General Convention calls for action to combat rising religious nationalism
In Resolution A081, deputies and bishops to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church resolved that “The Episcopal Church as part of the Body of Christ lament the negative impact of religious nationalism in promoting violence against the personhood and the social, cultural, and historical order of marginalized groups; and that “General Convention encourage individuals, congregations, dioceses and other communities within the Church to educate themselves about this critical issue and its negative impact on marginalized groups.”
Since 2020, our weekly Becoming Beloved Community posts have reported multiple examples of how this dynamic is generating brutal policies and polarization in Ohio and the United States. The US is one of a large group of countries undergoing crucial elections in 2024: many of our voters are disheartened, disgusted, or afraid. Getting voters to give up on elections is part of the authoritarian playbook.
Janice Urbanik, a vestry member at St. Anne’s, West Chester, wrote me about the General Convention resolution, asking if plans are underway for a diocesan-wide response and offering to help. If you want to be part of this crucial work, please email me so we can form an Episcopal team to coordinate with the Ohio Council of Churches, EquaSion, and other interfaith groups.
As a great start in educating ourselves, I recommend the article published by Sojourners last week, “Faith and the Authoritarian Playbook,” summarizing the strategies authoritarians are using worldwide. It includes powerful stories of how Christians and other faith communities are acting effectively and nonviolently to block them.
“DEMOCRACY IS THE delicate balance of collective self-rule (majority rule) and civil liberties (minority rights),” writes the author Maria Stephan, who is working as chief organizer of the Horizons Project to build a just, peaceful democracy in the United States. “For a vibrant, multifaith democracy to thrive, we must reject attempts to concentrate government power in the hands of a few or with those who are not constitutionally accountable to the governed.”
“In the past,” notes Stephan, “democracies failed because of revolutions or military coups. That’s rare since the end of the Cold War in the 1990s. Democracies don’t fall overnight — they slowly fade away, as Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt unpack in Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point. Now, a country’s values, principles, and democratic norms are undermined by elected leaders, rather than by a coup of unelected leaders.”
Stephan outlines key ingredients in the authoritarian playbook including disinformation, undermining trust in facts, introducing partisan divisions into non-partisan institutions such as election administration, destabilizing the balance of power in governments, attacking education, revising history, and marginalizing and blaming minorities. We’ve seen all of these dynamics in Ohio, from the battle over diversity and equity training, how history is taught in our schools and universities, and new laws restricting voter access.
“Throughout U.S. history, religious ideas, people, institutions, and forms of worship have been used to advance and to undermine a form of government that is, as Abraham Lincoln put it, ‘of the people, by the people, for the people,'” Stephan continues. “Religious communities have provided moral cover to authoritarian regimes and have been the soul of successful pro-democracy and freedom movements. Expanding shared power through enfranchisement and other democratic practices can reinforce the basic Judeo-Christian principle that each person is made in the image of God. Because each person holds God’s image, each is afforded universal rights and responsibilities in exercising their civil liberties and promoting the common good.
“Churches can bring their moral and symbolic power, organizational and communications networks, multiparty congregations, and a faith-rooted, disciplined capacity for nonviolent resistance to the broad-based, pluralist social movements that are key to advancing democratic governance,” she adds.
Stephan provides examples from Zambia, Sri Lanka, Hungary, Nicaragua, and the United States, ranging from the major civil rights victories in the 1960’s to courageous action in Florida this year. “As of February 2024, more than 300 churches in Florida had created ‘freedom schools’ with Black history programs to push back on Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ efforts to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, block Black history in public classrooms, and ban more than 1,000 book titles focused on race. ‘One of the first things enslavers did was enact laws to criminalize our ancestors to keep them from reading,’ the Rev. Rhonda Thomas, executive director of Faith in Florida, has noted.
“Ordinary people, when organized and inspired, can spur extraordinary change. Our faith traditions may inspire us — but to be effective we also must be organized, and we must act.”
In June, Stephan published a succinct, practical guide,”10 Ways Christians Can Protect Democracy” which links to toolkits and resources to use during political crisis including violence. For example: “Prepare for the day after the election: Watch and discuss the documentary War Game where a bipartisan group of U.S. defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers participate in an unscripted role-play exercise on political violence in a contested election. With communities across political and religious differences, develop a plan for advancing democratic norms after the election. The North Carolina Council of Churches developed a Sacred Conversations toolkit on becoming a trauma-informed faith community for shaping pastoral responses during crises. Talk about post-election stress from the pulpit. Make a pledge to stay off social media for a day. Choose Democracy prepares Americans to respond in the case of an undemocratic power grab (as we experienced in January 2021), particularly between November elections and a January presidential inauguration.”
I know many of us are praying intensely for peace and justice in our country and I’m so hopeful we can do a lot if we come together to strengthen both!
Advocacy updates are compiled by Ariel Miller, a longtime community advocate and member of Ascension & Holy Trinity, Wyoming. Connect with her at arielmillerwriter@gmail.com.
