by Lilly Gioia

It’s a joy for me this morning to bring our congregation some really great news for a change. Last Monday the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that our state’s long ban on public funding for abortion care through Medicaid is unconstitutional! A 4-3 majority opinion ruled our state constitution under the PA Equal Right Amendment, enshrines a “fundamental right to reproductive autonomy” and that a ban on public funds for abortion is unconstitutional.”

Here in Pennsylvania, our courts have made this landmark decision to protect the right of pregnant women to CHOOSE to have an abortion. This truly has national implications.

Under the PENNSYLVANIA ABORTION CONTROL ACT OF 1982, public funds were forbidden for abortions with very limited exceptions. Seven years ago in 2019 a group of medical care providers filed a lawsuit, arguing this law effectively served as an abortion restriction on women in poverty. This case has been argued by the PA Women’s Law Project, a group our congregation recently donated to through our Sunday Contribution for a Cause. As a long-time member of our UU Justice PA Reproduction Justice Task Force and supporter of the Women’s Law Project, I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to open an email Friday that said:

"Dear Lilly,
It’s been a beautiful, uplifting week celebrating our victory with you and advocates across the country. This ruling’s majority opinion is a powerful recognition of reproductive autonomy as a fundamental right: 
Recognizing this fundamental right to reproductive autonomy ... is necessary to restrict state government to its proper sphere, thus protecting our liberty, Judge Matthew Wolf, a Democrat, wrote. “This will mean that the state will face judicial scrutiny of its attempts to coerce reproductive choice. THOSE CHOICES ARE THE PEOPLE’S, NOT THE GOVERNMENT’S.”

The Court found that denying Medicaid coverage of abortion care constituted
a “sex-based discrimination” that failed to hold up to legal scrutiny. The Women’s
Law Project case argued that “There is no comparable exclusion of any health
coverage – reproductive or otherwise – for men.”

Also, Medicaid coverage is provided for pregnancy and childbirth for women who carry a pregnancy to term, “but the Coverage Exclusion forbids coverage of abortion unless the mother would otherwise die or the pregnancy results from rape or incest.” The medical costs of coverage a pregnancy and childbirth far exceed the cost of an abortion.

Governor Shapiro welcomed this ruling saying, “I’ve long opposed this unconstitutional ban, and a governor, I did not defend it – because a woman’s ability to access reproductive care should never be determined by her income.”

by Jenny Blanchard

During my childhood, my parents took my brothers and me on a trip to Washington DC, a journey that so many American families make, to view the monuments, the Smithsonian Museums, and the seat of government. As we were standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, we saw several federal workers assembling Easter lilies (it was springtime) in the shape of a cross. My father, ever the rebellious spirit, went over to speak to the workers. When he returned, I asked my father about the conversation. I then received my first lesson on the separation of church and state.

While Easter lilies in the shape of the cross on the grounds of a federal building may seem like a relatively benign example of a religious display in a public institution, we are now confronting a very real threat to our democracy from the religious right in the form of Christian nationalism, and there is nothing benign about this movement.

Christian nationalists subscribe to the notion that the government of the United States should declare America a Christian nation and that U.S. laws should be based on what they define as Christian values. Most alarming of all, they believe that God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.

During the second Trump administration, leaders of federal agencies have started hosting official worship services in government buildings led by Cabinet members during work hours. At one of the Department of Defense monthly Christian worship services, Secretary Pete Hegseth framed the war in Iran as divinely sanctioned, repeatedly invoking “God’s almighty providence” and expressing certainty that God is on the side of the US military. The defense secretary has promised to give “no quarter” to the “barbaric savages” of the Iranian regime and called on the American people to pray for victory “in the name of Jesus Christ”.

The Department of Homeland Security and ICE have consistently misused Bible verses in their public communications to legitimize attacks on immigrants. In ads posted by DHS to their social media account, dark images of helicopters and masked federal agents ominously scroll as the narrator quotes from Isaiah: ”Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me.’

Christian nationalism activists are at work in American education, from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms to requiring Bible studies in public schools. Proponents of Christian nationalism vigorously advocate for banning books in schools and libraries. They pressure educators to avoid teaching, or to alter, historical facts about slavery and race in America.

The Christian nationalism movement has led to discrimination, and at times violence, against religious minorities and the nonreligious, women, and members of the LGBTQ community. One of the most damaging actions Christian Nationalists took was to fight public health orders designed to protect all Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Christian nationalists ignored health precautions, based on their misguided belief that "God's chosen people" are protected from illness.

If my father had stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on January 6 of 2021, he would have been shocked by the signs displayed by the insurrectionists: a wooden cross and wooden gallows; “Jesus saves” along with Don’t Tread On Me;” Christian flags and Confederate Flags; even a prayer in Jesus’ name after storming the Senate chamber. The floral cross he objected to years ago might have seemed a minor issue compared to these violent images and hate-filled rhetoric.

But the principal remains the same: The United States was not founded to be an officially Christian nation or to espouse any official religion. The individual rights and diversity we enjoy cannot be maintained if the government takes on the trappings of a faith-based state.

by Eoin Carroll

Let me start by saying that if you want to know more about rain barrels the Penn State Extension website has a ton of information in a variety of forms.  Today I have only a couple of minutes so I am just going to stick with a few highlights.

The three biggest benefits of having a rain barrel is that it conserves water, it reduces pollution, and finally that the water is really great for your plants.

Conserving water has many benefits.  If you are on a well, as I am, then you know how conserving water is always on your mind.  Even if you are on a public water system, conservation helps both in reducing the demand and in saving the energy it takes to pump that water to your house.

A rain barrel reduces pollution in two ways.  As I’ve mentioned in some of my previous talks, the major way that excess sediment and nutrients end up in our waterways is through a process called surface transportation.  The water captured by your roof and channeled through your gutters is then usually directed to a lawn or driveway.  Here it can easily pick up plenty of pollutants.  By capturing some of that water you will lessen that problem.  This is especially valuable for small rain events.  The first flood of water will catch and transport the most pollutants.  By capturing the entire rainfall this can completely eliminate this source.

If you live in a city with storm sewers, those sewers are normally connected with the sanitary sewer which then goes to a treatment plant.  This is called a combined storm sewer system (CSSS). When it rains it is very easy to overwhelm the capacity of the wastewater plant and when this happens untreated sewage is discharged into our rivers and creeks.  In a built-up city environment this can happen with even very modest amounts of rain.  Having a rain barrel can help reduce the number of events.

One of the biggest benefits of having a rain barrel is how good this water is for your plants.  It makes sense that this is exactly the type of water plants were designed for.  It is perfect for pots, hanging baskets, and gardens.

Rain barrels are quite easy to build.  The Penn State Extension website has articles on this and also has rain barrel kits for sale.  I will use one of the kits after the service to hook up a rain barrel for use by our new pollinator garden.  Please come take a look if you have the time.

For more information on how to install a rain barrel, check out Install a Rain Barrel in the Projects You Can Do section of our Watershed Circle page.