Clergy Occupy Wall Street SF

For Immediate Release
October 21, 2011
Media Contact: Rev. Lois Mueller
Cell phone: 510-759-2008
Rev. Dr. Donna Allen
Cell phone: 510-593-5602

Email: interfaithclergy [at] gmail.com

PRESS RELEASE
Hundreds of Bay Area Clergy and Religious Leaders March in Solidarity with SF Occupy Wallstreet
WHEN: Monday, October 24th, 10:30 am – march begins,
WHERE: Justin Herman Plaza, San Francisco
WHO: Hundreds of Bay Area Interfaith Clergy and Religious Leaders
WHAT: Bay Area religious leaders will gather in Justin Hermann Plaza on Monday, October 24th, at 10:30 A.M, march to financial institutions and conduct symbolic ritual action. Afterwards they will march to the Occupy SF encampment to offer interfaith prayers and support to Occupy Wall Street SF occupiers.
VISUAL: A Golden Calf – a symbol of greed and the idolatry of wealth will be carried. Large cloths and mourning shrouds with the words “Death of Greed,” Death of Inequality,” “Death of Injustice” will be torn in a call for transformation of the economic system. Interfaith clergy and religious leaders wearing liturgical garb.
“A broad coalition of religious leaders is standing in solidarity with the Wall Street Occupation and responding with the ethical teachings of our various faith traditions.” The calls for economic justice we are hearing across the country are deeply rooted in our many spiritual traditions,“ said Rev. Lois Mueller, Pastor of Plymouth United Church of Christ (Oakland, CA).
This date coincides with the anniversary of the first day of the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
Rev. Dr. Donna Allen, says, “ As faith leaders we are standing in solidarity with the millions of people in America who are suffering from the consequences of corporate greed and political leaders who ignore the pain of the poor and the middle class. We call on our political leaders to exercise compassion and ethics in their role as public servants such that decisions are made to benefit the whole community not just the powerful and well connected few.”
The religious leaders will march from Justin Herman Plaza to nearby major financial institutions to perform symbolic ceremonies calling for economic transformation and accountability.

BACKGROUND STATEMENT
Following protests in New York City by interfaith religious leaders last week, Bay Area religious leaders are showing solidarity and to reclaim the ethical voice of the world’s major religious traditions.
Wall Street Occupiers have asked, "Where are the clergy?" We are here, but we have been invisible. Today, we have come visibly present with those who are standing and camping out for economic justice. We have come in robes and stoles. We have come in beards and beads. We have come in yarmulkes and all the exterior symbols of our faiths.
The old forms of protest do not work any more. There is no King or Gandhi to lead us. So, we are following our youth in their courage and creativity and we say, “We are with you! We are here.”
We remember Dr. King was a young man when he stepped out of the pulpit of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, and into the streets of America to forge changes for social and economic justice. Today, in that same tradition, the Occupy Wall Street movement is pushing us to take action on behalf of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.
Donna E. Allen, PhD, Founder & Pastor
New Revelation Community Church
A Radically Inclusive Community Where All Are One In Christ