Thousands Detained, Hundreds Deported while Kent State, Brown and Tufts Stand Up while Columbia and Va. Tech stand down
Plus: The Good News of Jesus and the World Happiness Report
Friends! Christ holds all things together and I pray that you feel held up and together by Our Good God this season as life feels increasingly precarious for so many. Prayer is one of the things that reminds us of that reality so please join us on April 4 at 12pm to intercede for communities impacted by the Trump administration.
Here are 5 things we believe are worth your time:
Students, Residents, and Researchers fight deportation, detention, and being disappeared in broad daylight
SCRIPTURE AND PRAYER
Sermon from Reverend Dr. Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones
This powerful sermon was delivered at St. John the Divine by Dr. Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones to honor Absalom Jones who founded the first Black Episcopal congregation. I was reminded that the Good News of Jesus is Good News to everyone at all times. So for it to be the Gospel of Jesus it must be good news to the oppressed, the marginalized, rejected and those left alone. These are the people prioritized in Jesus’ initial sermon in Luke 4, the ones who followed Him and heard the Sermon on the Mount live. May we be rooted in the Gospel of Jesus as He preached it.
STATISTICS
Reflecting on Happiness in 2025
The Happiness Report came out in 2012 and since then the world has been taking notice. Perhaps because “the pursuit of happiness” is enshrined in documents of the world’s wealthiest nation but consistently ranks well below others of less wealth and influence. This year’s report focused on sharing, caring and its impact on well-being. One of the core findings is that “happiness is more equally distributed in countries with higher levels of expected benevolence”. For the most part, people are much kinder than we expect them to be. And when we actually give and receive kindness, our individual and social fabric is strengthened. Empirically, it is more blessed to give than to receive.
STORIES
Kent State Stands Up For DEI, Virginia Tech Does Not
There are fault lines being drawn around the country and people made in the image of God are on both sides. We must pray for courage, safety and kindness as boards of trustees, donors, politicians, law enforcement and targeted populations like international students, women, people of color, LGBTQIA+, poor and Native peoples engage across lines of difference and social advantage. Kent State students resisted the House Bill that curbs labor rights, pushes nationalism, and intimidates those who might dissent from capitalism and other “American” ideals. Virginia Tech’s board aligned with the Trump administration as did Columbia University. Yet, at Tufts, the students and the surrounding community are rising up as one of their students was taken in broad daylight and whisked away to Louisiana. We have yet to know what the formal university response will be. In all of this, we pray for those in power to serve the most marginalized, love the most vulnerable and seek a justice that reflects the teachings of Jesus.
Students, Residents, and Researchers fight deportation, detention, and being disappeared in broad daylight
The United States has adopted a policy that threatens to transform the educational landscape around the country. At Columbia, Mahmound Khalil was taken from his pregnant wife and at Tufts, Rumeysa Ozturk was taken on her way to break fast. Cornell Ph. D student Momodou Taal’s visa was revoked and Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a doctor at Brown University was denied entry and deported back to Lebanon. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claims that 300 student visas have been revoked and every day they are searching for more. And as of my writing this newsletter, a bill has been introduced to bar Chinese international students from studying in the United States which feels like a new Chinese Exclusion Act. These are not isolated incidents but coordinated, intentional instances of punishment and intimidation based on ideas. We pray for justice, kindness and a principled pluralism to win out on campuses and beyond.
May God bless you as you pray, press in and remember who you are and whose you are at the intersection of politics, education and following Jesus.
In Christ and for His Glory,
– jonathan