Voting is a fundamental right of every citizen. Tampering with this right through a misguided attempt to prevent voter fraud is nothing more than a 21st century version of a poll tax or a literacy test. Many among our ranks have fought long and hard battles to safeguard the voting rights of every citizen, not just the privileged. We believe it is our moral and spiritual obligation to continue this fight now.
We extend our collective hand and voice to other people of goodwill and organizations that promote justice. You can help overcome voter suppression in the following ways:
* Educate yourself and others about the new Pennsylvania voter ID law.
* Mobilize with others to help voters obtain the required ID for this election cycle.
* Preach justice and create a sense of urgency in promoting the common good.
* Ask family, friends and neighbors to join us as part of a protest movement that seeks repeal of the new voter-ID law.
* Pray for wisdom and courage to overcome an unjust law.
* Advocate for voter participation, not suppression. (We cannot forget previous obstacles to voting such as the poll tax, literacy tests, beatings, bombings and so on.)
* Remember to go to the polls on Nov. 6 and vote.
* Visit our website, nimphilly.org, for more details and information.
In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Rev. Dr. Nancy E. Muth, First
Presbyterian Church in Germantown
Rev. Dr. Katie Day,
Lutheran Theological Seminary
Rev. Cynthia A. Jarvis,
Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
Rev. Lorelei Toombs, First United Methodist Church of Germantown
Rev. Linda Noonan,
Chestnut Hill United Church
Rabbi Marcia Prager, P'nai Or Jewish Renewal Congregation of Philadelphia
Rabbi Mordechai Liebling,
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Rev. Kent Matthies,
Unitarian Society of Germantown
Rev. Lamont Anthony Wells,
Reformation Lutheran Church
Rev. Kathryn Ellis, Unitarian
Universalist Church of the Restoration
Rev. Dr. Andrew L. Foster III, Janes Memorial United Methodist Church
Rev. Andrena Ingram,
St. Michael's Lutheran Church
Rabbi Adam Zeff,
Germantown Jewish Centre
Rev. Ernest R. Flores,
Second Baptist Church of Germantown
Rev. W. Jarrett Kerbel,
Church of St. Martin in the Fields
Rabbi Linda Holtzman,
Mishkan Shalom
Rev. Amy Yoder McGloughlin,
Germantown Mennonite Church
Rev. Elliott Waters,
Church of the Annunciation
Rev. Cheryl Pyrch,
Summit Presbyterian Church
Rev. Dr. Martin Lohrmann,
Christ Ascension Lutheran Church
Rev. Thomas Eoyang,
Grace Epiphany Episcopal Church
Bishop C. Milton Grannum,
New Covenant Church of Philadelphia
The write answer
Can we get some kind of consensus on cursive? Do we teach it or do we not teach it? What is the policy and is there a policy? Also, what are the consequences of not teaching it?
Recently I asked a young person to go to the drugstore for me and I dashed off about five items for him to purchase. But, amazingly he said he could not read my note. I was shocked.
A teacher in a public middle school in Eastwick told me at a home-and-school meeting that cursive was no longer taught. But a grandmother whose granddaughter attends a public school in the Northeast says it is taught. And recently, while attempting to research volunteer opportunities for my grandson's community service requirement, I came across a Free Library of Philadelphia application for volunteers that required a handwriting sample.
So what is the policy? And what are the implications?
Karen Warrington
Philadelphia
Is this a hate crime?
Six black girls in Chester viciously attacked a helpless handicapped white woman and put it on the Internet. Why isn't this a hate crime? God forbid the news report that the victim was white, the way they would if it was the other way around. Where are any of our white politicians? As usual, whenever it comes to black-on-white hate crime, they are silent.
Jack Yocum
Philadelphia
