The press is concerned with polls and primaries, numbers of delegates, and the reporter’s hopes for exciting contested conventions. But many faith leaders are concerned with the moral quality of our national discourse — how much fear, division, and even hate are dominating over trust, compassion, and even love. Who is going to win is the ultimate and sometimes only media question. Our moral questions are about the health of the country. What about social justice, what about racial healing, what about reconciliation, what about unity — on anything?
This has become a ‘race election’ because of the use of bigotry for political gain. The concerns of faith leaders that I am hearing are not limited to one candidate, but one voice - Donald Trump’s voice — has been most hateful and divisive. Therefore, some of us came together to speak out.
The writings of 20th century German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer are experiencing a renewal among many Christians, especially younger ones. This German pastor once said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
More than 50 faith leaders from across the political spectrum have joined to issue a powerful new statement on the current state and alarming rhetoric of the 2016 election cycle, which, we argue, “threaten[s] the fundamental integrity of Christian faith and the well-being of society itself.”
