Interfaith Rally and Vigil for Health Justice

Speaker Hakim Jeffries and an impressive line-up of other House Democrats joined together with faith groups on Friday in an Interfaith Rally and Vigil on Health Justice.  A provision of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that the Circle of Protection opposed is now starting to go into effect. As of January 1, it will take health insurance away from 4 million people and dramatically increase insurance premiums for another 22 million. These are disproportionately  low-income people. 

President Trump and congressional Republicans have been able to make huge changes this year, always acting on their own. But Senate rules require some Democratic votes on decisions about appropriations for the new fiscal year. Congressional Democrats are unwilling to approve Republican legislation on appropriations without putting a stop to the health-care crisis that is now unfolding. The President and congressional Republicans have so far refused to negotiate.  

I was struck by the passion and determination of the Democratic members of Congress who came to the interfaith event on Friday. This photo includes some of the members of Congress and faith leaders at the event:  Shafiq Ahmed, American Muslim Health Professionals; Rev. David Beckmann, Circle of Protection; Rep. Steven Horsford (NV); Rev. Lesley-Copeland Tune, National Council of Churches; Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT); Rev. Camille Henderson-Edwards, United Methodist Church; Rep. Kathleen Clark, House Minority Whip; Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Emeritus.

StoryCorps: Poverty, Faith, and Stick-to-ativity

Sandra Joireman, an eminent political scientist and a former board chair of Bread for the World, interviewed me for StoryCorps.  The interview sums up my life story and insights from my forthcoming book on strategies to push back against MAGA and get progress against poverty back on track.

I very much hope you will listen to the entire interview. It’s 24 minutes.

If you don’t have time for that, I think you’ll enjoy the brief exchange that followed a question about what I’m most proud of.

Here’s the clip:

Lessons from South Africa

Highlights from David Beckmann’s address at the 2025 G20 Interfaith Forum, Cape Town (August 10–14).

I was invited to speak last month at the G20 Interfaith Forum in Cape Town, South Africa. Faith leaders from around the world and diverse faiths gathered to discuss issues that will be on the agenda—or that we think should be on agenda—of this year’s G20 Summit. The G20 includes 19 powerful nations, the European Union, and the African Union. 

My brief remarks focused on the Trump administration’s destruction of our government’s international aid program and its disruption of the international trading system. The U.S. government isn’t participating in this year’s G20 process. 

The Interfaith Forum is recommending continued G20 support for the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, which was launched at last year’s G20 Interfaith Forum in Brasilia. We are also urging multilateral efforts to reduce the crippling financial burden that many developing countries, especially low-income countries, are now carrying.

I stayed in Cape Town for four days after the conference to learn a bit more about South Africa today. What I learned was discouraging. Although apartheid ended in 1994, de facto racial segregation continues. Nearly all Black Africans in Cape Town live in crowded slum “townships.” Corruption among the current generation of African politicians has been scandalous. As a result, the incomes of South African people have been declining for the last ten years. Economic inequality and the homicide rate are higher than in any other country in the world.

On the other hand, I met with inspiring Christian and interfaith leaders. Theo Mayekiso, a grassroots interfaith leader, guided my son Andrew and me through several of the townships. We met with Christian leaders and others who are working at the grassroots to inspire hope and lead community development efforts. The next day, Theo and his wife took me to meet with Renier Koegelenberg, a leader in the Dutch Reformed Church and a senior advisor to the National Council of Churches. He gave us a macro perspective on how South Africa’s churches are working at the grassroots and as advocates at the national level.

We live at a disappointing time in both the United States and South Africa. But my hope for the future was reinforced by the faith and activism of the leaders I met at the Interfaith Forum and in the townships of Cape Town.