"50+ Prominent Faith Leaders to Congress: After AZ Shootings, Time for 'Soul Searching' about Toxic Rhetoric"

Faith In Public Life Press Release

In an open letter to Congress published today as a full-page advertisement in Roll Call newspaper, faith leaders are calling for national "soul searching" and praying for Members of Congress after Saturday's shooting spree in Arizona, which left six people dead and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords critically injured.

The open letter is signed by more than 50 prominent national religious leaders, including heads of evangelical, mainline Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim denominations, congregations, and organizations. The signers urge Members of Congress to reject vitriolic and rancorous rhetoric and consider the consequences of their words, engaging political adversaries in a spirit of shared American values of civility and cooperation.

Signatories of the letter include megachurch pastors Bishop T.D. Jakes and Rev. Joel Hunter; Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners; Nathan J. Diament, the Director of Public Policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America; and Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. Rev. Peg Chemberlin, President of the National Council of Churches and Rev. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, which represents 45 million people and 100,000 congregations in the U.S., and Rev. Sam Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which serves 15 million Hispanic Christians, also signed the letter. Arizona faith leaders, including Bishop Minerva Carcaño of Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church, Rev. Jan Olav Flaaten, Executive Director of the Arizona Ecumenical Council, and Rt. Rev. Kirk S. Smith, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona, also joined the letter.

The full letter with signatories is below:

Dear Members of Congress,

As Americans and members of the human family, we are grieved by the recent tragedy in Tucson, Arizona. As Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders, we pray together for all those wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords as she fights for her life. Our hearts break for those lives lost and for the loved ones left behind. We also stand with you, our elected officials, as you continue to serve our nation while coping with the trauma of this senseless attack.

This tragedy has spurred a sorely needed time of soul searching and national public dialogue about violent and vitriolic political rhetoric. We strongly support this reflection, as we are deeply troubled that rancor, threats and incivility have become commonplace in our public debates.

We appreciate the sacrifices you make and risks you incur by accepting a call to public service, and we urge you to continue to serve as stewards of our democracy by engaging ideological adversaries not as enemies, but as fellow Americans.

In our communities and congregations, we pledge to foster an environment conducive to the important and difficult debates so crucial to American democracy. In our churches, mosques and synagogues, we come together not as members of a certain political ideology or party, but as children of God and citizens called to build a more perfect union. We pray that you do the same.

Naeem M. Baig
Executive Director
Islamic Circle of North America
Council for Social Justice

Dr. Carroll A. Baltimore, Sr.
President
Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.

The Rev. Geoffrey Black
General Minister and President
United Church of Christ

Bishop John R. Bryant
Senior Bishop
African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church

Dr. Zahid H. Bukhari
President
Islamic Circle of North America

Rev. Jennifer Butler
Executive Director
Faith in Public Life

Simone Campbell, SSS
Executive Director
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby

Bishop Minerva Carcaño
Desert Southwest Conference
United Methodist Church

The Rev. Canon Peg Chemberlin
President
National Council of Churches

Rev. Richard Cizik
President
New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good

Nathan J. Diament
Director of Public Policy
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America

Faithful America

Rev. Jan Olav Flaaten
Executive Director
Arizona Ecumenical Council

Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson
General Secretary
Reformed Church in America

Simon Greer
President and CEO
Jewish Funds for Justice

Dr. David P. Gushee
Board Chair
New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good

Rabbi Steve Gutow
President and CEO
Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Rev. Dr. Derrick Harkins
Senior Pastor
Nineteenth Street Baptist Church
Washington, DC

The Rev. Dr. Katharine Rhodes Henderson
President
Auburn Seminary

The Rev. Anne S. Howard
Executive Director
The Beatitudes Society

James E. Hug, SJ
President
Center of Concern

Dr. Joel C. Hunter
Senior Pastor
Northland - A Church Distributed

Bishop T. D. Jakes
The Potter's House

Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon
General Secretary
National Council of Churches

Chris Korzen
Executive Director
Catholics United

Leadership Team of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas
Eileen Campbell, RSM
Anne Curtis, RSM
Pat McDermott, RSM
Mary Waskowiak, RSM
Linda Werthman, RSM

Rabbi John A. Linder
Temple Solel
Paradise Valley, AZ

Marie Lucey, OSF
Associate Director for Social Mission
Leadership Conference of Women Religious

Rev. Steven D. Martin
Executive Director
New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good

Brian McClaren
Author/Activist

T. Michael McNulty, SJ
Justice and Peace Director
Conference of Major Superiors of Men

Rev. Peter Morales
President
Unitarian Universalist Association

Bishop Paul Morton
International Presiding Bishop
Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship

Muslim Public Affairs Council

Stanley J. Noffsinger
General Secretary
Church of the Brethren

Dr. Walter L. Parrish III
General Secretary
Progressive National Baptist Convention

Rev. Gradye Parsons
Stated Clerk
Presbyterian Church (USA)

Nancy Ratzan
President
National Council of Jewish Women

Rev. Meg Riley
Board Chair
Faith in Public Life

Dave Robinson
Executive Director
Pax Christi USA

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez
President
National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference

Rev. Gabriel Salguero
President
National Latino Evangelical Coalition

Rabbi David Saperstein
Director
Religious Action Center

Dr. William J. Shaw
Immediate Past President
National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.

Dr. T. DeWitt Smith, Jr.
Immediate Past President
Progressive National Baptist Convention

Rt. Rev. Kirk S. Smith
Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Arizona

Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed
National Director, Office for Interfaith & Community Alliances
Islamic Society of North America

Rev. Dr. Stephen J. Thurston
President
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., Intl.

Rev. Jim Wallis
President and CEO
Sojourners

Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins
General Minister and President
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Rev. Heyward Wiggins, III
PICO National Network
Camden Bible Tabernacle Church
Camden, NJ

Jim Winkler
General Secretary
United Methodist General Board of Church & Society



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