Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie

#LetOurPeopleGo Action In Portland This Thursday

August 27, 2018

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

In keeping with the best spirit of the church universal, I will join with clergy from Oregon's interfaith community in risking arrest this Thursday (August 30^th) at a protest in front of Portland's ICE office as part of the “Let Our People Go”  campaign. Please consider joining in support of this action that will occur from 10am - 12pm at Caruthers Park (3508 SW Moody Ave, Portland, Oregon 97239). Learn more at: https://goo.gl/9568Rm. Feel free to share this invitation.

Clergy have been calling on the federal government to reunite all immigrant families separated by the Trump Administration this summer. We have also demanded an end to immigrant detention. For many years, I have joined with the National Council of Churches and interfaith partners in supporting bi-partisan comprehensive immigration reform in the United States. We need just policies - similar to those advanced by George W. Bush and Barack Obama - and not punitive measures that hurt children and refugees fleeing economic chaos and political violence.

As you know, I serve as the university chaplain and director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality at Pacific University, but my participation in this action is undertaken out of my own understanding of what it means to be a faithful Christian and minister in the United Church of Christ in this particular moment of history.

I invite your prayers and participation as we prepare for this action on Thursday. Please also consider signing this action alert from the United Church of Christ (you can change the language to reflect your own faith tradition or ethical viewpoint) calling on our government "to protect family unity and stop systematic family separation, help those seeking asylum find safety, and seek to answer the call to love all of our neighbors" at http://p2a.co/swIaktJ.

People of good faith can come to different conclusions on difficult issues. I respect those who might disagree with my actions.  My obligation as a minister, however, demands that I confront injustice and bring light to dark places. This is, frankly, the call of all those who are baptized. Non-violent protest has been part of the Christian tradition since Jesus first modeled such behavior in his ministry.

I will be keeping people updated as possible on Thursday via Twitter and Facebook.

In Peace,

Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie

Open Letter To ICE Agents: Resign To Protect U.S. Values

We live in political times where the president of the United States challenges basics norms of compassion and support for human rights.

Agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) see this first hand.

The president, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen have asked ICE agents to enforce laws, many issued by executive order, that diverse religious leaders in the United States have deemed immoral.  

"The Administration continues to take significant and dangerous steps that are eroding the foundations of the immigration system and the international law that upholds access to asylum for those fleeing danger and violence. These practices of separating families, increasing immigrant detention, and redefining access to asylum are abhorrent and undermine our values," states the national offices of the United Church of Christ.

Trauma caused to children separated from their parents in support of these policies may be irreversible.  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) notes that "studies of detained immigrants, primarily from abroad, have found negative physical and emotional symptoms among detained children, and posttraumatic symptoms do not always disappear at the time of release."

Even though a U.S. court has ruled that children be reunited with their parents, the Trump Administration has failed to meet their obligations.

On March 8, 2017, on the website HuffPost, I argued ICE agents should resign rather than enforce immoral laws. Since that time the administration's disregard for the fundamental human rights of immigrants has only grown.

Today I repeat that call and ask all ICE agents to prayerfully consider whether or not your work on behalf of the federal government is consistent with your own faith beliefs – along with the underlying commitment all law enforcement officers should have to the rule of law and human rights.

"Too often individuals respond to moral conflict by denying responsibility with excuses such as ‘following orders,' ‘no choice,' or ‘not my job.' The existence of the option to resign prevents them from exculpating themselves with such excuses," wrote J. Patrick Dobel in his paper The Ethics of Resigning. "The option to resign means that the theoretical linkage of personal responsibility and position is real."

More and more clergy from various faith backgrounds have been risking arrest at ICE facilities to demonstrate the fierce urgency of reuniting children with their parents, ending unjust policies, and promoting comprehensive immigration reform that reflects America's best principles.  

As the enforcers of unjust laws, I say as a minister ordained to preach and teach the Gospel that to be on the side of true justice ICE agents must take personal responsibility and resign or take other tangible action consistent with principled resistance to end the suffering ICE's enforcement is causing.  

Oregon Interfaith Leaders Express Concern Over Franklin Graham Decision America Tour #DecisionAmerica #Portland

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Franklin Graham is speaking in the Portland-area on Sunday night as part of his “Decision America Tour,” and that has many interfaith leaders in Oregon concerned. Over the years, Graham has called Islam “a very wicked and evil religion,” praised the oppressive anti-LGBT policies of Vladimir Putin, and tied himself firmly to Donald Trump. 

Graham’s “Decision America Tour,” according to Graham himself, is meant to engage evangelical Christian churches and voters in the conservative political movement. Graham told pastors in California during the first leg of the tour that they should preach about their preference for political candidates.

“Diverse faith leaders in Oregon have been meeting this summer to discuss Graham’s visit and the impact it might have,” said Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie, university chaplain, and director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality at Pacific University.  “No one in Oregon needs a sermon from Franklin Graham about faith. Rev. Graham talks about America as red and blue. We want to build up the Beloved Community for all.”

“Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon believes in the value of love and the inherent dignity of every human being. As people of faith, we are called to love justice and to stand with the most vulnerable in our society, as we seek to build bridges of understanding where there is division,” Jan Elfers, executive director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO). EMO is statewide association of Christian, ecumenical & interfaith partners working together to improve the lives of Oregonians. “We are committed to transcending the political divides that prevent us from working together to address suffering and brokenness. EMO extends a welcome to Franklin Graham in the hope that his mission will also transcend the political divisions of our day to bring healing to a hurting world.”  

Graham was invited to meet with interfaith leaders while in Oregon. The invitation was not accepted.   

“We clergy of Portland, Oregon understand the motivation for Franklin Graham’s visit to our area, for we also have a message we are driven to convey in the name of G*d. We hope that Pastor Graham’s visit will be in the spirit of his father’s work: radical love toward all G*d’s creation. Anything less might be misunderstood as supporting social intolerance, an evil which we feel that certainly, a Christian like Pastor Graham would never seek to do,” remarked Rabbi Ariel Stone, convener of Portland Interfaith Clergy Resistance: Bearing Moral Witness In Times of Turmoil.

The Rev. Cecil Charles Prescod, minister of faith formation at Ainsworth United Church of Christ, said he had hoped to meet with Graham: “to share the interfaith cooperation in witness and work for justice and wholeness in Oregon. In our state people of faith join with people of good will to pray and work for a nation where we welcome our refugee and immigrant sisters and brothers into our communities; work to restore our creation; and advocate with our houseless neighbors, the unemployed, communities of color, LGBT communities for economic and social justice. We pray that Rev. Graham will join us in striving for the beloved community."