Dear Colleague in Ministry,

 There are several active of crises in America today:  the COVID-19 pandemic, systemic racism, economic devastation, the lack of stable and effective leadership, and the undermining of our democracy, especially the right to vote.  At the intersection of these crises stands one person:  Donald J. Trump. 

Sign this letter and more at http://www.pofpol.us/

From the beginning of his presidency to this present moment, Trump has shown us unprecedented levels of corruption, incompetency, and lack of empathy for the American people. When factoring in his authoritarian, anti-democracy tendencies, Trump has contributed to the crises we now face as a nation. In some cases, he even created them.  Consider his resume of scandalous “leadership”:

• Trump has presented lies and distortions as alternative facts;

•  Trump has disrespected our military and trivialized those who sacrificed their lives in defense of American ideals; 

• Trump has denounced the free press and refused to cooperate with official inquires over his conduct while in office; 

• Trump has fanned the flames of racism while refusing to denounce violent white supremacist and nationalist groups; 

• Trump has divided one group against another by demonizing Muslims and dehumanizing immigrants;

• Trump has rejected respected US intelligence foreign policy experts by befriended brutal dictators, and insulting our democratic allies;

• Trump has bragged about helping murderers while pardoning his corrupt friends and violently responding to peaceful protests with rubber bullets and tear gas;

• Trump has worked hard to increase voter suppression tactics while publicly denounced governors and mayors across America as “radicals” and “extremists;

• Trump has cynically manipulated and exploited religion for his own partisan political purposes; and

• Trump purposely and selfishly misled the American public about the seriousness of COVID-19, was slow to respond to the pandemic, and undermined expert medical advice on addressing COVID-19.  All of this contributed to the 200,000-plus COVID-19-related American deaths. 

Sign this letter and more at http://www.pofpol.us/

Given the nightmarish qualities of the Trump presidency, we as people of faith and conscious must think seriously about the critical political, economic, and health situation that currently exists in Ohio and the nation. Simultaneously, we must consider the alternative way forward that is within our power to choose.  We can and we must choose justice over injustice, unity over division, science over fiction, hope over fear, and truth over misinformation, disinformation, and outright falsehoods. For people of faith and conscience, this is not a time for timidity or silence.   We have it in our power to guide our country toward a healthier, more just, and more hopeful future.

Some religious leaders, as private citizens and individual people of faith, can and will openly and publicly endorse candidates.  Others will raise a prophetic voice against the ills that currently afflict our nation, including and especially the moral decay in places of power.  Still others will call upon the public to reflect deeply about the Ohio and the America we want to see, compare it with the Ohio and America we now see. They will then encourage others to form a visionary chorus that will vote for a better way forward.  Whatever route is chosen, we, as religious leaders, must speak up, we must speak out, and we must do it now.

 Whatever you are doing as a religious leader in this most crucial of elections, please let us know by logging onto http://www.pofpol.us/.  In addition, whatever you do and however you get involved, let us work together under a shared vision and a shared goal:  to restore integrity to the White House and heal the soul of America.  God bless you!

Sign this letter and more at http://www.pofpol.us/