Emerging Women

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) and top Democrats just introduced the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which remedies impending fallout from a recent Supreme Court Ruling against Lily Ledbetter, who sued for gender discrimination in pay. According to the AFLCIO blog,

When Ledbetter retired in 1999 after nearly 20 years as a supervisor, she was making $44,724 a year. But as she told a House committee June 13, the lowest-paid male in the same job was earning $51,432 a year, while the highest paid man doing the same work was earning $62,832. She told the committee she had long suspected she was being paid less than the men in the same job, but until she received two anonymous packages showing the differing pay rates, she had no hard evidence of the pay discrimination.

These are words from the Rep. George Miller, who introduced the Fair Pay bill: “The Supreme Court told employers that they could escape responsibility by hiding their decision to discriminate and run out the clock.”

Miller is the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. If you care about equal pay for women, you can help by making a very easy call, even if you don’t know the name or contact info of your representative.

The AFL-CIO set up a toll-free phone number just for people to call in support of the Fair Pay Act:

(866) 338-1015

This number will work through Wednesday, which is the day of the vote. Thanks for helping out!

Hi Women friends (and friends of women,) sorry for the delay on the book discussion post.

1. On pages 50-53, Miroslav Volf describes a moral obligation to remember truthfully and illustrates this point with examples of events remembered in an inaccurate order. Volf connects this with the biblical injunction not to bear false witness. Do you think remembering the correct order of events is an important feature of remembering truthfully? How do you think the biblical authors viewed the importance of factual truth and neat histories?

2. On page 65 Volf writes,

“to ‘cover’ or ‘forget’ wrongs, we must remember them in the first place!…the purpose of truthful memory is not simply to name acts of injustice, and certainly not to hold an unalterable past forever fixed in the forefront of a person’s mind. Instead, the highest aim of lovingly truthful memory seeks to bring about the repentance, forgiveness, and transformation of wrongdoers, and reconciliation between wrongdoers and their victims.
When these goals are achieved, memory can let go of offenses without ceasing to be truthful. For then remembering truthfully will have reached its ultimate goal in the unhindered love of neighbor.”

I think this is a beautiful exposition of the ideal situation (given that people/communities hurt and get hurt,) but what about situations of what is known is pyschology as magical thinking occurs, where an abuser seems to change and the victim believes it, and then the cycle of abuse happens over and over again? What does it mean to remember rightly in such situations of contrition and promise of change without lasting transformation? I know many of us have faced person situations where this is relevant and I am looking forward to any practical as well as reflective insights on what it means to love, forgive, remember or forget in these situations.

This month we are looking at memory and how the ways we recall painful things can lead to grace or its opposite. Miroslav Volf’s book, Remembring Rightly looks at how memory of sin can serve good or evil, and whether it is an ultimate and eternal part of responding to experience or part of a process of healing that will, at least in eternity lead to forgetting. You can read a summary and review of Remembering Rightly here.

1. Have you ever had an argument because of a different memory or interpretation of memory about a hurtful event or series of events?

2. How has memory helped you become a better lover of God and people?

3. How has memory been a stumbling block in the way of grace and healing?

Here’s a quote I found espcially poignant:

“In memory, a wrongdoing often does not remain an isolated stain on the character of the one who committed it; it spreads over and colors his entire character” (p 15)

4. What practical ways can we invite God to help keep our memories and interpretations of events seasoned with salt and light?

5 Did you uncover any provocative quotes you’d like to share, or angles that would be helpful for us to explore?

Feel free to get into this topic even if you haven’t read the book; the important thing is to wrestle with the ideas!

At this point in our discussion of Will and Lisa Samson’s Justice in the Burbs, I want to bring up the issue of what stands in the way of our engaging in justice. If we as Christians have been called to act justly and to “be Jesus” to those around us, it is obvious that we have not done a perfect job at this. In fact some people don’t even know about justice and others go to churches that preach against it. Justice isn’t happening as it should in the church today. So what stands in our way? What prevents us from doing justice, what excuses to we give?

Do we not know what we should be doing?
Do we not know what needs to be done?
Are we afraid of what others will think?
Are we afraid for our safety?
Are we to busy?
Do we think acting justly is too inconvenient or expensive?
Do we just not care?

Let’s have an honest and open discussion about what prevents us from acting justly. Sometimes we ca talk about justice but never understand it in the context of our lives. I hope this discussion can help place justice within that context.

A friend’s father came up with an amazing idea to raise money to help support the efforts of the “Save Darfur” Coalition. Their mission is to raise public awareness of the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of the people in the Darfur region. For more information check out this blog post and the newly launched Dark For Darfur website!!

If you drink Starbucks, here’s an easy challenge that can make a difference:

Currently starbucks only brews fair trade coffee on average once a month, and if we think that’s not often enough, it’s up to us to tell corporate people in Seattle WE WANT FAIR TRADE/shadegrown/organic. in house, anytime, everyday, the way we like it.

Let’s make it a Latte Challenge!

Here’s the customer service # to call:

1-800-23-LATTE

If we all call within a few days, I think we can make an impact and get this topic considered and acted upon with time and a little action.

We deserve coffee with a conscience, and coffee farmers deserve a respectful working wage.

1-800-23-LATTE