Advocacy
The Vote is Sacred Tour: Kenosha
We’re halfway through the The Vote is Sacred Tour! Thursday’s stop was in Kenosha, Wisconsin. We partnered with Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign and Carthage College to park the bus in the middle of campus and encourage students to vote by distributing doughnuts.
Carthage College has an Election Day voting location right on campus, and Wisconsin has same-day voter registration. How’s that for making it convenient to vote!
We interviewed students about why they believe it’s important to vote and compiled them in a video for our social media accounts. You can watch it here:
https://www.tiktok.com/@interfaithalliance/video/7432046835633605930
Since we’ve reached the halfway point of our tour, I also took the chance to reflect on what we’ve accomplished so far in a new essay for A Public Witness. I shared why I wanted to launch The Vote is Sacred Tour and recounted highlights of our events so far. Here’s some of what I wrote:
“It’s disturbing to be anxious about the election — not because of who will win (that’s normal in any election!) but because we’re unsure if the election results will be undermined. In this time of division and unrest, I’m grateful to hit the road and partner with religiously diverse Americans who believe in democracy. Together we can build a multi-religious, multi-racial, inclusive democracy for all. That’s the awakening I want to be a part of.”
You can read the entire essay here.
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons is the Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy at Interfaith Alliance.
Transcript
Department of Education Gets Patriotism Wrong
Interfaith Alliance, together with major religious organizations committed to religious freedom and education, has submitted a formal comment to the U.S. Department of Education opposing the proposed priority and definitions on promoting patriotic education.
Moral Courage in Action: Faith Communities Confront Executive Overreach
This June, the Trump administration deployed the National Guard to California following widespread protests against a series of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across the city; protesters stood in solidarity with immigrant communities and voiced opposition to mass deportation. Executive overreach under the guise of making communities “safer” threatens the freedom and safety of protesters and distorts democratic norms. In August, the administration further displayed overreach by deploying National Guard troops and quelling protests in Washington, D.C. In September, the administration announced that Portland, Oregon, would be the next city to have troops mobilized in its community. In response, faith communities, along with their partners, have not relented and are pushing back in defense of immigrant rights and the integrity of our democracy.
Interfaith Solidarity with LDS Communities
These past few weeks have been some of the hardest for our partners in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). On September 27th, LDS Church President Russell M. Nelson passed away at the age of 101. President Nelson served as the Church’s 17th president and was a leader in promoting deep partnerships during a trying time in the Church’s history, including with other faith communities. We extend our deepest condolences to members of the LDS Church and wish them comfort as they mourn the passing of such an important leader.