Statement Imploring Civility During Election Season

August 15, 2016

Statement from the Cabinet of Interfaith Partnership

One of the privileges of living in America is the opportunity to participate in the democratic
process either by candidacy, by putting forth ballot initiatives, or by voting. In recent years the tone and tenor of campaigns has coarsened and is stridently divisive.
We, the Cabinet of Interfaith Partnership, believe that political participation and the surrounding conversations need not be exercises in dehumanizing speech or action. While political positions can be in sharp contrast and partisan, respect for people is a bipartisan and universal principle all can agree upon.
We call upon our community to model civil discourse, and we challenge all candidates from municipal to the presidential level to present their issues and discontinue the practice of personal attacks. Every office holder is beholden to the betterment of the whole, with justice and fairness as universal principles of good governance. The current nature of divisive politics and the surrounding discordant atmosphere makes it difficult to unite or heal postelections.
Let us challenge the conventional wisdom that the public only responds to negative political messaging. This is in the best interest of all Americans.

Rev. C. Jessel Strong, Cabinet Chair African Methodist Episcopal Church
Dr. Paul F. Hintze, Vice Chair The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints