Truth and Action Roundup 3.21.25

View this email in your browser Welcome to the Truth and Action Roundup, a reliable weekly source of information, inspiration, and action for the first hundred days of the second Trump administration. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to continue receiving it. Today is Friday, March 21, day 61 of the new Trump administration. As we live into the third week of Lent, it’s worth reflecting on the meaning of repentance. In the New Testament, repentance is the word usually used to translate the Greek word metanoia. Metanoia’s most literal meaning is “to change direction.” So, when we think about what it means to repent, we should be thinking about how we turn away from a harmful action or way of thinking and choose a better way to move forward. The United States and its government are in desperate need of their own moment of national metanoia — that need feels particularly acute right now as we watch chaos and cruelty continue seemingly unabated. May we find the energy and resolve we need to co-labor with God in this season and beyond to bring that repentance closer to reality. — The Truth and Action Roundup Team In the News Here’s what’s been happening this week: 1) Congress passed a bill to fund the government through September, narrowly avoiding a partial shutdown. Unfortunately, the bill increases defense spending while mandating about $13 billion in cuts to non-defense programs. It also “makes no attempt to rein in the administration’s ongoing efforts to cut spending previously approved by Congress,” according to NPR — a reference to the assault on federal agencies and workers led by Elon Musk’s DOGE. 2) A standoff between the Trump administration and the judicial branch continues in the wake of the deportation of hundreds of Venezuelan citizens that were conducted despite a judge’s order to halt them. President Trump and top advisers such as senior White House adviser Stephen Miller and border czar Tom Homan have made increasingly defiant statements suggesting that they don’t believe Trump to be accountable to the authority of federal judges in matters relating to immigration. This case is just one of at least 127 lawsuits that have been filed against the Trump administration since his second term began. 3) Israel has ended its ceasefire with Hamas and resumed its assault on Gaza in full force, reportedly killing more than 400 people since Tuesday. Negotiations to move into the second of three planned phases of the January ceasefire agreement had been stalled for weeks, and Israel’s resumption of the war is widely speculated to be aimed at securing a better deal with the Trump administration now in power in Washington, as well as propping up Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own hold on power. 4) President Trump issued an executive order to begin dismantling the Department of Education on Thursday, an attempt to fulfill a major campaign promise and longtime Republican priority. Completely closing the department would require an act of Congress, but Trump’s order “could effectively make it nearly impossible for [Department of Education] employees to carry out their work,” according to NBC News. This week’s executive order follows last week’s announcement that the department is cutting roughly half its staff. Take Action Join us for Faithful Witness Wednesday, A Call for Congressional Courage! Wednesday, March 26, at 12 p.m. Eastern, we will continue our series of vigils at the U.S. Capitol. Faith leaders will call on Congress to exercise moral courage in upholding its constitutional powers and preventing presidential overreach. Sign up to attend virtually or in-person. Participate in the “Hands Off!” National Day of Action on Saturday April 5. In partnership with a broad coalition of national and local organizations, people will take to the streets across the country to fight back against Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s brazen power grab with the power of nonviolent direct action. Click here to find (or sign up to host!) a local event. What We’re Reading and Watching I Underestimated the Religious Right | And other realizations after writing a book about faith and democracy. (By Adam Russell Taylor) How Did We Get Here? Leading in Divided Times | Rev. Andi Saccoccio, Sojourners director of congregational education and outreach, hosting alongside Rev. Adam Taylor, president of Sojourners, and Amanda Tyler, executive director of BJC, the Joint Baptist Committee on Religious Liberty, ask the question, “How did we get here?” as they reflect upon the current cultural climate and the church. ‘Don’t Fight the Stupidity’ and Other Relevant Bonhoeffer Advice | Lessons from Bonhoeffer's essay on Christian life under authoritarianism. (By Tim Snyder) Deep Breaths  Today’s Deep Breaths comes from reflections on the Revised Common Lectionary in the March 2025 issue of Sojourners. Restoring Our Connective Tissues By Dong Hyeon Jeong We live in a ruthless world that exhausts our bodies and souls. We are constantly bombarded with messages, reels, texts, and images that set our moral compasses spinning. As seekers of a more just world, the pressure to respond overwhelms us as we have never seen before. And so, I ask: When was the last time you intentionally cared for your body and soul? The guilt one feels when one rests is a manifestation of how oppressive systems have convinced us that to rest and breathe is contrary to the necessities and requirements of a functioning society. And yet, we must breathe because the fight for a more just world is not only outside of us. It is also in us. ...[A]s we breathe, we are invited to become peacemakers, witnesses of righteousness, justice-seekers, and reconciling siblings. All these invitations are heavy. They are easier said than done. Many of us have probably responded to such invitations a long time ago. Our wounds and scars tell stories of what happens when we say yes. Scars are marks of healing from yesterday’s struggles. To breathe is to reconnect the tissues of interdependence and mutuality that sustain our work for a more just world. To breathe does not neglect the issues at hand; rather, it helps us remember that we have divine witnesses who are sustaining us here and now. --- Here’s a playlist to encourage your spirit as we enter the season of spring, from West Central Abbey congregation outside of Spokane, Washington. The Truth and Action Roundup is compiled by Sojourners staff: President: Rev. Adam Russell Taylor Director of Racial Justice: Rev. Moya Harris Senior Research Associate: J.K. Granberg-Michaelson Senior Adviser and Director to the President’s Office: Elizabeth Denlinger Reaves Senior Director of Campaigns and Mobilizing: Sandy Ovalle Martínez Director of Congregational Outreach & Education: Rev. Andrea Saccoccio Associate Editor: Josina Guess Mobilizing and Policy Assistant: Miriam Tellez Senior Director of Marketing: Sandra Sims Donate Subscribe Copyright © 2025 Sojourners. All rights reserved. Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842