Today as in the past, we need the Supreme Court to maintain immigrant rights, voting rights, women’s rights, civil rights, workers’ rights, and marriage rights for all who call America home. But the delay in Senate consideration of Judge Garland’s nomination leaves a vacancy on the Supreme Court – jeopardizing our freedom, equality, and access to justice. As people of faith from different and diverse faith traditions, we know from firsthand knowledge that millions of our neighbors and their livelihoods are on the line. We call upon the Senate to take action because we recognize and honor the sacred task with which our nation’s Supreme Court justices are charged. Within our western religious canon, we are guided by the words of King Solomon – wisest of judges – who conferred his Proverbs with this purpose: “That (people) may know wisdom and instruction, understand words of insight, receive instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity.” (Proverbs 1:2-3) Today the work of justice in our nation is at risk of being thwarted and wise guidance being denied its people by the continued refusal of the Senate leadership to hold hearings. As representatives of many religious and spiritual traditions, we therefore, respectfully urge the Senate to fulfill its duties as outlined in the Constitution by holding a fair, timely, and comprehensive hearing for Chief Judge Merrick Garland. In faith and in shared hope for our democracy,

As people of faith and moral courage, we believe all people are part of one family, and that we need to act together to build a world that respects everyone’s dignity. We reject the messages of candidates whose platforms, language, and campaigning exclude, discriminate against, and perpetuate violence towards members of our communities because of their citizenship status, gender, race, or sexuality. Many 2016 presidential candidates have chosen to build their campaigns on fear. Their use of xenophobic, racist and derogatory language has activated nationalist and white-supremacist groups throughout the country, inspiring further hate speech and violent hate crimes against immigrants and people of color. More so-called “moderate” presidential hopefuls have failed to stand up against these dangerous ideas. Some have defended the racist term “anchor babies” to describe infants born to undocumented parents, recommended we track immigrants like FedEx packages, and suggested we send air-strike drones to the U.S.-Mexico border. Our Values As people of faith and moral courage, we are called to welcome the sojourner and love our neighbor. We are appalled by the ugly, divisive, and cowardly tactics from candidates running for the most powerful office in our country. The United States was founded on the moral principles of liberty and justice for which civil rights leaders have struggled to make a reality for generations. We can’t move backwards to policies that resurface segregation. Instead we must move forward, with moral principles that value the diversity of all people and make America great. This includes immigrants, both new and established, and a range of identities in gender, faith, sexuality, race, and ethnicity that enrich our communities and strengthen the values we hold as people of faith and people of good conscious. Our vision of a better and more just world means calling on all political leaders to recognize the inherent value of all people, regardless of citizenship status, race, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality. Please sign this petition if you are ready to dump the divisive language and policy proposals pushed by extremist candidates, so that together, we can make America great!

People of faith cannot stay silent as women’s health and their reproductive decisions are once again politicized and attacked. Armed with misinformation and a disregard for women’s moral authority, some political and ideological groups have launched an offensive against an institution that provides critical medical and reproductive care to women nationwide. These attacks against PPFA and its affiliates attempt to undermine not only women’s health but also their moral agency. As people of faith, our voices can sound a clarion call for justice, women’s moral autonomy, and nationwide access to reproductive health services. Add your voice to the chorus of people of faith calling for continued federal funding for PPFA, an end to playing politics at the expense of women’s health, and a culture-wide recognition of the morality of women’s reproductive decisions. Stopping federal funding to Planned Parenthood would deny access to birth control, pap smears, STI prevention, and cancer screenings for millions of women. For many women, Planned Parenthood is the only affordable, accessible healthcare provider in their community. Planned Parenthood does not receive federal dollars for abortion care services. Preventing unintended pregnancies, providing sexuality comprehensive sexuality education, screening women for cancer, and ensuring women’s reproductive health – this is the life-saving work for which PPFA receives federal funding. To stop those funds would be to put women’s health in jeopardy nationwide. Many have seized this political moment, launching a campaign to defund Planned Parenthood. Some have even threatened another government shutdown if their legislative attempts to defund Planned Parenthood fail. Playing politics to restrict or deny access to family planning services is morally wrong. Recent attempts to defund Planned Parenthood have sought to stigmatize abortion and marginalize women’s moral authority. Individual women make their reproductive health decisions, including the decision to have an abortion, with serious reflection, consultation with loved ones, insights from faith and values, and a deep consideration of specific circumstances. The real life stories of women demonstrate the morality of decisions about abortion. Assertions that deny women’s authority to make moral decisions about their reproductive lives seek to stigmatize women who choose to have an abortion. When you sign this petition, you'll be invited to the Religious Institute’s network of more than 15,000 people of faith.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has proposed that teachers and staff at Bay Area high schools within the Archdiocese accept “morality clauses” that condemn homosexuality as contrary to “natural law,” contraception as “intrinsically evil,” ordination of female priests as impossible, and use of assisted reproductive technology as a “grave evil.” Every staff member is expected to “conduct their lives so as to not visibly contradict, undermine or deny these truths.” The Archbishop is also attempting to reclassify all Catholic school employees, including teachers, administrative staff, custodial and food service staff, as “ministers,” a move that could eliminate anti-discrimination and other workplace protections for those staff members. Students need a safe space free of judgment and fear. Not only is the move completely out of step with modern Catholic teachings and beliefs, but we could lose some of our best teachers and staff.

These nuns need you. A few weeks ago, Sister Donna Quinn of the National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN) asked me to help spread the word that their coalition of more than 2000 Roman Catholic sisters has endorsed providing birth control through the Affordable Care Act. Because of their faith, they believe “that women should not be singled out by any organization or group through its refusal to insure a woman’s reproductive needs.” The nuns are bravely speaking out just as those on the right want us to believe that birth control use is immoral. In just a few weeks, the Supreme Court will be hearing two cases where company owners who don’t support contraception personally are denying their employees insurance coverage for birth control as mandated by the Affordable Care Act. The lawyers for these corporations (one of which is Hobby Lobby) go so far as to call birth control use sinful and immoral. To make it worse, the owners are claiming that including contraceptives in health care violates their company’s religious freedom. Sister Donna and the nuns at NCAN know differently, and they're bravely standing up to their hierarchy. But they need us to stand with them -- to say that as people of faith we support universal access to contraception. We believe women should be able to make personal decisions about their families, their bodies, their sexuality, and their health – not their employers. And we want to make clear that the sin is not a person using birth control. The sin is denying women the right and the means to plan their families. Indeed, it is precisely because life is sacred that we support the intentional and moral use of contraception. We know that religious freedom means that each person has the right to exercise their own religious beliefs; religious freedom cannot mean that an individual or a corporation gets to impose their religious beliefs on their employees. Please join us and take a faith-filled stand with the nuns for women, birth control, and real religious freedom.

Associating pregnancy resulting from rape with God’s Will violates the respect for human dignity required by all faith traditions. Such language has no place in political campaign rhetoric. Rather, we must strive to change the conversation surrounding the reproductive rights of women. We must address related physical and mental health issues and the role religious congregations can play in supporting women who have been victims of sexual abuse.