Early voting is underway in Georgia, and as faith leaders, we have a clear and pressing responsibility to help guide our nation through the challenging days ahead and begin the healing that will be needed once a new president is duly declared.
Despite our political differences, there is far more that unites us than divides us, including our love of country, our freedom to worship and our respect for the rule of law. As people of faith, we share the conviction that we should strive to love our neighbors as ourselves, that we are all God’s children and that it is the peacemakers who are blessed and not the dividers.
Friday through Sunday, faith leaders, lay leaders and people of faith in Georgia and five other states will come together in “Days of Prayer for Our Nation” in an effort to reduce the temperature throughout the campaign ahead. We invite you to join us in your own place of worship or in your own way to lift up the values of peace, respect and compassion.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
The calling for our country to disagree in healthier ways is not the domain of any one faith or political group. Rather, it is a requirement for everyone to live together well. In recent years, polarizing politics has taken a powerful grip on our hearts and minds. We should not forget that the commands of our sacred texts should remain stronger. Politics is temporal, but our sacred guidance is internal.
So what can we do with the election season upon us? It is important for everyone to vote. Then, we must be patient as it unfolds, seek out fact-based information, avoid inflammatory rhetoric and have faith in the election process. We know that no election is perfect, but human error does not mean massive fraud. We also know that counting ballots takes time and that election workers are our civic-minded neighbors who deserve our trust and respect. Lastly, we know that any concerns about improper procedures can be addressed through the courts, consistent with the rule of law. Most important, at the end of the process, we must trust that democracy will prevail.
After the election, the nation will need to find a path to heal and depolarize. We must ask our leaders to be at the forefront of this. But each one of us has a critical role to play, beginning with the recognition that our differences are real, human and complex, and seldom right or wrong. Rather than interacting only with people with whom we agree, we can consciously reach out to people outside our comfort zone with open hearts and open minds. We can ask people why they think as they do and hear their hopes and fears. Listening to someone’s story does not mean agreeing with them, but it does create understanding and extend the hand of common humanity. We can disagree with someone without being against them. Building relationships across our differences matters, in the same way that dehumanizing language creates division and precedes violence. As people of faith, in all of our thoughts and actions, we have the choice between love and hate.
Making our society work requires a constant commitment to the complex and messy business of compromise, a principle on which our constitution is based. Democracy, for all its imperfections, is the best available guarantee of our freedoms and rights.
We hope you will encourage your family and your neighbors to join together in “Days of Prayer for Our Nation” from Friday through Sunday in your place of worship and in your own way. November’s elections give us the opportunity to shape our future with integrity and respect for all. Together, we can show that Georgia is a place that embraces both the highest democratic and spiritual norms. This is our choice.
To learn more about the Days of Prayer and its supporters, visit georgiadrn.org/faithforward/
Peter Berg is senior rabbi at The Temple. Soumaya Khalifa is executive director of the Islamic Speakers Bureau Atlanta. The Right Rev. Rob Wright is bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta.
