Rally for Democray flyer
Rev. Al Sharpton will headline the Rally for Democracy this Sunday in Milwaukee. The event is organized by MICAH, Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope, an association of local religious leaders and faith communities concerned with social justice.
“When people say that our democracy is not in trouble, I point them back to President Washington’s farewell address,” says one the Rally’s organizers, Rev. Kathleen Gloff of the United Church of Christ. “He said, and I am paraphrasing here, that he saw three potential threats to the endurance of democracy in the United States of America:
Hyper-partisanism, foreign interference in our electoral process and forgetting that citizenship necessitates and requires interdependency—We need each other to be a democracy.”
Extreme partisanship is evident to everyone across the political spectrum, foreign interference in U.S. elections is apparent and, perhaps more insidiously, ties of community have weakened and unraveled. Many Americans feel that their fellow Americans aren’t coworkers in building the nation but enemies. Declining education and the distraction of bad media have also left a segment of the population with little idea of how American democracy works.
And then there is the threat of White Christian Nationalism, combining ill-disguised racism and false nostalgia for an America that never existed with hatred for other faiths.
“I feel that religious leaders, especially from a Christian background, need to faithfully proclaim that the message and ministry of Jesus Christ was a message of sacrificial love for neighbor, particularly those who are most vulnerable,” Gloff says. “We share these values with our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters, but I have never encountered any language about love or sacrifice or caring for the vulnerable in any iteration of White Christian Nationalism.
“I am reminded that during World War II, German pastors stopped preaching the gospels, preaching other passages of the New Testament instead,” she continues. “Because they did this, their congregations were lulled into the trap of failing to emulate and demonstrate the life and teaching of Jesus. Obviously, those who are not Christian would have other justification for battling against White Christian Nationalism, but Christians are called to be Christlike.
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It is also worth noting that Jesus himself was not white (he was of Middle Eastern descent). Jesus himself was not Christian (he was Jewish). Finally, Jesus was not a nationalist.”
Along with Sharpton, the Rally will feature Amanda Tyler (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty), Rev. Bryan Massingale (Fordam University) and Rev. Jim Wallis (Georgetown University) as well as local speakers such as Rev. Dr. Richard Shaw, Rev. Marilyn Miller, Janan Najeeb, Rev. Joseph Jackson Jr., Rev. Joseph Ellwanger and Rev. Greg Lewis. There will also be music and entertainment.
“It is my hope that those who are in attendance at the Rally will fully live into the title that MICAH has given to the action: ‘We All Belong.’” Gloff says. “Until there is opportunity for every citizen to vote, until there is opportunity for every citizen to have a place at the table, we will never be the land of the free or the home of the brave. I hope that people will leave the Rally on Sunday with a re-envigored desire for beloved community, and most of all, that they will vote!”
Rally for Democracy takes place Sunday, July 14 at the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd. Doors open at 1 p.m. The Rally takes place from 2-6 p.m.
