{"id":28067,"date":"2026-01-11T20:10:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T02:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/?page_id=28067"},"modified":"2026-01-12T01:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T07:34:14","slug":"a-local-ad-with-national-implications","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/a-local-ad-with-national-implications\/","title":{"rendered":"A Local Ad with National Implications"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Local Ad with National Implications<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

GraniteCityGossip.com January 12, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Recently a promotional flyer appeared in a Granite City Facebook group advertising a Zoom training class titled “Answering the Call: Interfaith Nonviolent Civil Resistance 201”<\/strong>. The event, scheduled for January 12, 2026<\/strong>, is hosted by Interfaith Alliance<\/strong> in collaboration with several national NGOs. The flyer calls on faith leaders to organize resistance against authoritarianism and defend democracy.

What caught local attention wasn\u2019t just the timing or the theme, it was the Faith Coalition-Edwardsville<\/strong>, a small Christian volunteer group that is promoting the event. The post raised eyebrows about why a local service group is pushing a national training event about “Civil Resistance 101 training”, even in Granite City.<\/p>\n\n

In today\u2019s political climate, protests have become so frequent and fragmented that their impact often feels diluted. What once stirred public conscience now risks being dismissed as noise. The posts language \u2014 “the best time to start was a year ago” \u2014 suggests urgency and regret, implying missed opportunities for coordinated action.<\/p>\n\n

Faith Coalition-Edwardsville presents itself as a Christian service group focused on yard work and home repairs for seniors. But its promotion of this Civil Resistance 101 training makes it appear to be connected to a much broader national network:

These affiliations are mostly service-oriented, but the flyer connects them to national activist groups <\/strong>and coalitions involved in interfaith training and advocacy,

including:
Interfaith Alliance<\/strong>, \u201cLeft\u2011of\u2011center religious organization\u201d

Formed to combat conservative\u2011aligned religious groups.
Supports LGBTQ+ rights and gender self\u2011identification.
Opposes school choice and public funding for private\/religious schools.
Supports removing school resource officers in some contexts<\/strong>.
These positions align overwhelmingly with the Democratic\/progressive policy space.

Donations from individuals associated with Interfaith Alliance go entirely to Democratic candidates<\/strong> in the current cycle. According to OpenSecrets, 100% of the political contributions made by individuals associated with Interfaith Alliance in the current election cycle went to Democratic candidates.

Interfaith Alliance is not officially Democratic or Republican, but it is widely recognized as a progressive, left\u2011of\u2011center organization whose advocacy, messaging, and donor base align far more with Democrats than Republicans.

(notably co-organizing the Zoom class<\/strong> with Faith in Action, GU Center on Faith and Justice, Political Research Associates)

Center on Faith and Justice<\/strong>.
Sojourners<\/strong>.
Political Research Associates<\/strong>.
Horizons Project<\/strong>.

Additionally, the Zoom class is co-sponsored by a broad coalition of faith and social justice organizations, such as:

Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice.
American Friends Service Committee.
Faith in Public Life.
Franciscan Action Network.
Hindus for Human Rights.
Interfaith Alliance of North Dakota.
Pax Christi USA.
Shoulder to Shoulder.
Tikkun Ha-Ir.
Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice.
United Church of Christ.
West Virginia Faith Collective<\/strong>.
<\/p>\n\n

This flyer isn\u2019t just about a Zoom class. It\u2019s a signal that national political movements are filtering into local spaces \u2014 sometimes through unexpected channels.

Faith Coalition-Edwardsville<\/strong> may still mow lawns and fix porches, but its promotion of Civil Resistance 101 training suggests a deeper ideological alignment. Whether this energizes or alienates Granite City residents depends on how they interpret the intent: is this about empowering faith communities to resist injustice, or is it about importing national political agendas into local service networks?

In a time when protests feel more performative than powerful, this flyer reminds us that organizing \u2014 even in small towns \u2014 is still happening. The question is: who\u2019s organizing whom, and for what purpose<\/strong>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28067","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28067"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28104,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28067\/revisions\/28104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}