Childwatch Column

  • Voting for the Future

    Every third weekend of October congregations across the nation join Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) in participating in the annual multifaith National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths® Celebration.

    | National

  • Hope and Help After Storms

    Once again, the aftermath of the recent hurricanes and storms has left children and families across the Southeast reeling as they work to repair homes and rebuild lives.

    | National

  • Preparing to Vote

    In a democratic society, if we like or don’t like what our political leaders are doing, we must make that clear through our voices and our votes. And we cannot accomplish that by staying home.

  • Education

    Championing the Freedom to Read

    Banned Books Week, which is typically observed the last week of September and this year is September 22-28, brings together the entire book community – including librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all ages – to support the freedom to read.

    | National

  • Gun Violence

    Rejecting Hate

    Eleven-year-old Aiden Clark was killed in a traffic accident in August 2023 in Springfield, Ohio, when the school bus he was riding in on the first day of school was hit by a minivan. The van’s driver was a Haitian immigrant, and Aiden’s death has become part of a larger hate- and conspiracy-filled campaign targeting his community’s immigrant residents.

    | National

  • Lessons After September 11

    As the nation and world commemorate the anniversary of September 11 this week, I remember again that it was a gloriously beautiful morning in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 11, 2001.

    | National

  • Gun Violence

    A Back to School Prayer

    This year, the first week of September was disrupted by a terrible tragedy that has become its own all-too-familiar routine in our nation: headlines about another school shooting.

    | National

  • Honoring Freedom Summer

    As summer draws to a close, we are also nearing the end of an extraordinary milestone – the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement’s Freedom Summer.

    | National