Truth and Action Roundup 12.26.25

View this email in your browser Welcome to the Truth and Action Roundup, your reliable weekly source for information, inspiration, and opportunities for action during the second Trump administration.  Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to continue receiving it. This week began with a reminder of how carefully we need to guard our freedoms and not close our eyes to the violent acts that are happening in our names. “60 Minutes” pulled a segment on the torture people endured as a result of their rendition to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT facility. The act of censorship itself was a chilling example of the erosion of a free press after a year of a sustained campaign to end its independence. The segment itself ran on a Canadian service and has now become available on the internet. The piece itself is a stark reminder of the suffering endured by our neighbors and loved ones in the name of mass deportation. Descriptions of unimaginable torture and violence that have never been shared before bring into visceral detail the suffering endured by these men, targeted to send a message of fear towards vulnerable communities here. In the face of this pain, I’m also reminded this week, as we celebrated the birth of Jesus, of the hope of Matthew 1:23, where the meaning of Emmanuel as “God is with us” is shared. As we continue to reflect on the tumult of the past year, we can say that “God is with us” when we see our communities unite to defend and protect each other. - Rev. Moya Harris and Chad Stanton, Sojourners P.S. Please enjoy this shortened holiday edition of the Truth and Action Roundup In the News Controversy over the decision by CBS News to pull a “60 Minutes” segment on the conditions of CECOT returned focus to mass deportation policies. The DOJ continues to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein as required by congressional statute. The Trump Administration also continues to escalate threats towards Venezuela while seizing oil tankers and bombing small boats. Last night, during Christmas, President Trump announced “numerous strikes” carried out by the United States in Nigeria. Take Action As part of a coaltion, SojoAction is hosting trainings on Non-violent resistance on January 12th from 7:00 – 9:00 PM. You can register here. This holiday season, novelist and poet Margaret Atwood will match donations made to Sojourners. Please consider donating in support of our work. What We’re Reading “Bethlehem Is Still a Reminder of Joy Amid Grief” | “The ubiquity of sorrows, locally and globally, demands our attention, and yet joy cannot be an afterthought” (By Elom Tettey-Tamaklo) Deep Breaths I really hope these words bring peace and solace to you this holiday season: “The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” – Isaiah 58:11 - Chad Stanton, Political Director The Truth and Action Roundup is compiled by Sojourners staff: President: Rev. Adam Russell Taylor Senior Research Associate: J.K. Granberg-Michaelson Digital Content and Community Specialist: Kassandra Tapia Chief Program and Impact Officer: Bryan Epps Political Director: Chad V. Stanton Senior Program Director: Rev. Moya Harris Digital Education and Outreach Specialist: Cortnie Brooks Policy and Action Assistant: Trinity Williams Senior Director of Marketing: Sandra Sims Donate Subscribe Copyright © 2025 Sojourners. All rights reserved. Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842

GreenFaith - Together, We Honor Each Other and Carry the Light Forward

As we enter this sacred season — a time when many traditions gather to celebrate light in the darkness, rest after a long year, and the enduring hope of renewal — we want to pause and honor you. This year has asked so much of us. We have witnessed ongoing climate impacts, rising injustice, and political forces that undermine the dignity and safety of our communities. And yet, in the midst of it all, you have continued to show up with courage, creativity, and moral clarity. You have marched, prayed, organized, sung, planted, written, and spoken truth with fierce love. Your faithfulness strengthens our movement and gives us hope. We hold gratitude for every one of you — for the leaders growing GreenFaith Circles in your congregations and neighborhoods, for the clergy who continue to lift prophetic voices, and for every supporter who believes a just and livable future is still within reach. As the year comes to a close, we hope you find moments of rest, connection, and spiritual grounding. May this season bring you renewed strength and a sense of belonging to something larger than any one of us — a global movement of people of faith rising for climate justice. From all of us at GreenFaith, thank you for walking this path with us. We are grateful for you, we believe in you, and we look forward to everything we will build together in the new year. With hope and gratitude, GreenFaith US Organizing Team ___________________________________________________ Want more ways to keep in touch with us? Follow GreenFaith USA on our social media accounts: Facebook, Instagram, X Be a steward of GreenFaith’s growing interfaith climate justice movement. Donate Here Building a Worldwide, Multi-faith Climate and Environmental Movement.    1216 Broadway Floor 2 PMB 1005 New York, NY 10001 +1-917-997-8783 Copyright © 2022 GreenFaith - All rights reserved.

The Sligo Presbyterian Church Celebration Service - Sunday, December 21, 2025

Sligo Presbyterian Church: Our Congregation and Community: The Sligo Presbyterian Church Celebration Service ...: As a kid, unwrapping Christmas presents is one of the highlights of the entire year. Even for adults, the mystery of what’s beneath the pape...

SojoMail - Merry Christmas! Here are our top movies of the year

View this email in your browser In this week's SojoMail: top movies from 2025 to watch over the holidays; how Bethlehem reminds us of joy amid grief; and what anti-ICE nativities are signaling. Sojourners’ Top Movies of 2025 Merry Christmas to you and yours! As a gift from our editors and columnists, we’ve rounded up the films that held our attention this year: For five years now, Sojourners has created a list of our favorite films of the year. And because we’re Sojourners and not Vulture or IndieWire, our list follows a different set of priorities. We only focus on films that are concerned with spirituality or justice (or when we’re really lucky, both). This year, more than any of the other four years we’ve done this round-up, I was struck by the sheer number of films grappling with faith and justice. So, to help with the difficult task of only choosing 10, I enlisted the help of our culture columnists, Abby Olcese, Zachary Lee, and Georgia Coley; and our managing editor, Tyler Huckabee.  In a year full of meaningful cinema, these films moved us most.  — Jenna Barnett, culture editor Read the full article Advertisement Our Latest Stories Bethlehem Is Still a Reminder of Joy Amid Grief (by Elom Tettey-Tamaklo) For two years, the West Bank city of Bethlehem canceled its Christmas celebration. This year, the festivities resume. Read more Anti-ICE Nativities Are the Reason for the Season (by Emma Cieslik) The churches behind them are declaring that they refuse to be complicit in the very same violence that threatened Jesus at his birth. Read more Charlie Brown and Sufjan Know the ‘Good Grief’ of Christmas (by Tyler Huckabee) Both have found themselves packaged into the same slab of Yuletide slop that their work ostensibly opposes, and yet both resist being totally subsumed. Read more Mary Casts Down Pete Hegseth’s False God (by Yanan Rahim Navarez Melo) When my next-door neighbor called me a racist name, it was the most unsafe I had ever felt. I was terrified for my life. In that moment of desperation, I asked Mary for help. Read more Advertisements Doctors Without Borders Needs You Now More Than Ever Doctors Without Borders is on the ground providing medical care, delivering aid, and saving lives in over 75 countries worldwide. We can’t do this work without your support. Now more than ever, we need you. Need a unique gift that offers stories of faith, courage, and hope? Give a gift subscription to Sojourners this holiday season and save $10! Your recipient will receive 10 issues of Sojourners magazine keeping them informed and inspired all year long. Order your gift subscription today and we will mail a hand-signed postcard to your special person letting them know of your generosity. Donate Subscribe Copyright © 2025 Sojourners. All rights reserved. Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842

WCC news: WCC congratulates newly elected United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay extended congratulations to Dr Barham Salih, newly elected as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.  Photo:  UN Photo/Cia Pak 23 December 2025 “We receive this news with deep appreciation and hope at a time when displacement has reached unprecedented levels and the international community is called anew to uphold human dignity, justice, protection, and peace,” Pillay wrote. “Your own experience of displacement and your long record of public service give you a unique moral authority for this vital responsibility.” The WCC collaborated with Salih during his tenure as president of the Republic of Iraq.  “We particularly valued your consistent efforts to promote social cohesion, inclusive citizenship, justice, and security for all—across religious, ethnic, and political divides—during a period marked by fragility and recovery,” wrote Pillay. “These commitments resonate deeply with the ecumenical vocation of the WCC and its engagement for just and peaceful societies.” Pillay welcomed the deepening partnership between the World Council of Churches and UN Refugee Agency, marked most recently by the signing of a Letter of Intent to strengthen collaboration, particularly in relation to stateless persons.  “This cooperation affirms our shared commitment to human dignity, justice, and protection, and recognises the unique contribution of faith communities in advocacy, resource mobilisation, and accompaniment of those living without nationality or legal identity,” wrote Pillay. “We affirm that uprootedness must never become a permanent condition nor a forgotten injustice, and that shared responsibility remains essential in responding to the scale and complexity of today’s displacement crises.” Pillay concluded by extending prayers and solidarity to Salih. “May your leadership strengthen international commitment and just action on behalf of all those whose lives and futures have been disrupted by conflict, persecution, and violence,” Pillay concluded.  Read the full letter WCC at Global Refugee Forum Progress Review 2025: “we reaffirm our shared commitment to be agents of hope” (WCC news release, 18 December 2025) See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland