The President’s Memorandum, Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence, attempts to exploit recent political violence, to threaten civil rights and nonprofit organizations, the modern backbone of civil society.

Our faith tradition is rooted in love. We forsake political violence. We denounce sectarian violence. Our experiment of the American republic is an effort to move beyond those historic evils. We cherish our endeavor of republicanism despite its imperfections thus far. For we have faith, we can evolve it into a better place. Our progressive, liberal religious movement is grounded in critical analysis, truth-telling, conviction, nonviolence, and non-cooperation.

We all want safe communities. None of us wants the evil-doers to get away with harming our brethren and sistren in society. Yet militarization, crackdowns, and repression deliver order at the cost of free speech; they do not facilitate the opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness—to thrive. And as we recently learned with Zachary Mueller, Authoritarian movements require othering and villains to sustain themselves. We reject this impulse.

In practice, this memo represents another attempt to threaten, criminalize, intimidate, and censor those who advocate for our rights and government accountability, particularly in areas where the state has fallen short in serving the public good.  

These are precisely the instances where Good Samaritans, people of moral conscience and conviction, side with compassion. These are the forums and fellowships where regular people offer each other belonging and care, volunteering to help shoulder the individual woes or community needs bigger than any one of us, alone, can bear or resolve. 

Seeking aid when needed is a sign of spiritual maturity. Offering assistance when asked is sacred work. Undermining that peaceful human impulse to serve, to help–to minister–is an abuse of power, especially for political ends. It is an assault on sacred traditions that span the globe.

Unfortunately, this newest iteration of the reprisal ethos, the “daddy state” as some term it, leverages the same intense political and bureaucratic assault that has characterized the past many months, precisely because of the role played by people who serve our communities, as the nervous system of our body politic, just as communities of faith, our houses of worship, serve as the moral conscience of our body politic. 

Let us be clear, fundamentally, this memo is a challenge to our ability to hold elected leaders accountable to the populations and issues we serve in the name of the sacred, in care for the great human family.

Take action: We Side With Civil Rights Organizations and Nonprofits