Recording Available: Faith (and Climate) in the Voting Booth

Should we keep our faith and our politics separate? Is climate change a faith issue? There’s no doubt that faith communities in America will play a critical role in the 2020 elections. Our ability to care for Creation, as well as how we address systemic inequities and racism, will be decided by those elected to office this November. How can we make these connections real and actionable for the faithful? The runway for climate solutions is short. Our recent episode of Let’s Talk Climate explore how people of faith fit into the solution to climate change by voting our values with a sense of urgency.

Our guests, Brain McLaren and Jackie Dupont-Walker talked about what people of faith are getting right and what we can do better.

The AME Church’s V-alert program is mobilizing more voters than ever this year. “It’s our watch…our (voting) toolkit is step-by-step. If you’re in a faith body and the pastor gets it and says ‘let’s organize’, there’s a model for that. If you’re in a faith body and you and a couple of people get it, but the pastor says, ‘we have so much on the table, why don’t you guys do it and we’ll back you up’ we have a model for that. And if you find yourself in a faith body where you seem to be the only one doing anything, we encourage you to partner with others, and we have a model for that too.”

When asked how people across sectors can engage with the faith community in climate action and voter engagement, Brian McLaren shared, “A friend of mine says people of faith say that they don’t care if you are like them, but they just care that you like them. You don’t have to pretend to be more religious than you are, but you have to show religious people that you acknowledge they exist and invite them to partner.” 

Engage, find a way to talk to someone about voting and climate. And do not take for granted your responsibility to vote. Check your registration and tell others too as well. As Jackie shared, “The ballot has implications and will affect something that everyone cares about.” It’s critical to help others understand the impacts to our environment and all of God’s creation, because every issue we care about gets worse with a “crumbling ecosystem”, as Brian noted.

For more information and resources, make sure to subscribe to our Blessed Tomorrow newsletter, register for our upcoming episodes in the Let’s Talk Climate webcast series here, and subscribe to watch our previous episodes on ecoAmerica’s Youtube channel.

Resources mentioned during the episode:

• ecoAmerica Voter Registration, Voting, and Getting Out the Vote  Resources
• American Climate Perspectives Survey 2020: Climate Is a Voting Issue
• How Faith Communities Lead Social Movements
• Let’s Talk Faith and Climate: Communication Guidance for Faith Leaders
• AME Church’s AMEV-Alert voter engagement program
• Vote Common Good
• T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

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