This is officially the least popular Congress in history and not without reason. But behind the partisan gridlock, FCNL has been making some real progress towards peace.

This is what I've seen in Washington during my last five months here-small victories for peace that only sometimes make the headline news. But for some reason, people don't believe me. They see the obstructionism surrounding the payroll tax extension and the legislative shenanigans around federal appointments, but they don't see the increases in funding for nuclear non-proliferation and the Senate vote to get out of Afghanistan. Don't get me wrong, if I were polled I would say that I disapprove of the way Congress has done its job as a whole. But if I could, I would add a short addendum. It hasn't been all bad, and a quiet group of Friendly persuaders has helped make sure that it has been a good year for peace. This year marks the exit of U.S. troops from Iraq, the beginning of a trend that I believe will end in a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and increased funding for programs like the Complex Crises Fund that help prevent violence before it starts.

In the conversations I have had with FCNL constituents, from our November Annual Meeting to visits in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, one concern has been raised again and again: how can I be sure that my senators and representative are listening? How can I believe that advocacy and citizen lobbying is worth my time?

After months of international conference calls, research, and Washington-based advocacy, I’m beyond grateful to have the opportunity to spend time in the beautiful country about which I’ve been lucky enough to learn. I arrived in Nairobi on November 28th, and the two weeks since – during which I’ve spoken with facilitators and participants from three different peacebuilding programs – have been powerful. The workshops are organized by groups part of our Quaker collaboration to prevent deadly conflict in Kenya (which includes the African Great Lakes Initiative, Friends Church Peace Team, Quaker Peace and Social Witness, and the Quaker United Nations Office), and, from the fraction I’ve encountered, all involved seem to be feel that they’ve resulted in tangible change.

This past Wednesday, I got a chance to attend a meeting at the Carnegie Institute of Peace that had the catchy title, "Faith and Global Policy Challenges: How Spiritual Values Shape Views on Poverty, Nuclear Risks, and Environmental Degradation--A Study of American Believers" or FGPCHSVSVPNREDSAB for short. The meeting was convened to explain the findings of a survey done by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland on the political stances of people of faith in America, and it was well attended by people in the faith lobbying community in Washington.

The aim of the study was to "understand how the general public and individuals with specific religious traditions that think that their faith intersect[s] with global policy challenges…as part of a larger effort to engage with faith communities in addressing these challenges." The study took a randomly generated sample of around 1,500 people of faith and asked them a series of questions around policy issues ranging from nuclear nonproliferation, to abortion, to the environment. The study began with general questions about whether people believed they had a "spiritual obligation" to take action on policy issues and then began to delve further into specific ones.

The passage of HR 3012 in the House marks the first immigration bill that has passed with bipartisan support since the DREAM Act passed the Senate in 2010.