The cavalry is coming, and they are wearing collars, turbans and yarmulkes. Modeled after the successful interfaith efforts in Minnesota last winter, “Faith In Us” is coordinating a national clergy response designed to protect democracy and the integrity of this November’s midterms.
At a preliminary meeting attended by hundreds of clergy from many faith groups, the distinguished minister Rev. Traci Blackmon stated that our task in these troubled times “is not to be extraordinary, but to be available.”
As “Faith in Us’s” website states, clergy and religious leaders offer four things that no one else can:
The organizers remind us that every key moment in our nation’s struggle for a multiracial democracy that honors every person’s dignity has been led by clergy and faith communities.
We also offer a contrast to the racist Christian nationalist ideology that has cast a stench over our Declaration of Independence on the eve of a 250th anniversary that belongs to all of us. We will not allow our government to deny Americans basic human rights - life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness - and the sacred right to vote, all in the name of a false idol they call “God” and a false messiah they call a prophet. And we will not allow this Grinch to steal July 4, our patriotism, our flag and the 250th anniversary of the birth of our City on a Hill, and desecrate our sacred monuments to our war dead with a grotesque, monstrous gold-plated arch.
When we look back to the bicentennial in 1976, the country had just gotten past Watergate and Vietnam. We were in turmoil, and Americans felt alienated and adrift1, but still we were united. Look at these headlines below, and those who were alive back then will recall the pure joy that Americans felt together2. Trump has stolen that unity from us. He is constitutionally incapable of being a uniter - just as he is constitutionally unable to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon and was never forgiven, but he enabled our great national nightmare to end. The headline says it all:
Clergy need to be the uniters now3. We need to be the ones to help end this national nightmare and affirm the dignity of all.
There have been many moral crises brought about by the Trump administration that clergy must address, ranging from corruption, healthcare, climate change and immigration to military adventurism, economic injustice, racism, housing insecurity, violence, church-state issues, and so much more.
But before we do any of this, we have to protect our democracy. For those who don’t yet understand the nature of this emergency, it’s time to pay attention. When Trump staged his hissy fit on Meet the Press last Sunday, it was one part megalomania and five parts a premeditated preemptive attack on the integrity of November’s vote. For those who feel that our elections will be safe because the states control them, there is very little comfort to be derived from that.
Please read this article from Reuters, How Trump is moving to control U.S. elections, one state at a time, to see how they plan to get around state’s rights. The article indicates that states are coming to understand that the federal government is no longer a partner in election security. The feds want to take it over, and for nefarious purposes. They want the registration rolls so they can control who will be allowed to vote, and they want to fiddle with vote-by-mail to spread mass confusion and deny those who are most vulnerable the dignity of being able to vote.
The plan is systematic and it’s being executed in plain sight. It involves:
Diluting the power of our votes through discriminatory gerrymandering (DONE, PENDING LEGAL ACTION)
Misinformation undermining people’s faith in election outcomes (IN PROCESS)
Attempts to restrict voter access (WORKIN’ ON IT)
Efforts to stop the counting of votes (TIME FOR THE HISSY FIT GAMBIT)
Refusing to certify election outcomes or seat duly elected leaders (AIMING TO CONTROL AND CORRUPT CERTIFYING BODIES)
The Reuters article summarizes the key points:
Through executive orders and proposed legislation, (the) administration has sought to require proof of citizenship to vote, allow federal agencies to compile voter registration lists and mandate use of a Homeland Security database to verify eligibility. The administration has pushed aggressive voter‑roll purges, limits on mail‑in voting and baseless claims about voting machines, while Trump has directed DHS and the Justice Department to intensify investigations of election fraud allegations.
So what happened on Meet the Press should not be an invitation for mockery, as Trump-deranged as it was, but rather a call to action.
At each step of the way, religious leaders need to stand up and be counted, as many have already, especially in Minneapolis. Now those efforts will be truly national in scope. I’ve been claiming that this election will mark a watershed for religion in America. I believe the response will be so massive that it will put to rest any doubt as to which claim commands the moral high ground and the broadest support from religious groups.
And I mean all religious groups, including the ones the Department of “War” tried to eliminate in its recent culling,4 done because, in their words, the list was “out of control.” The original idea behind this list was so that military chaplains would be able to assist any soldier who needs help and instantly know, from their dog tags, which faith group they belong to (including if they are atheist). Well, the Hegseth War Dept. chopped the list down and people got mad because they failed to include Mormons as “Christian” - which must have really pissed off Elder Price, along with Utah Senator Mike Lee, but not Pete Hegseth’s pastor, who thinks Mormons aren’t Christian and wants to repeal a woman’s right to vote. So they revised the list again5 and lo and behold, Native American traditions are not there, even though they were on the original list before it was cut down.
Of course it’s all ideological, bullying, petty and, pardon the context, nativist and it never should have become an issue, because when a soldier dies, heaven forbid, the chaplain should know how that soldier would want that death to be handled.
The first step in creating this broad religious partnership is to agree on basic principles and then lay them out before the public. One of those principles is to resist all efforts to smear, scapegoat and divide one group from one another. That will certainly be attempted and is a prime reason I hope large numbers of my Jewish clergy colleagues choose to be part of this effort. The Jewish community has to stand united behind efforts to protect the vote, no matter what else is concerning us. We’ve got plenty on our minds, but this has to come first. And in return, we have to be welcomed with open arms and without litmus tests.
I encourage my clergy colleagues of all faiths to be counted among this growing group, and to sign the open letter that is being circulated widely among clergy, which affirms the dignity, worth, and agency of all people, which is violated when eligible voters are denied the opportunity to exercise that right.
The website gives more details on how to get involved and feel free to contact me if you would like to sign on to the open letter that is being prepared.
This summer, saving democracy is ALL that matters. I know there are so many ancillary battles to be fought, from Epstein to corruption to combating hate to a whole bunch involving foreign entanglements. They’re all important.
In the Talmud (Mishna Pe’ah 1:16) there is a famous passage that is recited every morning in the traditional liturgy. It mentions various commandments (mitzvot) that are very important, like honoring parents, being hospitable, attending the dead and forging peace between neighbors - and between partners. But as the rabbis stated, “Talmud Torah K’negged Kulam”7 - “The study of Torah equals them all,” meaning if you put all other commandments together on one side of the scale, the study of Torah alone on the other side will balance them. One commentator suggests that is not just because Torah study8 is in itself that important, but because that one activity will lead to the performance of all the mitzvot on the other side of the scale.
The same is true for democracy. If we get it right, if we can have free and fair elections in this country this year, if we can overcome the misinformation, discrimination and intimidation that threatens to bring the American experiment crashing down, everything else will fall into place.
So we need to set aside all other differences and focus only on that. Sometimes there will be hard moral choices to make and imperfect candidates to consider but remember that it is not about the lesser of two evils, because in this case the greater of the evils is the most destructive, anti-democratic, grifting, amoral political movement in American history, with our most dangerous, authoritarian narcissist at the helm. Even if the other option is ugly, there is no contest between evils here.
And faith leaders, in overwhelming numbers, need to be on the side of good.
CLERGY - CONTACT ME TO GET THE LINK FOR THE OPEN LETTER
Watch Ford’s address from that day, about 21 minutes in, and recall what a unifying president sounds like:
And where did the dignitaries celebrate o July 4? On the top floor of the World Trade Center, with hopeful eyes toward the future.
Here are the groups taken off the Pentagon list, according to the Independent.
Revised list, second try:
Compare to Matthew 6:20
The study of Torah equals them all: (Mishna Pe’ah 1:1)
The Talmud (Kiddushin) and subsequent prayer books expanded on the list of mitzvot:
Some excellent study materials just came out from the Pardes Institute, interpreting the American Declaration of Independence in light of Jewish sources. Click on the photo to order the free booklet and see a sample page of discussion questions below.
That sounds like Unitarian Universalist, which my family belonged to in Erie, PA. There were no official preachers, but sermons were given by many different people from diverse backgrounds. The music was also diverse, and I even performed progressive jazz one Sunday! I think this list by the Department of War should be thrown out altogether. Soldiers should have the right to keep their faiths private!
This site is a couple of years old so I don't know if all of it applies. It says that one can request no preference and if one's religion is not on the list it can be requested.
I agree that if someone doesn't want their religion stamped on their tag that it should be omitted.
https://thegunzone.com/what-religions-can-you-put-on-military-dog-tags/
Interesting. I would guess that when it comes to anything about religion, the Pentagon would be less accomodating under Hegseth. But I'd love to be proven wrong.
I've had close friends who were Universalist pastors. Looks like they were also left off the final Pentagon list. Unbelievable.