Interfaith leaders call for peaceful elections

• Jordan Wilkie/WITF
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  As the democracy reporter for WITF, I will cover any kind of story that has to do with how we govern ourselves. That will include doing a lot of election coverage about how to access the ballot, how public officials administer elections, the technology used to run and secure elections, and the laws that govern it all.
  
  My work will also include accountability coverage for elected officials that use their positions to then undermine democratic institutions, like the legislators that voted against the certification of the presidential election results on January 6, 2021. If that weren’t enough, I foresee covering some local government decisions, fights over public records and transparency, and some candidate coverage in 2024. Many stories can have a “democracy frame” meant to help us all understand how our governments work and how we can shape them.
  
  I’m most looking forward to the community reporting about which WITF is passionate. I’ll be talking to a lot of folks about what they want out of their governments, local to national, and how they want to make their visions reality. I’m excited to meet you and talk, with or without a microphone on hand.
  
  I also like to turn my work phone off. When I do that, I’m looking for rocks to climb, trails to run on (slower and slower, somehow), and new places to visit. I’ve lived in the (extended) South for most of my life, so y’all will hear me say things funny and sometimes my hearing is funny, too, so we’ll figure out this radio thing together.

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.

The Associated Press and WITF’s democracy reporter Jordan Wilkie are partnering to tell stories about how Pennsylvania elections work, and to debunk misinformation surrounding elections. 

Read the stories here