Many years ago I took my family to the July 4th festivities at Old Sturbridge Village, an historical replica of a colonial town in central Massachusetts. The highlight of the day was the reading of the Declaration of Independence from a podium on the town common. A large audience gathered on the lawn to hear Thomas Jefferson’s stirring and rather incendiary words: “injuries and usurpations” was mentioned more than once. At the end of the recitation, the reader, who was garbed in period dress, listed the names of the signers and the colonies they represented. The delegates from Massachusetts received raucous cheers.The representatives from Virginia were loudly booed. Such was the cultural and political tension between the largest northern and southern colonies at the time, which the historically savvy audience remembered.
In an effort to address the profound regional tension between the colonies the new Congress established a national motto in 1792: E pluribus unum — Latin for out of many, one. Thirteen separate colonies were now united as one nation. The motto is memorialized on the national seal and on many US minted coins.The motto was — and is, meant to hold us together as a country, but as we know, it has long been hard and exhausting work, particularly during this perilous period of escalating polarization.
At the end of the Declaration, Jefferson invoked the presence and power of the sacred: “ And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” References to a spiritual reality are baked into many historical documents, patriotic songs and well remembered orations. In an effort to offset the threat of “godless communism”, in 1956 the national motto was changed to “In God we trust”. It has long been the intention in this country that mentioning a divine presence would help bind Americans together.
Binding together is the Latin root for religion. Religio refers to the narratives, symbols and practices that bind people together. Yet as we know, many of us from painful experience, religion has long been used to divide, to set people against each other, and/or as a theological hammer to pound people into submission, injury or death.
Braver Faith, a relatively new “department” of Braver Angels, is committed to this profound and urgent notion of religio: binding people together. To that end, Braver Faith will host a zoom webinar on Sunday evening, July 6th at 7 pm eastern, at the end of the July 4th weekend. Entitled “Faith and Freedom through prayer and reflection”, the 75 minute event will feature four speakers: a Muslim Imam, a Jewish rabbi, an evangelical pastor and Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints leader. Their short reflections will be flanked by people offering brief prayers from a variety of religious traditions: Christian, Buddhist, Bahai, Hindu, Muslim and Jewish. Some lot the speakers lean red; others lean blue. All share a love of this country, whether they were born in America or have become citizens along the way; whether they are from Massachusetts or Virginia or states that have a different political and geographical culture. Braver Faith seeks to create as wide a net as possible, to demonstrate that faith and hope can transcend our religious and political differences; that we can be brought together by our common purpose and witness. Members of the Braver Angels Music team will invite people to sing patriotic songs into your phone or computer. You can register for the event here.
Braver Faith celebrates and supports Braver Angels as a civic organization, and at the same time acknowledges that many of us come to this work as a direct extension of our religious tradition and faith. We recognize the need to lift up that witness, in all of its historical and religious diversity, and at the same time honor the many religious threads that are woven through American history.
