Christopher deForest of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the ELCA delivers remarks as religious leaders across Pennsylvania held a press conference at the capitol to unite for peace during the election season on Sept. 5, 2024. (Jeremy Long - WITF)
Christopher deForest of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the ELCA delivers remarks as religious leaders across Pennsylvania held a press conference at the capitol to unite for peace during the election season on Sept. 5, 2024. (Jeremy Long - WITF)
On Wednesday, Bishop Christopher deForest stood with religious leaders in the Capitol rotunda and called for peace during the election cycle.
“We call on all civic leaders to exercise responsibility in their rhetoric,” deForest said. “We reject all calls for violence.”
More than 330 religious leaders representing more than three million Pennsylvanians signed on to the statement.
Most of the signatories to the interfaith group’s peace pledge are mainline protestant churches like Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian and African Methodist Episcopal Churches, and the United Church of Christ. Jewish and Islamic religious leaders also signed on and spoke at the Capitol.
deForest said the assassination attempt against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was a violent example of the country’s political unrest, though the motive for the attempt remains unclear.
Evangelical Lutherans such as deForest, along with other center-left mainline protestants, have historically acted as moral guides to political movements such as the push for civil rights, said Matthew D. Taylor, protestant scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies.
“There’s always been a pluralism built into American Christianity that is, itself, part of the health of American democracy,” Taylor said.
In a time when the Christian right has made headlines for its stances against abortion or LGBTQ+ rights, and in favor of a deeper role of the church in government – which are outside of the mainstream of public opinion, polls show – it is important to recognize the complexity of Christianity in the country, he said.
Taylor added that the real work for the interfaith group isn’t in making a joint statement, but in enacting their values.
The religious leaders are partnering with Search for Common Ground, an international peacebuilding group with resources for local organizers, and are hosting Love Anyway Feasts which aim to have people with different values break bread and build relationships after Election Day.
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