While I do not accept their label of a “liberal-leaning” pastor, I appreciate The Guardian for covering my message to the nation yesterday. I wanted to share the full message here because my objection to the frame of left versus right is central to its point.
A moral movement cannot accept equal standing between a “liberal” perspective that calls for the justice and mercy at the heart of our moral traditions and a “conservative” perspective that subverts those fundamental principles. No, some things are not about left versus right. When the Klan used my faith to justify lynchings, that was not a conservative interpretation of Christianity. It was an immoral distortion.
The gift of a democracy is a public square where we can nonviolently work out honest disagreements about how to live out our deepest moral values. But we must challenge the dishonest attempt to use faith and morality to justify an authoritarian movement that is needlessly hurting people.
That’s why this is not a “liberal-leaning” message. It is a moral message from the ancient prophet Isaiah that resonates with the best of what has been passed down to us. I pray we can receive it with love, power, and a sound mind.
