Faith, Food, and Policy: Interview with Cassandra Carmichael and Karen Galles
Cassandra Carmichael and Karen Galles are the Director and Associate Director, respectively, of the EcoJustice Programs at the National Council of Churches of Christ. We discuss the intersections between faith, food, and policymaking.

Credit: National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Project

CC: The National Council of Churches (NCC) is comprised of 35 member communions and 100,000 churches across country—and there is a broad spectrum of beliefs in that group of churches. Within these member churches, there is a strong rural church component. Churches are located everywhere: cities, suburbs, rural areas. The church community has historically been interested in farm worker rights, and we’ve especially been concerned with the family farmer. He sits in our pews!

People of faith are concerned with food for two primary reasons. One is justice. Are the farm workers, migrant or otherwise, being paid well, treated fairly? Also, in Genesis, God placed humans in the garden to till and tend—our first directive is to be stewards of the land. That is part of the reason why we are very concerned with how we produce the food we eat—we’re making sure that we’re maintaining the integrity of that sacrament.

KG: One [connection] is the environmental justice issue. Agricultural practices have a huge impact on how the land is treated. Land has always had a sacred quality; people of faith use it to connect to the Creator, so how the land is treated and used has an impact on how we experience our faith. We’re here to be stewards of God’s creation.

Also, we’re concerned with justice for people. The rural ways of life are being wiped out by agricultural practices that don’t support local businesses. There are federal policies that make it difficult and almost impossible for those family farms to survive against corporate interests.

How can local food and faith groups work together to meet a common goal? What is important to keep in mind?

KG: First, I think finding common ground is important. Faith groups tend to have different motivations [than secular groups], but there’s overlap. Understanding that overlap is important—even though [religious and secular groups] aren’t approaching issues for the same reason, they can still work toward the same goal. Ideally, both religious and secular groups should come together and identify common goals. There needs to be common messaging and common goals, and each of these needs to be well-articulated to the audiences of both groups. I think making that overlap more implicit in messaging is one of the more important things that can be done.

What kind of farm and food policies do religious groups want to see? How does religion intersect with policymaking?

CC: I work with the EcoJustice Program at NCC, so we focus on the conservation aspect of the Farm Bill. We also work with other groups in the faith community on the Farm Bill.

KG: Specifically, we’re working on conservation issues in the 2007 Farm Bill. We’re working to expand the conservation support program first introduced in the 2002 farm bill. We are still researching and exploring policy options with our partners, but my sense is that we want to move from commodity payments toward green payments, or at least making this a more viable an option for farmers.

More broadly, it’s important to remember that everyone works and thinks about policy and personal values in context. For many people, part of that context is faith. I think it is important to recognize faith as a good way to reach people. It can have a more powerful and personal message than science and statistics. Data and facts are important, but in terms of getting people energized and passionate, appealing to values is a more effective way to reach and communicate with people. For instance, if I send an email talking about the percentage of wetlands lost, that’s not going to reach religious people in the same way as saying “As people of faith, we are called to protect for these reasons…”

What is the history of religious organizations working on progressive environmental issues?

CC: NCC is probably the oldest modern manifestation of this. More than two decades ago, representatives from our denominations got together because they were concerned about acid rain. They started getting together twice a year on eco-justice issues, and they still do. From that continued work, the churches decided it was important to have a staff focus, and the staffed program at NCC has been around for almost ten years.

How do you engage communities of faith in these issues? What’s the process?

CC: We organize senior religious leaders and our denomination representatives. We also work with 340 state ecumenical agencies to organize on state level. We do outreach directly in the pews through denominational networks. We have e-advocacy and one-on-one interaction. We have good relationships with faith-based environmental groups, like Earth Ministry, and they reach out to their folks as well. All these communication avenues reach up to 45 million people.

KG: With food issues, we’re currently working on advisory panels for the Farm and Food Policy Project. We’re working on that level to figure out where the faith community has a voice and how we can come together and learn what the faith community sees as important.

We then go back to our constituencies, using things like e-organizing. We use Faithfulamerica.org, which is based on the model of moveon.org, and they have e-alerts that go out to activists, making it easy for them to write letters.

Also, our audience is 45 million people, but not all are activists. We use communication in the denominations, including newsletters and meetings of leaders, to pull more people in to being interested in these issues.

Any advice for people working to engage communities of faith?

CC: For religious groups, this work is a partnership, and relationships are important. Religion is not a ‘flavor of the month’ club. We’re not target audiences. We are real people. We’re passionate about this issue and anxious for action. In secular groups, many are directive rather than interactive in their communication; understanding that religious groups have their own voice and message is important, as is being respectful. We like a level, not hierarchical, table for dialogue and forming relationships.

KG: One of the first things to remember is that a person of faith is not just a resource, Our faith is something that is really meaningful and personally informative for us. There is sometimes a danger in thinking about faith communities as simply resource for accomplishing goals. You have to be respectful of the reason why people engage in these issues.

Also, understand that within the religious community, most people do this work as an “extracurricular activity.” All of it is done on a mostly volunteer level; people do what they can, but they have lives and work outside of these issues.

Finally, provide help and support. In a community congregation, often only a few people are energized about an issue, and they can sometimes feel isolated. The role of a secular organization can be to say, “Hey, you’ve never organized a forum or booked a guest speaker. How can I help?” These activities can be very intimidating for someone who hasn’t done that before. Secular organizers can be a valuable resource by teaching people how to organize and advocate. Making someone feel like they’re not going it alone is very powerful.