How A Southern Baptist Church Decided To Create A Shelter For Refugees

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about refugees and resettlement. One of the main ones North Carolina pastor Bill Biggers has heard is: “Shouldn’t we be caring for our own, instead?”

Biggers, who serves as senior pastor of Hope Valley Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina, worked with his congregation over the last year to convert a building on the church’s property into short-term housing for refugees.

In a recent video produced by The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Biggers discussed the process of opening the shelter ― called Hope House ― and how he navigated concerns from his community.

The project met with some backlash from congregants, but when they finally voted on it, Biggers said, 84 percent of churchgoers were in favor of the project.

Some initially expressed concerns, Biggers said, “about whether these folks will be dangerous or whether refugees are coming to ‘take over,’ to create Sharia law, to take over our way of life and defeat us from the inside out.”

These misconceptions exist in the broader American public, as well. Last summer, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich brought misguided fears over Sharia law back into the mainstream when he told Fox News’ Sean: “Western civilization is in a war. Sharia is incompatible with Western civilization.”

Many Americans tend to be similarly wary of refugees, particularly those coming from the Middle East. An October 2016 survey by Pew Research Center found that a majority of U.S. adults ― 54 percent ― think the country should deal with its own problems before helping refugees.

We are called to care for ‘both-and.’ It’s not an ‘either-or’ but a ‘both-and.’”

There are also widespread misconceptions about just how long and painstaking the resettlement process is. And in regard to refugees already in the U.S., Americans greatly overestimate how many of them have been arrested in connection to terrorist activity.

Biggers listened to his congregants’ concerns and led the church through a months-long process of discussion and prayer over whether or not to open the shelter. “I preached several times about what I see as the Biblical call to welcome the stranger and to be a neighbor to people no matter their backgrounds,” the pastor said in the video.

Hope House opened its doors in March and is currently occupied by a refugee family, according to Indy Week.

For Biggers, providing shelter for refugees is an enactment of his Christian faith. This isn’t how all Christians in the U.S. feel about the refugee crisis, but many do

And for those who say the country should prioritize helping Americans before helping refugees, Biggers’ response is: “We are called to care for ‘both-and.’ It’s not an ‘either-or’ but a ‘both-and.’”

Check out UNHCR’s video above.

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Chelsea Clinton Is Sick Of The Stigma Surrounding Breastfeeding And Menstruation

Chelsea Clinton’s latest essay dives into the privilege we don’t always talk about when it comes to breastfeeding and menstruation.

In an article for Well+Good, the advocate and author who campaigned for her mom, Hillary Clinton, during her run for president, wrote about the importance of speaking openly about breastfeeding and pumping as well as menstruation. The mom of two is on a mission to end the taboo surrounding these topics and ensure women have the resources they need to manage them. 

Clinton wrote that she’s “very lucky” she has been able to afford a breast pump and have control of her pumping schedule. Over the years, she has felt milk leaking from her breasts and was grateful it was soaked up by disposable pads. Other times, she has also found herself nursing in airport and train bathrooms and in some public places because there were no other options. In 2015, she spoke to E! News about her somewhat difficult experience with breastfeeding.

“It also just took lots of, like … it’s swallowing my pride and being comfortable with pumping in airport bathrooms and kind of wherever I needed to get it done,” she said.

Clinton shared her breastfeeding experiences to point out that many mothers around the world don’t have access to pumps, disposable pads and flexible schedules. On top of this lack of resources, many women face the pressure of being judged for feeding their child in public. 

“All of these challenges, coupled with the cultural stigma around breastfeeding (or pumping) in public, often lead women to choose to feed supplementary formulas or to stop breastfeeding their children altogether ― even when they want to continue breastfeeding,” she wrote. 

She stressed that breastfeeding “is not the right answer for everyone.” She simply wants women to feel encouraged to make the “best choices” for their families and to have the ability to follow through with them.

Like breastfeeding, menstruation holds a certain stigma in our culture. Clinton noted the hush-hush attitude associated with periods and pointed out that pads and tampons are treated as luxury items instead of necessities.

“Remember how awkward you felt in school each time you carried a tampon or pad to the bathroom?” she wrote. “Did you haul your whole backpack into the stall with you, like I did? For many girls and women around the world, there are no safe, sanitary stalls to use, and no pads or tampons.”

Clinton, who is working on a children’s book titled She Persisted, hopes that expanding the conversation around breastfeeding, pumping and menstruation will generate more encouragement for women and mothers. 

“Too often, in too many places, we don’t support girls and women who are menstruating and mothers who are breastfeeding,” she wrote. 

Read the rest of Clinton’s essay on Well+Good.

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Jennifer Hudson Looked Incredible Wearing Two Different Looks In One Day

While you were sitting at your desk wishing away the work day, Jennifer Hudson was painting the town floral and black velvet. 

Hudson was out in New York City Monday to promote her new Netflix movie “Sandy Wexler,” but if you ask us, she was really just walking around looking amazing in two different outfits. 

There was the sweet long-sleeved floral mini-dress she wore on “Good Morning America”: 

And a teeny-tiny black velvet dress with a matching cape and flashy silver pumps she wore for “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”:

Like, seriously teeny. 

And because Hudson speaks to both our souls and soles, she was also spotted wearing each look with a pair of slip-on loafers between appearances. 

Jennifer Hudson: Our flat shoe-wearing dreamgirl for life. 

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