FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 12, 2016
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At a Press Conference Today on the Steps of Cleveland City Hall… A Coalition of Veterans & Leaders of Muslim, LGBTQ & Other Religious and Community Organizations, Called on the RNC to Preempt Hate Speech at Its National Convention in Cleveland Next Week
Not Enough to Repudiate Bigotry After the Fact; Must Make it Clear in Advance that Anti-Muslim Bigotry and Homophobic Remarks Will Not be Tolerated

Cleveland, OH - Preempt the use of anti-Muslim and anti-gay rhetoric by Republican leaders at the upcoming party national convention next week was the strongly worded and oft-repeated message at a press conference on the steps of Cleveland City Hall today, just days before the Republican National Convention begins in this city.

Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and a United Church of Christ minister joined representatives of Veterans Challenge Islamophobia, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Cleveland Chapter, and the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland for the press conference.

Rev. Stief's statement:

"Good morning, I'm Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and a Minister in the United Church of Christ.

Earlier this year, leaders of American religious denominations and faith-based organizations wrote a letter to Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus, expressing our concern at the increasingly negative and discriminatory rhetoric we were hearing on the campaign trail, particularly the bigoted rhetoric targeting our Muslim neighbors and community members.

We asked the RNC, "to make an explicit, and public commitment to join us in working against anti-Muslim bigotry and discrimination against religious minorities in the United States." And today, I expand that call to ask the RNC to work with us to call out and challenge hate speech against our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ community or any disparagement of racial ethnic persons during the RNC convention which is to begin here in Cleveland in just a few days.

I would like to share a comment made today by Rev. John Dorhauer, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ, who could not be with us but sends his greetings from the national headquarters of the United Church of Christ here in Cleveland, just a few blocks from where we are standing. I think Rev. Dorhauer's comments illustrate the deep responsibility the National Committees of both the Republican and the Democratic parties have at this moment in our nation's history to use the opportunity of the 2016 election to heal the nation, to support that which unites us as a people, and to stand firmly against that which drive us apart.

Rev. Dorhauer notes: 'My childhood heroes fought against racism and taught me to love all people. Now my grandchildren are exposed to politicians and community leaders who spread racism and hatred. The message of love and inclusion ought to stand at the core of who we are as a nation. It sickens me and hurts my sense of civic pride to know that those who stand so opposed to the gospel message of acceptance can still run for elected office and hope to win. In my office as the General Minister and Presidnt of the United Church of Christ, I will do all in my power to call out race hate as evil, and to actively pursue a racial equity that still eludes us in America.'

Late last year, at the National Cathedral in Washington DC, over 100 Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Baha'i faith leaders from across the United States gathered together and pledged together that in this election season, we will:

'Pledge and commit to the American people that we will uphold and defend the freedom of conscience and religion of all individuals by rejecting and speaking out, without reservation, against bigotry, discrimination, harassment,and violence based on religion or belief.'

Religious leaders across the nation have taken this Religious Freedom Pledge this election cycle to stand for unity, not division. This powerful pledge effort has been led by our brothers and sisters in the evangelical and Muslim communities -- because we ourselves recognize that often we have been far from perfect in our relations with one another in the faith community. This Thursday, we will be delivering this pledge to every member of Congress, Republican and Democrat, and asking them to join us.

It is time for those who are delegates to the Convention, those who stand to be nominated to serve in the highest office of the land, and those who come to stand in support of that nominee to stop and think about what really makes this nation great, and strong. That out of our glorious diversity comes one people, united under God, unique among nations. It is time for the RNC to come up with policy proposals that take us forward into a future where we prosper together, rather than taking us into the past where neighbor is pitted against neighbor, community against community, religion against religion, race against race, and sexual identity against sexual identity.

Let me say a word about the temptations media will face as the convention descends upon Cleveland.

Unfortunately, bigotry makes good soundbites. It stirs up trouble. It creates controversy. It writes its own headlines.

But here in local communities, like Cleveland, but in thousands of local communities across the United States, bigoted rhetoric isn't just some words that get reported, it lands in local communities with devastaging impact. A young LGBT person is bullied in school. An elderly Sikh man who isn't even Muslim gets torn from his bicycle by those spouting anti-Muslim hatred and brutally beaten. Houses of worship are defaced by graffiti, bullet holes, burnings or mass shootings. Refugees who have just as much right to be in this country as each and every one of us are denied essential services.

I'm not just talking about the rhetoric of bigotry leading to bad things happening to good people, rather, it leads to a moral and social crisis that deserves no place in America. When candidates for the highest office in our nation suggest banning Muslims from the U.S., or registering Muslim citizens, or surveillance of mosques without warrant, we are compelled to lift our voices collectively to say that this exclusivist vision of America harms us all.

Both political parties have an opportunity to reverse the tide of bigotry in 2016. So stand for human dignity next week, Republican National Committee, abandon the temptation of self righteousness and exclusion. That is what truly will Make America Great."

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Since its formation in January 2006, more than 300 religious organizations have joined NRCAT, including representatives from the Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i, Buddhist, and Sikh communities. Members include national denominations and faith groups, regional organizations and local congregations.
NRCAT.org    @NRCATtweets   facebook.com/nrcat

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