The Daily Unholy
Rising Together Against Legislative Injustice Against Marginalized Communities
Called for Such a Time as This
Beloved siblings in faith and in the fight for justice,
We live in a moment that tests our convictions and courage. In communities across this nation, laws are being crafted not to protect the vulnerable but to marginalize them further.
Instead of justice rolling down like water, we are witnessing policies that dam up compassion and punish the poor. The least of these are being left behind from hunger to healthcare, housing, and human rights.
But let us be clear: our faith has always thrived in the fire. Prophetic voices rise in the crucible of crisis. This edition of Politically Pastoral is both a call to awareness and a call to action.
We are not simply observers—we are participants in a spiritual struggle for this nation's soul. We explore the latest legislative assaults, from Washington D.C. to the plains of North Dakota, and lift up the sacred work of those who stand in the gap with courage and conviction.
As of May 29, 2025, this issue offers up-to-the-minute news, deep theological grounding, and actionable next steps. It is a dispatch from the frontlines of faith-rooted resistance. And it comes bearing witness to a truth as old as Scripture: to be spiritually grounded is to be politically awake.
The time for silence has passed. Now is the time to preach with our feet, pray with our votes, and embody the kind of radical love that unsettles the powers and principalities of our day.
Let us walk together—boldly, faithfully, and with holy defiance.
When Power Prioritizes Profit Over People
In a single day, a devastating policy shift has reverberated through justice-centered communities nationwide. The passage of H.R. 1—ironically named the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”—has sparked alarm not just for its economic implications but also for its stark moral abandonment.
This legislation rips health insurance from 8.6 million people and cuts monthly food support from another 3 million while pouring resources into tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. This is not governance—it’s greed clothed in legislative language.
Rev. Basil Dannebohm’s words strike at the core: “It’s the antithesis of the gospel.” Scripture teaches us to care for the poor, feed the hungry, and clothe the naked. Yet this bill does the opposite. It sacrifices the vulnerable on the altar of political power and financial gain. This isn’t simply a debate over budget numbers—it’s a spiritual crisis demanding our moral attention.
Meanwhile, former President Trump’s rhetoric about bringing back Alcatraz and even deporting U.S. citizens betrays a broader agenda rooted in fear and control. These authoritarian dreams are not just disturbing—they’re dangerous. But they are not without resistance.
The Boston TenPoint Coalition continues its life-giving work with at-risk youth, and Ready4Work proves that restorative justice can transform lives and reduce recidivism. These are not abstract ideals—they are evidence that mercy is more effective than punishment and that community-based care outshines carceral cruelty.
As people of faith, we must resist these harmful narratives and policies with every fiber of our being. We must proclaim that another way is not only possible—it’s already unfolding in churches, nonprofits, and sanctuaries of hope across this nation. May our resistance be as relentless as God’s love.
When Laws Harm—Mobilizing the Pulpit and the Pew for Liberation
Faith leaders across the country are reclaiming sacred ground—transforming their churches, temples, and mosques into sanctuaries in every sense of the word.
These spaces aren't just for Sunday morning worship; they're becoming centers of spiritual reflection, physical refuge, and moral resistance in a world that often forgets the least.
When ICE agents barge into neighborhoods or anti-LGBTQ+ legislation sweeps across statehouses like a bitter wind, these communities of faith are rising, bearing witness and saying with clarity, “Not in our name.”
Interfaith Alliance is doing more than praying in North Dakota—it’s organizing. Its legislative town halls aren’t just civic education sessions. They are holy ground where voices too often silenced—especially queer youth—are heard, honored, and defended.
This ministry of presence, advocacy, and protection reminds us that standing beside the marginalized is sacred.
Meanwhile, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde continues to speak the truth in love, even as she becomes a lightning rod for vitriol. She models the cost of prophetic leadership—leadership that does not flinch in the face of hate but leans into compassion all the more.
Her witness reminds us that faith, when lived out, often draws fire—but it also ignites hope.
Programs like Ready4Work, which help returning citizens reintegrate into society, and the Union Theological Seminary’s Master of Professional Studies program, which trains justice-minded faith leaders, prove that our theological commitments must manifest as tangible action. Reducing recidivism and rebuilding lives is sacred work.
In this moment, our sermons must become strategies, our prayers must move our feet, and our theology must birth political courage. The call is clear: faith must not only comfort the afflicted but also afflict the comfortable—for justice’s sake and for God’s.
The Gospel According to Justice
Scripture teaches us a vital truth: The law was made for humankind, not humankind for the law. These words echo through the ages as a divine corrective whenever legal systems stray from justice and compassion.
Jesus modeled this in action—not simply in parables, but with his body. He turned over the tables of economic exploitation in the temple. He healed on the Sabbath despite religious protests.
He defied customs that shunned the poor, the sick, and the socially outcast. His ministry was a holy disruption, centered on love, mercy, and liberation.
So what are we to do when our modern-day laws wound rather than heal? When legislation targets the vulnerable, upholds white supremacy, or strips the poor of dignity?
We do as the prophets did. We lift our voices. We challenge systems that put profit over people and punishment over restoration. We stand in sacred solidarity with the brokenhearted, the incarcerated, the immigrant, the queer teen, and the single mother scraping by.
This isn’t just political work—it’s prophetic. Micah 6:8 still sings its ancient truth: What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
That humility isn’t passive. It’s a grounded boldness—a trust that God’s justice flows like a river even when the empire tries to dam it up.
Let us not be deceived into thinking neutrality is faithfulness. Silence in the face of injustice is complicity. As people of faith, we must not allow the empire to define righteousness.
Our call is not to comfort the powerful but to confront the unjust. To walk humbly is to walk boldly—shoulder to shoulder with the oppressed, anchored in the Divine, and committed to building a world where justice is not the exception, but the norm.
CALL TO ACTION: Be the Church the World Needs
Upcoming Events & Opportunities:
🌈 LGBTQ+ Justice & Pride
WorldPride 2025 – Washington, D.C.
May 17 – June 8
A global celebration featuring parades, concerts, drag shows, and a Human Rights Conference (June 4–6) at JW Marriott. Events include Black Pride, Trans Pride, and Latinx Pride, emphasizing intersectional activism. LGBTQ+ Victory Institute+3AP News+3WorldPride Washington, DC 2025+3San Francisco Pride 2025
June 28–29
Theme: “Queer Joy Is Resistance.” This year’s celebration centers grassroots voices and values-driven participation, with local queer organizations leading the parade. San Francisco ChronicleQueer Liberation March – New York City
June 30
An anti-corporate, protest-centered march organized by the Reclaim Pride Coalition, honoring the radical roots of Pride. Wikipedia
✊🏽 Civil & Human Rights Advocacy
We the Majority Reception – Washington, D.C.
June 4 | International Spy Museum
Celebrating the 75th anniversary of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, this reception gathers advocates to strategize for a just democracy. Leadership Conference+1Leadership Conference+1UNA-USA Advocacy Summit – Washington, D.C.
June 23–24
A two-day summit empowering advocates to engage with Congress on global justice issues, including human rights and equity.ACLU National Advocacy Institute – Washington, D.C.
July 13–August 2 (three one-week sessions)
A transformative program for high school students to learn civil liberties advocacy and engage with ACLU experts. American Civil Liberties Union
🎨 Arts, Culture & Intersectional Justice
Pride Art Exhibitions – Nationwide
Museums across the U.S. are hosting LGBTQ+ exhibitions, including “RESISTERHOOD” at the Leslie-Lohman Museum (NYC) and “To Move Toward the Limits of Living” at the Palm Springs Museum of Art. The GuardianManistee Pride Events – Michigan
May 30–July 6
Features the “Art Speaks Pride” exhibition and a drag show by Haus of Moxy, celebrating LGBTQ+ artistry and resilience. San Francisco Chronicle+2Manistee News Advocate+2Congressional Cemetery+2
🧑🏾🤝🧑🏽 Faith-Based & Interfaith Solidarity
WorldPride Interfaith Events – Washington, D.C.
Local faith communities host inclusive services and dialogues, acknowledging past harms and fostering healing for LGBTQ+ individuals. Washington Blade
Support organizations like the ACLU, National LGBTQ Task Force, Trans Justice Funding Project, and Keshet. Attend local hearings, provide public testimony, or write op-eds for your local paper. The pew has power. Let’s use it.
LOOKING AHEAD: Watch, Pray, and Prepare
The road ahead is neither smooth nor certain—it demands vigilance, courage, and unwavering faith. In 2025 alone, over 850 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have flooded state legislatures, threatening to criminalize identity, erase history, and endanger lives.
This is not just politics; it is a moral emergency. Project 2025, cloaked in the language of executive reform, contains a dangerous blueprint—one designed to dismantle the hard-won civil rights protections that safeguard marginalized communities.
And on the horizon, mass deportation campaigns threaten to tear families apart, separating parents from children, and loved ones from their communities—including the very congregations where they have found sanctuary and spiritual home.
These realities are sobering. But they are not the end of the story.
We are people of resurrection. Our hope is not blind optimism; it is rooted in the deep soil of resistance and rebirth. It’s the hope that rolled the stone away. The kind of hope that shows up in courtrooms, city halls, and sanctuaries.
Hope that says: you are beloved, even when the law says otherwise. Hope that organizes, votes, speaks out, and refuses to back down.
This hope is communal. It lives in the networks of neighbors who feed one another, protect one another, and show up—again and again.
It lives in pulpits that proclaim liberation, not condemnation. It lives in the prayers whispered through tears and shouted in protests.
Most importantly, this hope is active. It doesn’t wait for justice to arrive—it builds it, brick by brick, heart by heart. As people of faith, we are called not to retreat but to rise.
To confront the forces of fear with the power of love. To become sanctuaries of truth in a time of deception. Because the tomb is empty, and so is any excuse for silence.
BENEDICTION: Go Forth Boldly, Walk Gently
Beloved, let us leave this space not with fear, but with fierce faith. May we go forth as repairers of the breach, builders of beloved community, and stewards of sacred resistance. May the God of justice grant us wisdom, courage, and compassion for the journey.
And may the fire of righteous indignation never be quenched.