Action Alert From United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries

There is more than fall in the air this election season.  Unfortunately, there is an air of mean-spiritedness and partisan squabbling in the 2010 midterm election cycle.  No doubt you have seen the political ads and heard the news coverage of candidates trading not ideas and solutions but rather accusations.  It is easy to do one of two things in an election year:

• join the win-at-all costs competition
• or reject the whole business and participate minimally, if at all. 

There is another option: respectful and responsible engagement.

As people of faith we are called to a higher standard of engagement with our neighbors – even and perhaps especially those with whom we disagree on an issue.  Our faith provides us with spiritual resources to take the conversation to another level.  We can choose respect and hope over animosity and bitterness. We can choose to listen and learn rather than attack and insult.  We don’t have to avoid the hard issues.  We can have civic discussions in civic tones.

You can help bring civility to the election campaigns by signing onto the UCC Our Faith Our Vote Civility Pledge and by encouraging others in your congregation to join you.  It is one way of making a concrete commitment to raise the bar of public debate.  The Our Faith Our Vote website also includes resources and tips on how to have civil discussion on the hard issues in our congregations and communities.