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Quote of the Day. "Thanksgiving is coming, and many Americans are struggling to meet their basic food needs. Being thankful is not enough this year. Christians need to say thanks and seek justice for those at risk of hunger." Robert Parham of the Baptist Center for Ethics on this week’s USDA report that 17 million households — 14.6 percent of all homes in the United States — were "food insecure." (Associated Baptist Press)

FAITH IN THE NEWS

Global Evangelicals Not Divided on Climate Change “Unlike in the United States, there is little controversy among evangelicals around the world on whether climate change is real, said an evangelical representative at a press briefing on Capitol Hill.”

Lutherans second church to split over gays “Conservative members of America’s largest Lutheran denomination announced that they are splitting from the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, making it the second mainline Protestant church to undergo a major schism over the issue of homosexuality and related matters of biblical authority.”

NEWS AT HOME

Health Care. Senate announces $848 billion health-care bill “Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid presented an $848 billion health-care overhaul package on Wednesday that would extend coverage to 31 million Americans and reform insurance practices while adding an array of tax increases, including a rise in payroll taxes for high earners.” Senate Health Plan Seeks to Add Coverage to 31 Million “Democratic leaders in the Senate on Wednesday unveiled their proposal for overhauling the health care system, outlining legislation that they said would cover most of the uninsured while reducing the federal budget deficit.” Reid rolls out Senate healthcare bill “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday unveiled his long-awaited plan for expanding medical coverage to millions more Americans over the next decade, setting the stage for a historic Senate debate on a healthcare overhaul.”

Financial Reform Ambitious bills could remake financial regulatory landscape “As lawmakers on Capitol Hill inch closer toward overhauling the nation’s fractured financial regulatory system, each hour of debate, each tweak of legal language, each tedious roll call carries the potential to generate colossal changes in the relationship between Washington and Wall Street.”

Unemployment. Jobless Benefits Will Expire Unless Congress Acts “About one million laid-off workers will see their unemployment benefits end in January unless Congress acts quickly to renew existing federally paid extensions.”

Immigration. Work site arrests of illegals fall dramatically “Criminal arrests, administrative arrests, indictments and convictions of illegal immigrants at work sites all fell by more than 50 percent from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2009.”

Housing. Fear of Double Dip in Housing “Just a few months after housing showed signs of leveling off, bad weather and uncertainty over the extension of a home-buyer tax credit sent new-home starts in October tumbling 10.6% from the previous month.”

9/11 Trial. Holder Defends Decision to Use U.S. Court for 9/11 Trial “Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday defended his decision to prosecute five men accused as co-conspirators in the Sept. 11 attacks in federal court in Manhattan, declaring that while he believes ‘we are at war,’ that the venue was the best place to pursue the case against them.” Obama and Holder defend plans to try Sept. 11 suspects “The Obama administration on Wednesday strongly defended its decision to try the alleged plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks in a civilian New York court, but faced criticism from Republican senators who called it a ‘perversion’ of justice that would risk freeing some of the world’s most notorious terrorists.”

Cuba Policy. Sides gear up for fight over U.S. ban on travel to Cuba “A battle over Cuba policy is escalating in Congress, with proponents saying they have their best chance in years of repealing the ban on U.S. tourist travel to the island.” Human Rights Watch calls Raul Castro no better than Fidel “Cuba’s government remains as repressive under Raul Castro as it was under his brother Fidel, according to the first in-depth report of the island’s human rights since the younger Castro took power.”

NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

Climate Change. Green technologies in peril as rich nations dither on climate deal “Vital business investment in clean technology to tackle climate change is being threatened by delays and doubts over the Copenhagen deal on climate change.”

Afghanistan. Karzai sworn in as Afghanistan president “Hamid Karzai was sworn in today for a second-five year term as Afghanistan’s president, assuming leadership of a war-battered nation and a government that the West is demanding be cleansed of corruption.” Karzai pressed for reforms that could bring ‘end game’ to Afghanistan war “On the eve of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s inauguration for a new term, top U.S. officials on Wednesday called on him to reform his government and stem corruption as President Obama suggested that the United States is seeking ‘an end game’ to its involvement here after eight years of war.” Obama Demands Results From Afghan Reforms “President Obama sent his top diplomat to Afghanistan on Wednesday to press President Hamid Karzai to deliver ‘measurable results’ on governance and corruption as the White House prepared specific new demands to accompany an American troop buildup.” Warlords are back in power “Warlords helped drive the Russians from Afghanistan, then shelled Kabul into ruins in a bloody civil war after the Soviets left. Now they are back in positions of power, in part because the U.S. relied on them in 2001 to help oust the Taliban after the Sept. 11 attacks.”

Iran. Minister Says Iran Won’t Ship Uranium Abroad “Iran’s foreign minister said this week that his government would not ship its stockpile of low-enriched uranium out of the country, making him the highest ranking official so far to declare that Iran would renege on a deal aimed at defusing a confrontation with the West over its nuclear program.” Nuclear fuel won’t go abroad, Iranian says “Iran’s foreign minister vowed Wednesday that his nation wouldn’t allow any of its enriched uranium supply out of the country, the most definitive statement so far on an international proposal to exchange the bulk of Iran’s nuclear material for fuel rods fitted for a Tehran medical reactor.” US ponders response to Iran snub "President Barack Obama says the US and its partners are discussing ‘a package of potential steps’ they could take if Iran snubs a uranium enrichment deal.”

North Korea. Obama urges North Korea to change “US President Barack Obama and his South Korean counterpart, Lee Myung-bak, have urged North Korea to return to international nuclear negotiations.” A ‘grand bargain’ for North Korea “President Obama met today with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, calling for North Korea to take ’serious steps’ to give up its nuclear weapons and committing himself to reviving a free-trade deal between Seoul and Washington that has stalled in the U.S. Congress.” This time, promises alone may not feed North Korea “For the Obama administration, North Korea has followed a familiar script. It has made trouble, exploding a nuclear device. It has made nice, inviting U.S. officials to visit. And it has made a mess of growing food, needing handouts from the rich countries it threatens.”

Mideast. Mideast Peace Talks Hang in Balance Over Abbas “Two weeks after the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, vowed not to run for re-election and hinted that he might resign, the Middle East peace process has sunk into a deep crisis amid urgent efforts to revive it.”

OPINION

Mr. Obama’s Task (Editorial, New York Times) “There is no doubt that the prospects for success in Afghanistan are so bleak right now because former President George W. Bush failed for seven long years to invest the necessary troops, resources or attention to the war. But it is now President Obama’s war, and the American people are waiting for him to explain his goals and his strategy.”

Sojourners’ Daily Digest is a compilation of the top news related to our commitments of life and peace, economic and racial justice, and care of creation, with a special focus on news of the engagement of faith in public life.