People of faith demand accountability for January 6
January 6 Select Committee
It has been one year since the U.S. Capitol was attacked by pro-Trump militias waving flags that proclaimed "Jesus is my Savior, Trump is my President." To this day, images of January 6, 2021, remain seared in our minds -- and the threat against democracy posed by violent white Christian nationalism still lingers.
Sign this letter to show the bipartisan Congressional Select Committee investigating the attack that people of faith from across the country reject the Christian nationalism and white supremacy on display that day, and that we demand both accountability and reform.
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To:
January 6 Select Committee
From:
[Your Name]
To the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol,
As people of faith, we see truth, freedom, and the dignity of every voter as moral issues. We therefore condemn the January 6th attack as an attempted coup and an affront to our values, and we reject attempts by the attack's participants to use religion as a distorted justification for their actions. We call on the Select Committee to hold accountable all who tried to end our democracy, and to unanimously recommend in its final report such pro-democracy legislation as the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in order to ensure that no future attempts to overturn the will of the voters can succeed.
White Christian nationalists -- incited and assisted by Donald Trump and various other elected officials within the Republican Party -- tried to violently overturn the voters' will based on a lie, which would have ended democracy as we know it. This was an act of white supremacy and a violation of the dignity of every person. Of particular concern to us as people of faith was the role of religion that day. The attack happened underneath banners declaring "Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president." This deadly Christian nationalism is neither faithful nor patriotic.
The terror unleashed on that day was stopped -- barely -- but it is still a threat a year later in 2022. Now the politicians, pastors, and organizers who condoned and collaborated in the attack are trying to block accountability. They continue telling the big lie about the 2020 election that incited January 6th. In 19 states, their allies are putting up new barriers to voting, including by giving partisan politicians new power to overturn the will of the voters. White supremacists who took part in the January 6th attack are menacing people at school board meetings. Democracy remains endangered -- and so do all of us.
Our safety and future as a nation depends on securing accountability for those who tried to end our democracy on January 6, 2021. This is why we, as people of faith, call on the Select Committee to issue criminal referrals to the Department of Justice and to endorse pro-democracy policies like the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Thank you,
The undersigned