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Rise Rally Today in Austin, Texas

Posted May 13, 12:27 PM | 0 comments | by Steve Knight | Link

Bob Carlton passed along some news about a rally today in Austin, Texas, being called “Rise … a rally for hope.” Jim Wallis from Sojourners is the main speaker, but members of the local Austin faith community will be speaking as well. Bob posted more details on his blog this morning.

The Austin Statesman newspaper picked up on this with a story over the weekend: “Faith leaders seek to bridge divisions, work for social justice.” Here’s an excerpt:

Some of the people who will speak at the rally represent widely different ideologies, but they all see the importance of addressing this question: “How are we called to end extreme poverty, to care for creation, to embody mercy?”

One of the speakers, Neil Blumofe, cantor and spiritual leader at Congregation Agudas Achim, said people of faith should embrace that challenge, even if — especially if — it means crossing ideological barriers.

“When was the last time we could really break down rhetoric?” he said. “When was the last time we could really break down fear?”

Not in a long time, Wallis says. But he believes it’s happening now that young Christians are becoming social justice activists and social justice activists are becoming Christians. And young people especially, be they liberal or conservative, Southern Baptists or Emergent, are willing to work together on issues such as the environment, hunger, health care and genocide.

Here’s a video that Bob put together to promote today’s event, which is part of the Austin Change initiative:

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