ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY & PRISONER REINTEGRATION

MAC opposes capital punishment and calls upon the Montana Legislature to abolish the death penalty. MAC also supports humane reintegration of prisoners back into society.

Revised Issue Statements will be available in early February.
Death Penalth.pdf
File Size: 118 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Prisoner Reentry.pdf
File Size: 96 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

IMMIGRATION

MAC seeks to love our neighbors and welcome the stranger by promoting immigration legislation, public policies and business practices that are humane and just.

A Revised Issue Statement will be available in early February.
Immigration.pdf
File Size: 91 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

CHILDREN IN SOCIETY

MAC calls upon the State Legislature and all the people of Montana to recognize the rights of children.

A Revised Issue Statement will be available in early February.
Children & families.pdf
File Size: 114 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

HUMAN RIGHTS

MAC supports Laws in society that:
  • recognize all persons are created with essential rights;
  • promote the opportunity for every person to be treated justly; and,
  • promote whatever upholds human dignity.
MAC supports a strong, independent and fully-funded State Human Rights Commission empowered to:
  • provide an on-going assessment of the people's realization of human rights
  • identify contemporary manifestations of injustice or denial of these rights
  • implement programs, policies and statures that address injustice, harassment or denial of rights in overt, clandestine or insidious policies or practices.
Human Rights Statement.pdf
File Size: 474 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

MAC Issue Statements
We are focused on many social justice issues, not just those on our legislative agenda.
To learn more about other advocacy issues important to MAC,
you can click on the policy/issue statements below.

MAC Statement Against Fear & For Groundedness

We, the leaders of the Montana Association of Christians (MAC), made up of eight denominations, as well as numerous congregations and individuals, across Montana, stand in solidarity with the victims of persecution and violence at home and across the globe.  We also stand against the promulgation of fear, threats of violence, and hate against immigrants and those who stand up for them within our state of Montana.

Grounded by God’s peace which passes our understanding, and inspired by the biblical call to love God, and to love our neighbors as ourselves, we recognize in this stressful time a call to courage. We at MAC invite all Montanans, many of us the sons and daughters of immigrants ourselves, to welcome immigrants including those fleeing persecution in other countries. Consider that Joseph and Mary protected Jesus from Herod, by becoming refugees in Egypt.  Consider further, the possibility that extending opportunity and hope to those fleeing the brutality and oppression that threaten their lives, might also lay the groundwork for a safer tomorrow.  Scripture instructs God’s people, who themselves have been sojourners, refugees, and immigrants, to defend, protect, and honor the rights and dignity of the stranger.

We encourage our fellow Montanans to follow the laws and protocols currently in place in our nation and to continue to welcome those fleeing persecution from other countries including Syria.  We urge Montanans not to allow fear to degrade our citizenship, but with wisdom and judiciousness to seek a course that upholds the humanity not only of the stranger in our midst, but by extension of ourselves.

The Rev. Valerie Webster                                                                                The Rev. Dave Andersen
MAC President & Episcopal Priest                                                                 MAC President Elect & Methodist Minister
A MESSAGE ON THE SYRIAN REFUGEE CRISIS
 
MAC urges Montanans not to allow fear to degrade our citizenship, but to welcome those fleeing persecution in other countries, including refugees seeking asylum from Syria
                                   
We, the leaders of the Montana Association of Christians (MAC), made up of eight denominations, as well as numerous congregations and individuals across Montana, stand in solidarity with the victims of persecution and violence at home and across the globe. With each new mass shooting or act of terrorism, we too experience anxiety and are tempted to succumb to fear. Yet, grounded by God’s peace which passes our understanding, and inspired by the biblical call to love God, and to love our neighbors as ourselves, we recognize in this stressful time a call to courage. Let us not only pray ‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done,’ let us do it.
 
We at MAC invite all Montanans, many of us descendants of immigrants ourselves, to welcome those fleeing persecution in other countries, including refugees seeking asylum from Syria. Consider that Joseph and Mary protected Jesus from Herod, by becoming refugees in Egypt. Consider further, the possibility that extending opportunity and hope to those fleeing the brutality and oppression that threaten their lives, might also lay the groundwork for a safer tomorrow. Scripture instructs God’s people, who themselves have been sojourners, refugees, and immigrants, to defend, protect, and honor the rights and dignity of the stranger.
 
We encourage our fellow Montanans to follow the laws and protocols currently in place in our nation and to continue to welcome those fleeing persecution from other countries including Syria. We urge Montanans not to allow fear to degrade our citizenship, but with wisdom and judiciousness to seek a course that upholds the humanity not only of the stranger in our midst, but ultimately ourselves.
 
 The Rev. Peter Erickson                                                        The Rev. Valerie Webster
President of MAC, and ELCA Lutheran Pastor                         President (Elect) of MAC, and Episcopal Priest