by CBEBK

Rabbi Timoner Joins Over 100 NYC and NYS Faith Leaders in Support of Bail Reform

Rabbi Timoner recently signed on to a joint letter sent to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo with over 100 New York City and New York State faith leaders in support of bail reform. Read the full letter below.

NYC and NYS Faith Leaders in Support of Bail Reforms

For more information please contact: Minister Onleilove Alston at onleilovea@bronxconnect.org

January 2020

 

Dear Governor Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Heastie:

We write as a diverse body of New York faith leaders to thank you for your strong leadership in passing powerful bail and discovery reform, and to ask you to stand strong against efforts to roll back these critical laws.  We believe that each New Yorker is made in the image of God and deserves justice whether rich or poor.

Guided by our faith, we support these reforms.  We believe they will bolster public safety; enhance fairness for people facing charges; reduce unnecessary, unjust, and often harmful incarceration; and help end the harm so long visited on black, brown and poor New Yorkers in the name of criminal justice.  Other states that have implemented similar reforms have seen rates of wrongful conviction and rates of pre-trial incarceration drop significantly, without any rise in crime.  

We believe the pushback against the laws by certain district attorneys, police chiefs and sheriffs is misguided, and applaud other law enforcement officials like Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez who support these reforms. 

Please ensure New York remains a leader in the effort to end wealth-based detention, safely decarcerate our jails, and dismantle the racism that stains our justice system. 

Thank you.  

In Faith and Justice,

  1. Rev. Dr. Raymond Rivera, Latino Pastoral Action Center & The Micah Clergy Table
  2. Rev. Wendy Calderón-Payne, Urban Youth Alliance/BronxConnect
  3. Rev. Sharon White-Harrigan, BEYONDRosies2020
  4. Rev. Dustin Wright Pastor, Messiah Lutheran Church & President, NY State Council of Churches
  5. Rev. Donna Hylton, President, A Little Piece of Light
  6. Rev. Dionne P. Boissiere, Church Center for the United Nations 
  7. The Rev. Peter Cook, Executive Director New York State Council of Churches 
  8. The Rev. Mark Koenig, Advocate for Justice Ministries, Presbytery of New York City 
  9. Rev. Dr. Patricia A. Sealy, Mott Haven Reformed Church
  10. Minister Onleilove Chika Alston, BronxConnect
  11. Rev. Joel Gibson, The Micah Clergy Table
  12. Pastor Zac Martin, Mission at Recovery House of Worship & Executive Director of Trellis 
  13. Chaplain Kim Eliano, National Action Network, The Micah Institute & The Second Baptist Church of Baldwin, NY
  14. Chaplain Batina Bamba, Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood and International Sufi School
  15. Rev. Althea Taylor, Executive Pastor, Bronx Bethany Church of the Nazarene 
  16. Rev. Yolanda Brown, Imani’s Quest Ministries 
  17. Minister/Chaplain Ruth McDaniels, Breaking the Chains of Your Mind
  18. Rev. Anthony L. Trufant, Senior Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church of Brooklyn
  19. Ray Rogers, Corporate Campaign, Inc. 
  20. Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Executive Director, Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition
  21. Rev. Chloe Dr. Chloe Breyer, Executive Director, The Interfaith Center of New York
  22. The Rev. Kaji S. Dousa, Senior Pastor, Park Avenue Christian Church
  23. Rev. Dr. Hector (Benny) Custodio, Immanuel & First Spanish Church
  24. Rev. Dr. Michael Carrion, Evangelical Covenant Church
  25. Rabbi Rachel Timoner, Congregation Beth Elohim 
  26. Rabbi Stephanie Kolin, Union Temple of Brooklyn
  27. Minister Julio Rivera, The Sanctuary Church Bronx 
  28. Rev. David F. Telfort, Pastor, Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church
  29. Rev. Adriene Thorne, Senior Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn
  30. Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Hermann, SAJ Judaism That Stands for All
  31. The Rev. Dr. Robert Foltz-Morrison, Executive Presbyter, Presbytery of New York City
  32. Rev. Dr. Kathlyn Barrett, Staten Island Council of Churches
  33. Rabbi Barat Ellman, Ph.D., Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
  34. Rev. Dr. Deborah D. Jenkins, Senior Pastor, Faith @ Work Christian Church  
  35. Rev. Dr. Demetrius S. Carolina, First Central Baptist Church 
  36. Rev. Ondrej (Andrew) Stehlik, Th.D., Rutgers Presbyterian Church
  37. The Reverend Dr. Flora Wilson Bridges, Pastor, Rendall Memorial Presbyterian Church
  38. Rev. Lindsay Borden, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church
  39. Rabbi Joel Mosbacher, Temple Shaaray Tefila
  40. Pura M. DeJesus Coniglio, Esq., Pastor, Love Gospel Church Without Walls
  41. Dr. Diane Steinman, The Micah Institute
  42. Rev. Marie A. Tatro, Vicar for Community Justice Ministry, Episcopal Diocese of Long Island
  43. The Reverend Winnie Varghese, Priest, Trinity Church Wall Street  
  44. Rabbi Miriam Grossman, Congregation Kolot Chayeinu
  45. Bishop Kevin RJ McKoy, Founder, Shalom United Missions International
  46. Rev. Dr. Brett Younger, Plymouth Church
  47. Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper, Judson Memorial Church
  48. Minister Yazmine Nichols 
  49. Rabbi Carie Carter, Park Slope Jewish Center
  50. Reverend Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft, Executive Minister, Middle Collegiate Church
  51. Rev. Joe Hernandez, Senior Pastor, Fordham Manor Church
  52. Minister Tara Brown-Arnell, Family Baptist Church
  53. The Rev. Steven D. Paulikas, Rector, All Saints’ Episcopal Church
  54. Pastor Paul Glover, Flatlands Reformed Church
  55. Rev. Richard Honeywell, City of Freedom Baptist Church
  56. Rev. Chris Shelton, Broadway Presbyterian Church 
  57. Rev. Christopher De La Cruz, First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica 
  58. The Rev. Herbert Miller, The United Methodist Church  
  59. Rabbi Emerita Ellen Lippmann, Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives
  60. Deacon Ken Radcliffe, Director, The ISAIAH Project Inc.
  61. Rev. Peter Goodwin Heltzel, Ph.D., New York Theological Seminary
  62. Elder Janet Rayedel Lafontaine, Restoration Temple Ministries
  63. Pastor David Hernquist, Van Nest Assembly of God
  64. Esteban Rivera, Latino Pastoral Action Center
  65. Joel Rivera, Latino Pastoral Action Center
  66. Yolanda Rivera, Latino Pastoral Action Center
  67. Rev. Susanna Rivera-Leon, Latino Pastoral Action Center
  68. Nilza I. Oyola, Latino Pastoral Action Center
  69. Rev. Andrea Abbott, First Universalist Church of Central Square
  70. Rev. Holly Haile Thompson, DD Padoquohan Medicine Lodge, Inc., Shinnecock Indian Reservation
  71. Rev. Jeffrey Courter, Pastor, Westernville Presbyterian Church
  72. Rev. Linda Martin
  73. Rev. Beth H. DuBois, Pastor, South Valley Presbyterian Church
  74. Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Quick, Pastor, Gouverneur First United Methodist Church
  75. Rev. Richard S. Vosko
  76. The Rev. Peter W. Peters, Ph.D., Co-Chair, REACH Advocacy, Inc.
  77. Rev. Derek James Healey, Dedicant Priest, Nemeton of the Ways
  78. Most Rev. Jeremiah Bruce Lennox, Archdruid Nemeton of the Ways
  79. Rev. Timothy Taugher, Pastor, St. Francis of Assisi of Binghamton
  80. Rev Kathryn Stenta, New Covenant Presbyterian Church Albany
  81. Rev. Sandy J. Damhof
  82. Joseph Olejak, Old Chatham Quaker Meeting 
  83. Rev. Emily Otto, United Church of Christ
  84. Rabbi Joshua Strom, Congregation B’nai Yisrael
  85. Rev. Dave Weissbard, Retired Unitarian Universalist Minister
  86. Reverend Shaun Ellison Jones, M.Div., Pastor Star of Bethlehem Baptist Church
  87. Rev. Dr. Alan Bentz-Letts, Retired Chaplain, Member of The Riverside Church
  88. Rev. Konrad Raup, Journey United Church of Christ
  89. Rev. Dr. Kris E. Watson
  90. Rev. Steven M. Smith, Pastor, Newtonville United Methodist Church
  91. Rev. Schuyler Vogel, Senior Minister, Fourth Universalist Society
  92. Pastor Jose Humphries, Metro Hope Community Church 
  93. Brother Paul Muhammad, N.O.I., Chair of Public Safety Community Board 5 & Member of the 73rd Precinct Clergy Liaison Council
  94. Archbishop E. Bernard Jordan, Zoe Ministries 
  95. Pastor Gwen Dingle, President, 79 Precinct Clergy Liaison Council & Pentecostal House of Prayer
  96. Rev. Joyce Dugger, Pastor of First Congregational Church of Rockaway Beach 
  97. Rev. Juan Carlos Ruiz, co-founder of the New Sanctuary Movement & Pastor of The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd
  98. Rev. Dr. Cheryl Anthony, Judah International Ministries & Women of Color Advocating Change
  99. Urban Missionary Rose Mercado, Latino Pastoral Action Center (LPAC)
  100. Cantor Abbe Lyons, Congregation Tikkun v’Or 
  101. The Rev. Audette Fulbright Fulson, Unitarian Church of All Souls NYC
  102. The Rev. Dr. Richard S. Gilbert, President, Interfaith Impact of New York State
in General