In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

| 1 1 An Introduction to Prophetic Activism All religious traditions have certain sacred holidays that embody their core narratives. Within Judaism, Passover commemorates the Israelites ’ flight from bondage into freedom, while within Christianity, Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus. The weeks leading up to the Christmas holiday are an extremely busy time, yet in 2008 nearly 1,000 people gathered at Disneyland in southern California to take part in a posada. Posadas are Mexican celebrations of Jesus’ birth in which people go from house to house in remembrance of Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging in Bethlehem. This posada had been organized by Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) in support of workers from the three Disneyland hotels and their children. The hotel workers were members of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union (HERE) who were in contract negotiations with the Disney Corporation. During the posada, Christmas wish letters written by the workers’ children were left for the managers of each of the hotels. The crowd stopped at the front entrance of one hotel to recite a liturgy written by the clergy active in CLUE, explaining why they were performing the posada at Disneyland. It read in part: We also are reminded that Christ entered the world in a manger, where animals eat. . . . In the Christian tradition, we see that our King was one that identified fully with the poor and the stranger to teach us of a kingdom marked by holiness, justice, love and peace. . . . Today, as it occurred many centuries ago, there are many people seeking lodging and hospitality, like our sister and brother workers of the Disneyland hotels. . . . We, as religious leaders, will accompany them in this modern day Posada as we stand in solidarity with the workers who are on this long journey. 2 | An Introduction to Prophetic Activism The liturgy then invited the hotel managers to have a conversion of the heart because “Our workplace should also reflect God’s justice by ensuring that those who are seen as ‘lowly’—janitors, housekeepers, cooks—are lifted up and not sent away hungry.”1 Afterwards, everyone gathered in a nearby parking lot where the children were given gifts donated by various community and church groups while the adults drank delicious Mexican hot chocolate. While CLUE reinterpreted the traditional religious meaning of a posada to become a call for Disneyland to treat its workers justly, the Jewish World Watch (JWW) has reinterpreted the Passover seder as a pedagogical tool that highlights the broader concept of all people’s rights to freedom. The Jewish World Watch, which has sixty-four member synagogues in southern California , sees Passover and the Jewish High Holidays as important moments for educating its supporters on the genocides occurring in Darfur and the Congo. As one of Judaism’s most sacred holidays, Passover serves as an ideal forum for Jews to explore present-day cases of genocide. Every year JWW distributes forty thousand pieces of educational material designed to be used at a seder, which normally takes place at a family’s dining room table. At the seder the ritual seder plate contains six food items, which each symbolize the Passover story of suffering, liberation, and renewal. In 2008, JWW created a small fold-out companion brochure that connected each food item to discussion questions designed to provoke small group conversations around the table about the contemporary meaning of the seder in the context of ongoing genocide in Darfur. In this way, the seder guests were invited to participate in a very traditional Jewish method of study based on one-on-one conversations in which participants reflected on how they might be willing to respond in the face of contemporary genocide. Both CLUE and JWW are creatively drawing upon sacred events in their religious traditions to remind adherents that they ought to commemorate their religious origins as outcasts by embracing the demands of today’s outcasts for freedom and justice. These stories are two examples of an increasingly broad range of progressive religious justice organizing occurring in the United States, which is motivating growing numbers of people to act on behalf of justice for the marginalized. Yet, the extent of these forms of religious activism may come as a surprise to many Americans who have become far more accustomed to religion, especially Christianity, being used to support conservative political causes. Religion is becoming increasingly contested as it is mobilized to lend credibility to very divergent political agendas . This is especially true...

Share