The letter was released a day after President Barack Obama led a memorial service for the six people killed and nearly two dozen wounded by a gunman at a Tucson meet-and-greet for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).
The clergy statement, printed in a full-page ad in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, was signed by megachurch pastors T.D. Jakes and Joel Hunter, Sojourners founder Jim Wallis, Nathan J. Diament of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, Sayyid M. Syeed of the Islamic Society of North America, and religious leaders from Arizona.
“In our churches, mosques, and synagogues, we come together not as members of a certain political ideology or party, but as children of God and citizens called to build a more perfect union,” the letter said. “We pray that you do the same.”
