Interfaith Group of Clergy Calls for Civility in National Dialogue

Blog post courtesy of Arielle Gingold
Interfaith Alliance’s Public Policy Manager

If Mel Brooks were to rewrite the satirical song “Spring Time for Hitler” from his Broadway musical, The Producers, and incorporate current events, I imagine he’d have some great quips about the countless inappropriate Hitler references being made these days.  Unfortunately, he’d have a lot of material to work with thanks to people like Richard Land, Glen Beck, and Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL).  Troubled by these inappropriate Holocaust analogies specifically, and by the general lack of civility in public discourse more broadly, State of Belief host and Interfaith Alliance president Welton Gaddy encouraged a diverse group of clergy  to speak out today with one voice. 

Read the open letter in which 15 distinguished faith leaders join Welton to call upon elected officials, pundits, commentators, and all those who are engaged in public debate to “restore civility to our national dialogue.”   In addition to Welton, other signers include the Religious Action Center’s Rabbi David Saperstein and the Islamic Society of North America’s Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed.  Let’s all do our part to challenge incivility and intolerance, for “perpetrators of such language harm rather than help both the integrity of the democratic process and the credibility of religious commentary.”