More than 8,000 faith leaders gathered online Sunday evening for an urgent call to action hosted by Faith in Action, a global grassroots, multiracial, faith-based organization.
Streamed on Zoom and Facebook Live, the event moved from lament to remembering as an act of resistance, then turned to inspiration and concrete calls to action. Participants joined from across faith traditions to build community and solidarity.
In a brief reflection, Joseph Tobin, archbishop of New Jersey, challenged participants to “say no to violence.”
“For the love of God and for the love of human beings, vote against renewing funding for DHS,” he said.
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Dwayne Royster, executive director of Faith in Action and senior pastor of Faith United Church of Christ, said the gathering was taking place because “blood has been shed,” with lives lost to violence in Minneapolis and beyond.
“Faith that stays inside sanctuaries is not faith,” he said. “This is a time for conviction.”
Cassandra Gould, political director of Faith in Action and pastor of Quinn Chapel AME, urged participants to call their senators each day this week and ask them to vote no on any additional funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this year.
“We reject the lie that budgets are neutral, that violence can be funded without consequence,” said Gould.
She called on clergy to “pray with their feet. This is what theology looks like — people of faith coming together across traditions.”
“Pray with (your) feet. This is what theology looks like.” — Cassandra Gould
The evening opened with a prayer led by Mariann Budde, bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, who said that “we are grieved and acutely aware that what is happening in Minneapolis is happening in other towns.”
Participants also heard from Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), who honored Alex Pretti, a nurse in the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System and a member of AFGE, who was killed by Border Patrol in the city on Saturday. Kelley urged clergy leaders to “Stop whispering when God demands proclamation.”
“The depth of mourning in this state has strengthened our resolve,” said JaNae Bates Imari, co-executive director of ISAIAH, a Minnesota multiracial and multifaith organizing group. She said Minnesota was currently under federal occupation.
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She pointed to the witness of 75,000 people who took to the streets last Friday on what she described as the coldest day of the year — marching, caring for one another, fasting, and monitoring ICE activity.
“My prayer is that we have the moral courage to say what needs to be said,” said Imari. “This is an existential crisis, not just for democracy, but for all of us.”
“This is an existential crisis, not just for democracy, but for all of us.” — JaNae Bates Imari
Prayers of lament were offered by Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, and Catholic clergy leaders. Laurie Carafone, executive director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, said, “All members of Congress must now find the courage to stand up to the Trump administration.”
Jamie Beran of Bend the Arc, Jewish Action, South New Jersey, said, “May their memory be a blessing. May their memory be a revolution.”
She called for “radical holy honesty.”
“There is no one coming to rescue us. We are the ones,” said Beran.
“There is no one coming to rescue us. We are the ones,” — Jamie Beran
After renewed calls to contact senators and “pray with our feet,” Karen Georgia A. Thompson, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ, closed the evening with prayer.
“Let our tears be a source of motivation,” she prayed. “Let our resistance give way to a time of new justice.
