Statement Initiated by the Faith Task Force of Refuse Fascism:

Urgent! To Religious Communities and All People of Conscience
We Must Not Wait On An Election Being Stolen By A Fascist Regime

Protests Must Continue and Grow! Trump/Pence Out Now!
In The Name of Humanity Stop Terrorizing Immigrant Children!

October 26, 2020 | revcom.us

 

“Suffer the little children to come unto me for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.”
(Matthew 19:14, Bible)

“By the breath of children God sustains the world.”
(Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 119b)

“They are not from us: the ones who do not have mercy upon young children, nor do they respect the elderly”
(Prophet Muhammad, Qur’an)

People of faith, of all religions—and all people of conscience - of such did we see torn from mothers and fathers during the brutal years of slavery in this nation.

Of such did we see in this nation, during the genocidal separation of Native American children torn from their families to deprive them of their language and destroy their culture.

Of such did we see Japanese children and families torn from their homes and isolated in concentration camps across this nation.

Of such did we see when Jewish children and families were torn from their homes to be incinerated in the ovens of the Holocaust during the monstrous Nazi regime of Hitler’s Germany.

Of such do we now see in this nation with immigrant children crying desperately for their parents while locked in cages by the illegitimate, barbaric, Trump-Pence regime that America must expunge for crimes against humanity.

If a nation, a society is judged by the way it treats “the least of these” then how will we, churches, synagogues, mosques, etc., how will we be judged?
***

It is an atrocity that people are being used as pawns to get a wall built;

That children, akin to the era of slavery in America, have been ripped from the arms of their parents; and moreover are being held in detention centers or transported across the country with little hope of ever being reunited with their parents;

That Trump’s executive orders have mandated military concentration camps—indefinite incarceration in military prisons—for immigrants and refugees. Children. Adults. All families.

And to Trump, Pence, Barr, Pompeo, Devos, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the entire White House: Biblical scripture can be used by anyone to justify their twisted beliefs or deviant behaviors. Scripture was used by King George III loyalists. It was used to justify slavery in general and the Fugitive Slave Act specifically. There is little doubt that the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria was similarly justified. It is patently clear that all laws are not just. It is an absolute atrocity that any political figure in twenty first century America could justify the evil evidenced by the irreparable harm being done to thousands of children in these United States of America. And, it is not okay to turn a blind eye and accept lame excuses of “justification” when fathers are shot in the back while their children look on!

We are at a critical moment. There is a rolling coup underway and the Trump/Pence regime is shredding every norm of democratic rule with their destruction of the election. In the hope of justice and peace, it is time for our religious communities, and all others, to join together in solidarity to oppose and stop the growing list of atrocities of the Trump/Pence regime and take immediate, positive action to protect humanity!

Protests Must Continue and Grow! Turn Up The Heat - Stay In The Streets! This Nightmare Must End! The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!

 

Initiated by: Faith Task Force of Refuse Fascism - I Am My Brother’s Keeper - The Trump Pence Regime Must Go! In The Name of Humanity Stop Terrorizing Immigrant Children!

Some of the initial religious-affiliated signatories (affiliations for identification purposes only):

Sara Atkins, Director of Advocacy, Torah Trumps Hate; Rev. Bob Bossie, SCJ, Roman Catholic Priest; Isabel Cardenas, American-Salvadoran Citizen; Bishop Gregg L. Greer, President of Freedom First International; Ernestine Henning, Supervisor (ret.), AME Church; Rabbi Burt Jacobson, Founder, Kehilla Community Synagogue; Russ Jennings, Host, Love in a Dangerous Time; Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Kuan, President, Claremont School of Theology; Elly Levy, Immigrant Rights Attorney and Activist; Sara MacDonald, Episcopal Church; Rev. Cecil “Chip” Murray, Former Pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles; Reverend Drew David Murray, Los Angeles; Rev. Karen Nelson, United Methodist Church, Portland, Oregon; Robert Packenham, Unitarian Universalist of San Francisco; Rich Procida, Bible Study For Progressives; Merilie Robertson, Presbyterian Elder, Pasadena, CA; Stephen Rohde, Interfaith Leader and Civil Rights Activist; Ramona Tolliver, Member, Ward AME Church; Anna Viggiano, Religious Education, Newman Center, Hawai’i; Rev. Gary Bernard Williams, Pastor of Saint Mark UMC LA; Rev. Frank Wulf, Echo Park United Methodist Church, LA

 

To add your name to this statement, go here.