Human Rights Update 2010

The role of the church at every level is to be at least part of the conscience of society. The basis for our daring to hold Amos' plumb line of justice is our understanding that the prophetic role is willing to challenge those in power, kings of Israel then, governments today. The Human Rights Update has always recognized the global scope of God's justice and honored all of the organizations and individuals who work to bring cruel practices to light and open prison doors. We see God's spirit leading and calling in the countless acts of conscience to which brief reports can only point. With that awareness, we acknowledge one particular area of concern for renewed witness and ministry by our church and others: reform of the criminal justice system of the United States and the laws and lack of rehabilitation that currently put one in 133 of our citizens in prison, the highest proportion in the world today.