From our beginnings in 1986-1987, the Alliance has stood in the historic Baptist tradition of advocating for religious freedom for all and the institutional separation of church and state. We are fortunate in this country to have the premier church-state organization in the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, an institutional partner of the Alliance. This relationship includes a permanent slot on that group’s Board of Directors.
Our commitment to peace with justice is informed and facilitated by a partnership with the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, while our commitment to full civil liberties for the LGBT community is expressed in part through a partnership with the Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists.
In addition we participate in many other public policy initiatives through our membership in the National Council of Churches and its ongoing witness to social and economic justice and environmental wholeness.
“In a time when historic Baptist principles, freedoms and tradition need a clear voice. . . ”
Those words from our Covenant define who we are as Alliance of Baptists. For many advocate groups, having progressive Baptists join in their efforts is encouraging. You now have an opportunity to participate more fully in being a “clear voice.” We are setting up an email rapid response network through Alliance members and friends.
This Clear Voice Network will be used for targeted and occasional requests for you to communicate with your Members of Congress or Senators, or your own state legislators. We promise to pass on to you only a few of the many requests that come to the Alliance from various advocacy groups that share our passion for: “justice with and for those who are oppressed; care for the earth; and work for peace” to quote from our covenant. The few that we pass on will reflect either core principles of the Alliance or stem from resolutions or other statements we have passed or supported.
If you are interested in participating, please sign up with the Peace & Justice Committee.
The Peace & Justice Committee has designed a brochure with a 10 Step Program Toward a Greener Earth. This brochure includes 10 Steps Toward Creating a Greener Meeting Space, 10 Steps Toward Creating a Greener Community (Church), and 10 Steps Toward Creating a Greener Person. Download the brochure.
Go Green and show your theological inclinations, too! Order re-Useable Nalgene Bottles and Coffee Mugs with the Alliance logo and eliminate the use of disposable cups and water bottles. Order from the Alliance office today.
NEW - Read the latest on the Peace & Justice Committee's work on Climate Change.
The Alliance of Baptists has started an informal partnership with Equal Exchange through the United Church of Christ coffee project. Equal Exchange is a democratically organized worker-owned cooperative that pioneered a new model of trade built upon fairness and stronger relationships with farmers and consumers. When you purchase Equal Exchange coffee, tea, chocolate an other projects, you join a network that enables farmers around the world to stay on their land, support their families, plan for the future and care for the environment.
The Alliance of Baptists is piggy-backing on the UCC Coffee project, a partnership of the UCC Justice and Witness Ministries and Equal Exchange. You can start a coffee project at your church, or order products individually.
Order coffee and other fair trade products at Equal Exchange.
If you would like more information to help your church start a fair trade coffee project, contact Paula Dempsey for an information packet.
We have 20 copies of the curriculum, “A Just Minimum Wage: Good for Workers, Business and Our Future” produced by the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign, a justice project of the National Council of Churches. Let Justice Roll provided 50 copies of this curriculum to the Alliance of Baptists for free! We shared 30 copies with folks at the Convocation, but we would be happy to share the rest with interested Alliance churches or members.
In the introduction, James Forbes, Jr., writes that poverty is a weapon of mass destruction in our midst. But he goes on to point out that poverty is a weapon of mass destruction we can eliminate. He writes that this curriculum, “A Just Minimum Wage” reveals truths about poverty and work that could actually set us free from ignorance or inertia. This curriculum is a good starting place to understand what is needed to guarantee our working people a living wage.
If you are interested in using this curriculum in your church, contact Stan Hastey. 
