📧 “Follow Up” from Sojo
Thank you for your time. I appreciate your brief run through of St. Martin. I look forward to learning more on my own.
I will speak with the editor-in-chief and others about our conversation.
I noticed that you recorded our conversation. I am wondering if you would be willing to share that recording with me for our records, and so that I can reference it with precision.
My understanding is that you feel you have been pulled back from by Sojourners because you perceive Sojourners has a political position where we do not support or at least prioritize soldiers’ plight. You feel this has been demonstrated by the rejection of offers to write and possibly impacted by editing of past articles.
This is particularly alarming to you because the need is so large. Military veterans are ending their lives at a rate nearly 60% higher than non-veteran adults. You feel your credibility is at risk with the community you are aiming to serve (veterans) because by having your content on Sojourners’ site and Sojourners’ lacking additional, ongoing content and contextualization about this topic positions you as a “sob story” being used to engage “civilian saviors.” That position, you believe, could reflect upon you poorly if others in your veteran or active-duty community were to reflect upon it.
I asserted that rejection of content is not the same as not being concerned about an issue. We have limited resources and a multitude of social justice issues impacting all manner of “least of these.” We prioritize various issues based on our expertise, experience, and missional goals with input from our team, our partners, and our readers. We are not able to cover all subjects at all times, and our expertise and experience may lead us to reprioritize things from time to time.
We believe we are within our right to keep all of your writing active on our page; specifically pursuant to these elements of our Copyright Policy, which was in effect at the time of your writing:
By submitting your work to Sojourners or otherwise giving permission to publish your work, you represent and warrant:
That you are granting Sojourners the exclusive print publication rights to the work submitted
That you are also granting full and exclusive reprint permission for any item we publish, unless otherwise indicated
That you are granting the subsequent right to reproduce, distribute, adapt, or display the work for any purpose and in any manner or medium worldwide during the copyright term of the work
We are also within our rights to accept or reject any article.
That said, I offered to modify your biography that is linked to your writing, including the removal of your picture to help mitigate your concerns.
You indicated that you plan to file lawsuit unless the articles are removed or you are given an opportunity to write an article discussing how your current understanding and theology has evolved from your previous writing and how in your opinion, progressive, Christians are not generally willing to talk about the plight of soldiers. That article would have to make it to the web without edits that change the content or intent of the piece.
I will share this with the editorial leadership, and I will get back to you by noon Eastern time on Friday January 31.
Best Regards,
Matt
Matt Murphy
Chief Operations Officer
@ 1427 to Sojo
Shoot, I just saw I had Do Not Disturb left on. Here is the video; https://youtu.be/QtkomAvhjW8?si=eWvhCbeSrI5DpzD8
