that each person has the right to exercise their own religious beliefs; religious freedom cannot mean that an individual or a corporation gets to impose their religious beliefs on their employees. Please join us and take a faith-filled stand with the nuns for women, birth control, and real religious freedom.

Sr. Barbara Finch is a five-year veteran nurse at the Allegheny County Jail infirmary. She was fired last week for leading efforts to organize her coworkers to form a union. Workers at the jail are working to improve conditions to better provide patient care and safety. They want a voice in their workplace so that they can carry on the mission of providing healthcare with dignity. All workers deserve the right to stick together for a united voice, better working conditions and safer workspaces. Sr. Barbara should not be fired for leading efforts for a more fair workplace!

With the common core and high stakes testing effecting our education system and our children in Buffalo, we need officials to listen to our community. As parents, this is at the core of our hearts, and as Americans, this is at the core of our democracy. And Commissioner King has yet to hear the communities voices. We have called for him to hear our stories on may occasions and he has consistently gone to the surrounding areas but never giving the many people of this great city; who have been fighting for the educational equity for their students his time. Our laws call for community members and leaders to work together to shape our children's future. So this is why we need to be in a space where the Commissioner can hear what high stakes testing and the common core are doing to our students so we can start to get testing right. Please add your name by filling out the form to the right before our urgent deadline is December 11th.

Did you know that Texas sets the trend for school textbooks across the country? Sadly, these textbooks could soon teach children to deny the reality of climate change. Several members of a textbook review panel - who are on the panel despite being associated with fringe anti-science groups - are urging the Board of Education to censor the findings of climate science. If the publisher bows to their pressure, textbooks across the country might speak ambiguously about climate change! The Board of Education will make their decision about the textbooks in mid-November, so we need to act now. Even though 97 percent of scientists agree that climate change is real and humans are the primary source of the problem, these fringe groups are looking to sow confusion. One review claimed “We don't really know that the carbon cycle has been altered.” Another, that: “In reality we don't know what climate change will do to species diversity.” This is wrong – we need to protect honest education about climate change. Facts shouldn’t be up for debate – and people of faith have a role to play in countering the lie that religion and science are at odds. Some of the reviewers are using faith in their argument against science, so we need to counter their misinformation. Students deserve to learn the truth about the damage being done to creation. Join Sojourners in telling the Texas State Board of Education to teach the facts about climate change.

We’ve seen the healing that’s possible when we come together to combat hate. This attack, pending the investigation, will at least be tracked and monitored as a hate crime by the US government. We did that together. In fact, Prabhjot – a Columbia university professor, doctor, and community health expert – helped make that possible. In the New York Times last year, he called upon the government “to vigorously combat bias and discrimination against all Americans." This is our moment to come together again -- to shine a spotlight on Prabhjot's brave leadership and help prevent future attacks with our action.

Twenty years ago, more than 100 global faith and spiritual leaders declared a shared vision of the world’s critical challenges, and what we can do in harmony to eradicate these problems. While we celebrate this pioneering global ethic, the work toward true interreligious and human harmony continues. Our generation lives in the face of the same struggles: Continuous war, division, poverty, hunger, violence, ecological danger, and political dysfunction toward achieving true, lasting harmony. And yet, the world is still populated by a groundswell of caring, collaborative, and eager people. The innovators of contemporary interfaith trailblazed; their declaration to fix a world languishing presented a CALL TO ACTION we as millennials are better equipped to accept than any generation before. It is time for a fundamental change of hearts and minds, to act harmoniously with one another and our earth, transcendent of boundary and creed. THE GROUNDSWELL FOR A BETTER FUTURE BEGINS WITH THIS PLEDGE. SIGN AND DECLARE: We are interdependent. We take individual responsibility for all we do. All our decisions, actions, and failures to act have consequences. We consider humankind our family. We commit ourselves to a culture of non-violence, respect, justice, and peace. We must strive for a just social and economic order in which everyone has an equal chance to reach full potential as a human being. Earth cannot be changed for the better unless the consciousness of individuals is changed first. We pledge to increase our awareness by disciplining our minds, by meditation, by prayer, or by positive thinking. Without risk and a readiness to sacrifice there can be no fundamental change in our situation. Therefore we commit ourselves to this global ethic, to understanding one another, and to socially beneficial, peace-fostering, and nature-friendly ways of life. WE INVITE ALL PEOPLE, RELIGIOUS, SPIRITUAL, AND ETHICAL, TO DO THE SAME. Signing is easy, but committing takes guts. Will you: 1) Commit to and sign the Global Ethic!* ( Full text of the Towards a Global Ethic declaration is downloadable by clicking on "Campaign website" on the left sidebar. 2) Share how you will live out the global ethic for a better future for all. 3) Start a conversation with your teachers, faith leaders, family partners, and especially those with whom you seek to find common ground: like your grandparents, co-workers, and in-laws! 4) Ask your neighbors to sign, too. Use Facebook, e-mail, and around the old-fashioned water cooler . Tip: If a debate erupts, steer the conversation toward your common core values. 5) Pick a partner, pick a common cause, and pick a time to act together. 6) Let go of hate. Live out the vision.

Sr. Simone Campbell has been getting a lot of attention in South Dakota in what some are portraying as a "spat" with Bishop Swain about the Affordable Care Act. NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, which Sr. Simone directs, is more concerned about who's NOT getting attention: 49,000 South Dakotans who are poor and uninsured. They could greatly benefit from Medicaid expansion. Sr. Simone is in South Dakota to talk to the Yankton community about healthcare and poverty. Governor Daugaard will be releasing his Medicaid Task Force's report just days after Sister Simone's visit. As the Governor reviews his new report this week, let's show him the media hype about Catholics being opposed to the Affordable Care Act does not reflect the majority public opinion. People of faith, including and especially Catholics, will support the Governor in a decision to ensure every South Dakotan has dignified access to healthcare.

In his recent address on the topic at Georgetown University, President Obama stated the following: "One day, our children, their children, will almost certainly ask, 'What did you do to solve the climate challenge?'" Over the decades since its founding in 1942, the Association which represents 45,000 local churches and 40 different denominations, has adopted official statements and resolutions on dozens of public-policy issues, ranging from immigration to sexual trafficking. But it has yet to acknowledge the reality of human-caused green house gas emissions nor our human responsibility as stewards of creation to take individual and governmental action to address such carbon emissions. In light of what appears to be a complacency, if not simple abdication of our shared responsibility and leadership, we urge the Board of the National Association of Evangelicals to officially declare itself by Resolution on the reality of human-caused climate change and the need of not just individuals and churches to take actions to reduce carbon emissions, but for the federal government to do so by supporting the Environmental Protection Agency's planned regulation of existing coal-burning utility plants. Given the importance of protecting our natural heritage, we also urge the Board of the Association to declare itself on our faith-based, moral responsibility to future generations to ensure conservation of America’s parks and public lands -- including the clean water, wildlife habitat, and cultural treasures protected therein -- on equal ground with the priority afforded to oil and gas development on our public lands. Unfortunately, under the first term of the Obama Administration, the oil and gas industry leased more than 6 million acres of public land, more than double the 2.6 million acres that were permanently protected for the public to access and enjoy. People of faith believe we do not need to sacrifice the latter (public lands) for the former (oil and gas leases). Our moral responsibility to speak to these two issues, the first being a regulatory action, and the second a request of President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden, are well-within the parameters of previous NAE resolutions which have urged actions which the light of history reveals to be far-sighted and impactful, from the banning of smoking on airlines to support for government to encourage fuel efficiency, reduce pollution, encourage sustainable use of natural resources, and provide for the proper care of wildlife and their natural habitats. When the Board of the National Association of Evangelicals meets in October 2013, we will present you the signatories to this petition, which we hope and pray will include many of the names of leaders who previously and currently serve on the Board and who want the Association to go on record on behalf of these worthy and compelling public policy issues, as well as young Millennials and New Evangelicals who are our friends and colleagues. Thank you for your leadership. Signed: Richard Cizik, President, New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good Anna Jane Joyner, Creation Care Advocate

With so many critical issues facing our education system and our children in Buffalo, we need officials to listen to our community. As parents, this is at the core of our hearts, and as Americans, this is at the core of our democracy. Our laws call for community members and leaders to work together to shape our children's future. So do our faith traditions – in His Sermon on the mount, Jesus says that we must live into the law better than those who made it, to help the most vulnerable among us. It's why we call on Education Commissioner King to listen to our community's stories on August 8th before he decides the education budget August 12th. Stories like Elizabeth's – a Burmese parent and teacher's aid at Lafayette. She strives to speak English and communicate with her community the lessons in the classroom. She came to America with hope for the future of her children, a hope that is not limited to vocational training alone. Her hopes include the opportunity for her children to go to college. Commissioner King – you need to meet Elizabeth so you can hear about her dreams. Commissioner King also needs to hear the tragic story of Jawaan Daniels. As he left the Lafayette campus after being suspended in 2010, he was shot and killed at a bus stop. Jawaan was a freshman. He'll never have the chance to go to college. And his parents can never have their son back. As parents, pastors, and community leaders, we are fighting so what happened to Jawaan never happens again, and so mothers like Elizabeth can achieve the American dream for her children. It's why we're calling on Commissioner King to meet with us, so we can share our stories, and call on him to take action to: Restore full funding to Lafayette and East High Schools Fund restorative justice in both these schools, and Work with Lafayette to provide language access through translation Please add your name by filling out the form to the right before our urgent deadline August 8th.

Major Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi is an American hero who served bravely in Afghanistan as a doctor, earning a bronze star. But he was only allowed in the military in the first place after petitioning for two years for a special accommodation. Today, in America, turbaned Sikhs are effectively barred from military service. Although the U.S. military technically permits soldiers to wear turbans, yarmulkes, and certain other articles of faith, they may only do so after requesting a special exemption from their commanding officer. This process is often long and laborious and essentially requires Sikhs and members of other religious traditions to choose between faith and military service. Major Kalsi is standing up to the military’s policy, and we, as people of many faiths and backgrounds, stand with him. President Obama, we respectfully call on your Administration to give turbaned Sikh American an equal opportunity to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. As people of faith and moral conscious, we speak out against the U.S. military’s policy hindering Sikh Americans and others from serving military duty. “[A]sking a person to choose between religion and country, that’s not who we are as a nation,” said Major Kalsi when he told his remarkable story to the New York Times. “We’re better than that. We can be Sikhs and soldiers at the same time.” African-Americans fought to desegregate military units. Women fought to overcome combat prohibitions. Under your leadership, LGBTQ people successfully fought the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Now, we follow the lead of the Sikh Coalition and SIkh Americans across the nation –  to call for an end to the presumptive ban on devout Sikh soldiers in the U.S. Armed Forces. As the Sikh American community heals from Oak Creek – the largest hate-based mass shooting in recent U.S. history – now is the time to end a policy that undermines their status as equal Americans. May all patriotic Americans – regardless of race, gender, orientation, or religion – be able to serve the nation they love.