In a statement released on the occasion of the third anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, 108 evangelical, mainline Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim faith leaders called for “not just a charitable response but for a just moral response to driving for resident-led human rights based federal solutions helping families.”
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Our God is a God of justice, of humanity and of healing, and this moral injustice calls each of us to bold action in support of the common good. We must act to justly rebuild communities, restore the Gulf Coast, and empower families to overcome the devastation they suffered in our nation’s worst natural disasters.
We have learned that acts of faith and mercy alone, no matter how profound, cannot provide everything needed for a sustainable recovery. Gulf Coast families deserve a federal government that recognizes their needs by rebuilding their communities, supporting basic human rights of all communities, addressing poverty and displacement, and confronting coastal erosion. The government must empower local communities to take the lead in rebuilding their neighborhoods, renewing their lives, and restoring God’s creation. We believe it is a moral obligation for the federal government to fulfill its promises for Gulf Coast recovery: empowering residents to return and participate in equitably rebuilding their communities.
Read the full statement here and check out the SSRC forum “Understanding Katrina: Perspectives from the Social Sciences.”