FCNL in the News

CIVICUS discusses US civil society action under the second Trump administration with Bridget Moix, General Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the oldest faith-based lobbying organisation in the USA, advocating for peace, justice and environmental stewardship. Bridget has participated in the No Kings movement, a nationwide grassroots response to democratic backsliding and attacks on rights.

After long periods of discernment, eight Quaker groups signed a joint statement calling Israel’s war in Gaza genocide.

President Trump is escalating boat strikes near Venezuela without ruling out hitting targets in the country. Lawmakers are warning the U.S. may be drifting toward war without a clear justification.

When I began working with a faith-based lobbying organization 30 years ago, I could never have imagined how much change I would witness in Congress during my career, nor how deeply my own faith in our democratic system would be challenged.

Jim Wallis talks with Amelia Kegan, Associate General Secretary for Policy and Advocacy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, about the looming SNAP cuts during the government shutdown.

Growing up, I learned a certain version of our country’s history. At my Catholic school in the Midwest, I was taught that we were the birthplace of democracy, that we won wars against evil empires and that we were respected as the richest and most powerful country in the world. As a young adult, I began to understand the limitations, omissions and, sometimes, falsifications of the narratives that had shaped my formal education.

A post-World War II poem is a warning against staying silent about oppression, while a recent adaptation is a spoken anthem.

On Aug. 11, 2025, US President Donald Trump invoked emergency powers to deploy 800 National Guard troops to the nation’s capital, signaling another alarming escalation of the use of military force during his second term. The military is now being used in ways once unimaginable for immigration enforcement — stationing troops in US cities, detaining migrants in military prisons, and invoking wartime powers to expel them.

But this year was tougher. This year, the first day of school in our home of Washington, D.C., included military troops in our streets and families so filled with fear they decided to keep their kids home.

Instead, the US government is pouring billions more of our tax dollars into building a new generation of nuclear weapons and planning to resume nuclear testing.