Merry Christmas from SGP

"If men through fear, fraud or mistake, should in terms renounce and give up any essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the great end of society, would absolutely vacate such renunciation; the right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of Man to alienate this gift, and voluntarily become a slave." --John Adams, Rights of the Colonists, 1772

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

As we gather with our family and friends this Christmas, we want to thank youfor your friendship.  You make all the difference with your enthusiasm, your involvement and your desire to learn more.

May you and yours have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

Susan Olsen and Karen Testerman

NH Council of Churches News December 2012

Christmas Thoughts from the      NH Council of Churches "... in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."  John 1: 4-5 In the midst of these Advent days we are startled, shocked and nearly overwhelmed with the news of last Friday's mass killing in Newtown, CT. The season of peace and joy is pierced clear through by thoughts of children and teachers, even a young gunman and his mother, all violently slain within minutes. We know of such things; still our hearts newly break and the darkness seems especially dark just now. I thought of words written by C.S. Lewis: "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is his (sic) megaphone to rouse a deaf world." The pain of these days can rouse us to rail against the darkness, to say "Enough!" To call/write/visit our legislators and insist on reinstatement of the federal ban on assault rifles (i.e. the Feinstein Bill), to take new measures to limit rounds, secure background checks and close loop holes for all buyers. All of these are would be a start in a country where there are 300 million guns in civilian hands and 80 deaths occur each and every day. In the world community we stand singularly in such a place. Our railing will include confession; Isaiah's is not bad: "Woe is me. I am lost... I am a man of unclean lips and I live among people of unclean lips." Yes, we collude in creating an environment with too much overt violence as well as too few resources to meet the needs of those with mental illnesses and the people who love them. In the middle of our Christmas plans we are roused by the pain we are experiencing. But we are roused, also, by the memory that God in the Christ Child entered into a world not wholly unlike our own. Even then the journey was dangerous, there was no room, and accommodations were dark. Still, God entered in, coming to be with God's people to become as one of them, to shine a light and show a way out. God comes still in this fragile time of 2012. Emmanuel, God is with us. God breaks in and a great reversal of fortunes is underway. So let us "rail on" against the darkness. Let us act now. And let us pray not only for those who grieve most in these Advent days but let us pray that we might be encouraged and emboldened by God's light come in Christ. Every Blessing, Rev. Linda Lea Snyder   Reducing the Risk Workshop     "Let the Children Come to Me" Safe Practices for Ministering to and With Children and Youth Friday, February 8, 2013 (snow date - Feb. 22nd) 9:00 am - 1:00 pm (includes lunch) 125 Airport Road, Concord, NH 03301 $20.00 for workshop and lunch. Registration closes February 3, 2012 For Pastors, Christian Educators, Ministers of Discipleship and Youth, Lay Church Leaders * What are the current mandated reporting laws? * What are best practices in serving children and youth? * How can we help our staff understand and reduce the    risks and create the safest environments? * Recognizing and maintaining appropriate and safe    boundaries. Sponsored by the NH Council of Churches Leaders: * Rev. Linda Lea Snyder, Interim Director NH Council of     Churches (former faculty at Yale Divinity School) * Ms. Mary Ellen D'Intino, MSW & Director of Safe      Environment Programs Compliance Officer, Catholic      Diocese of New Hampshire. Both Linda and Mary Ellen bring wide experience and training in this field. For questions and to register contact: LLSnyder@nhchurches.org MARK YOUR CALENDARS... Gov. Lynch Proclaims Homeless Memorial Day December 21, 2012 Vigil to be held at Veterans' Memorial Park in Manchester. For more information please go to our website: NHChurches.org Martin Luther King Day Remembrances and Celebrations January 21, 2013 Volunteer NH, in collaboration with AmeriCorps partners have planned a food drive to benefit the NH Food Bank (a program of NH Catholic Charities) for the morning of Jan 21st at St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 650 Hanover St., Manchester (03104). This effort fittingly realizes Dr. Martin King's commitment and vision to serve the underserved. Great programming follows at the same location from 2 - 5 pm. For other food drop off sites please visit www.nhfoodbank.org PROPOSAL FOR SPIRITUAL SERVICES... This is notification that the State of New Hampshire, acting through the Department of Health and Human Services' Division for children, Youth and families, has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to provide for spiritual services to residents at the John H. Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester, NH. The RFP will be published December 10, 2012 on the Department's website at www.dhhs.nh.gov/business/rfp/inde.htm.   All qualified vendors who have an interest in providing this service are encouraged to submit a proposal by the due date of January 17, 2012.  All questions and request for clarification should be directed to Contract Officer: John Harrington, Contract Specialist DHHS - Division for children, Youth and Families 129 Pleasant St Concord NH  03301603-271-0945 603-271-7982 john.h.harrington@dhhs.state.nh.us.        Message from NRCAT,   Zero Dark Thirty opens in New York and Los Angeles today. The movie depicts graphic acts of torture and implies that it played a key role in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. But soldiers, intelligence professionals, and interrogators have all told us that torture did not produce useful information that could not have been obtained by legal and moral means. We believe that the report by the Senate Intelligence Committee on its three-year investigation of CIA torture will show that torture did not make our nation safer. This report must be made public. Last week, the Senate voted to adopt the report, which was a huge victory for all of us. But the challenges before us are these: We must urge the Senate Intelligence Committee to release its report. We need to make it clear to the American people that torture is not only immoral and illegal, but it does not make our nation safer. The message of Zero Dark Thirty is simply wrong - read facts and fiction about Zero Dark Thirty.     A message from: Linda Gustitus, President NRCAT Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director NRCAT Please email President Obama and encourage him to assist the Senate Intelligence Committee in quickly releasing as much information as possible from the CIA torture report. Working together, people of faith from across our nation have achieved a significant success. A bi-partisan group of Senators from the Senate Intelligence Committee recently voted to adopt the more than 6,000 page report on CIA torture. This follows months of advocacy by NRCAT supporters. With NRCAT's leadership, people of faith played a major role in the success of this effort - meeting with key Senators, writing and submitting op-eds, and contacting leaders in government. Read more about it in our HuffPo post and press release. The work is not done, of course. The report must be made public to make a difference in the effort to end U.S.-sponsored torture forever. We will work with you in coming months to see that this happens. You can help us begin this work by emailing President Obama today.

NH Council of Churches Needs You!    The New Hampshire Council of Churches, as the state's ecumenical vehicle for unity and inter-religious actions, needs your support: Prayers. Sharing our concerns and your concerns with each other. Funds to continue incarnating God's annunciation of the Good News. Funds to support out Women's Prison outreach program. Please send checks made out to:  New Hampshire Council of Churches  NHCC, PO Box 1087, Concord NH 03302    Thank you! New Hampshire Council of Churches    125 Airport Road                                 PO Box 1087  Concord, NH  03301                Concord NH  03302 603-224-1352 info@nhchurches.org                 www.nhchurches.org    Office hours:  Please Call (Please call before coming!)

NH Church Council News June 2012

COUNCIL UPDATES...     The NH Council of Churches and the NH Bible Society have announced that the Rev. Linda Lea Snyder has been named as Interim Executive Director for both organizations, beginning in early July. In accepting the position, Rev. Snyder said, "I am very excited by this call. Working together in this interim time will allow both the NH Council of Churches and the NH Bible Society the luxury of time and space to discern a clear vision of purpose amid the challenges and realities in a new century." Rev. Snyder is an ordained minister in the American Baptist Church. She began her ministry in New Hampshire as pastor of the Madison Baptist Church in Madison, NH. Since then, she has had extensive experience not only in churches throughout New England, but also on the denominational level. For a number of years she was the Associate Executive Minister for the American Baptist Church in Connecticut, serving 125 churches representing a rich ethnic diversity of pastors and congregations. Most recently she was Interim Pastor at the First Baptist Church in Attleboro, Massachusetts. Rev. Snyder teaches an ongoing course on Professional Ethics at Yale Divinity School and was a contributing author to the book Temporary Shepherds, published by the Alban Institute. Among her special interests are ecumenical and interfaith relations, program development and retreat planning, and issues around refugee resettlement. As Interim Executive Director, Rev. Snyder will lead the NH Bible Society during its 200th year of making Bibles available to the citizens of New Hampshire, continuing the organization's efforts to provide free or low-cost Bibles to local churches, communities of new immigrants to New Hampshire, veterans and their families, and prisoners. She will work to facilitate cooperation and collaboration among the ten member denominations of the NH Council of Churches as well as other Christian and interfaith organizations. She will also continue the Council's deep commitment to address vital social issues from Christian theological and Scriptural perspectives. Rev. Snyder succeeds Mr. David Lamarre-Vincent who recently resigned as Executive Director of the NH Bible Society and NH Council of Churches after 21 years of service. NEW WEBSITE...  The new NH Council of Churches website is up and running!   When you check it out, you will note that it's still a lot to do but we're getting there.  Thanks for your patience as we continue to work on it.  Please check it out at NHChurches.org  FREE VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL MATERIALS... The Society of St. Andrew in conjunction with End Hunger.org are offering free Sunday School or Vacation Bible School curriculum which can be ordered on-line or downloaded directly from this website: endhunger.org/vbs.htm. It can also be ordered by calling The Rev. Jennifer Vestal Moore at 800-333-4597 or emailing her at Church@Endhunger.org. All sheets are reproducible and packets include: Short scripture stories Facts about hunger and the SoSA ministry Go Green statistics Mission adventure opportunities A pencil activity Song suggestions Craft ideas Snack choices ideas LEGISLATIVE UPDATE... Coordinated responses to a number of challenges to state housing policy had a significant impact during the 2012 state legislative session. We are grateful to Housing Action NH members and allies for all of their work on our state legislative priorities. Please see the report and our updated legislative tracker for more detailed information.   At the federal level, the House Appropriations Subcommittees sent the T-HUD and Rural Development Appropriations bills for FY '13 to the full House Appropriations Committee this week. The Senate passed its FY '13 bill in April.  Stay connected to state and federal legislative priorities and upcoming events at   www.housingactionnh.org. ADVOCACY UPDATE...   ... is a non-partisan organization dedicated since 1991 to a single mission: HALT GAMBLING EXPANSION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE Particularly casinos and electronic gambling machines. We invite all concerned residents of our state to get involved and help preserve our quality of life. New Hampshire's pro-casino candidates for corner office -- Ovide Lamontagne, Kevin Smith, Maggie Hassan, and Jackie Cilley -- all claim to be businesslike when it comes to big-time gambling expansion. Here's the newest acid test for this all-too-lightly made claim: Are you being suckered by the "destination resort casino" bait & switch? To find out more about GSCAEG, please visit their website at: noslots.com.

ADVOCACY UPDATE...   National Religious Campaign Against Torture   June is "Torture Awareness" Month     With an overall theme of recognizing the degree to which torture has taken root in American culture and consciousness, NRCAT is highlighting the following aspects of our work as opportunities for congregations, religious organizations and people of faith to mark  Torture Awareness Month: Push back against the public advocacy of torture with a faith-based response Repeal indefinite detention End prolonged solitary confinement Combat anti-Muslim bigotry Pursue accountability for U.S.-sponsored torture You'll find ways to get involved in one or more of these areas on NRCAT's  Torture Awareness Month webpage. FUN SUMMER EVENT...   New England's Premier Christian Music Festival   "SoulFest" August 4 -11   Gilford NH      SoulFest is designed to bring people into a deeper love with God as we endeavor to celebrate God's love for all.   For more information go to:  thesoulfest.com  or call 978.346.4577.

NH Council of Churches Needs You!   The New Hampshire Council of Churches, as the state's ecumenical vehicle for unity and inter-religious actions, needs your support: Prayers. Sharing our concerns and your concerns with each other. Funds to continue incarnating God's annunciation of the Good News. Funds to support out Women's Prison outreach program. Please send checks made out to:  New Hampshire Council of Churches  NHCC, PO Box 1087, Concord NH 03302   Thank you! New Hampshire Council of Churches    125 Airport Road                                 PO Box 1087  Concord, NH  03301                Concord NH  03302 603-224-1352 info@nhchurches.org                 www.nhchurches.org   Office hours:  Monday - Friday 9am - 3pm (Please call before coming!)

Shea-Porter - Rep. Guinta More Exteme than NH House Republicans

New Hampshire-   Yesterday, the NH House voted 280-7 yesterday against creating a law that mandates teaching creationism. But Congressman Frank Guinta wants the United States Government to force the teaching of creationism. The Raymond Area Tea Party asked then federal candidate Mr. Guinta "Would you support a law that mandates teaching both creationism as well as evolution as theories in my public school science classes?" His typed answer-- "Yes I would."

Mr. Guinta then reassures his tea party supporters that parents of kids, cutting out the state and local governments, could make all of the other decisions, including diverting tax dollars for home-schooling. 

 
Former Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, who is running for the NH-01 Congressional seat, released the following statement:

 "Representative Frank Guinta is even more extremist and anti-science than the Republicans in Concord. He supports a law that gives the federal government the power to mandate teaching creationism. Because of these anti-science, anti-education and other anti-constituent positions, he was just ranked 31st most conservative out of 435 House members. Frank Guinta is just too extreme for New Hampshire."


Background:

12. Would you support a law that mandates teaching both creationism as well as evolution as theories in
my public school science classes?

Yes I would.

http://raymondareateaparty.weebly.com/frank-guinta.html

ALG's Daily Grind: White House economic team never believed 'stimulus' would work

Feb. 21, 2012

White House economic team never believed 'stimulus' would work

Romer called for $1.8 trillion of "stimulus".

Video: Obama's New Rules For Appointees

He's been more like King Obama than President Obama. ALG's Don Todd says Barack Obama is creating his own rules for appointees.

Why Not Separation of Liberalism and State?

All of the qualities attributed to traditional faith equally apply to liberalism.