“It is not just ‘do not oppress others,’ it’s ‘do not stand by while others are being oppressed’ — you have to intervene,” Ali, the first African-born Muslim American elected to public office in Maine, told Religion News Service in an interview.
“Not being allowed to participate in the central cornerstone of the democratic system … is oppression.”
In their letter to lawmakers — which organizers said was partly facilitated by the Washington, D.C.-based Catholic social justice lobby Network — Maine faith leaders explained their support for the bill by declaring: “Our faith calls us to support the most vulnerable, nurture human potential, root out systemic racism, and advance justice in our society.”
The letter then concludes: “Collectively, we need an inclusive, representative and responsive democracy to answer that call. As people of faith and as your constituents, we ask that you support the For the People Act.”
King co-sponsored the bill, but Collins joined other Republicans in blocking efforts to push the bill through the Senate, which passed the House in March. Collins voiced outright opposition to the bill in June, saying the For the People Act “is not legislation that could ever form the basis of a reasonable, bipartisan elections reform bill.” Republicans blocked debate over the bill later that day.
Collins did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the letter.
While the impact of faith leaders on Collins remains unclear, the Mainers’ message adds to a growing list of faith-led protests calling on lawmakers to protect voting rights in general and support the For the People Act in particular.
In July, the Poor People’s Campaign staged protests in Arizona and Texas that, among other things, called for passage of the For the People Act. The Texas protest was modeled after Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1965 march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, with faith leaders marching 27 miles from Georgetown, Texas, to Austin to protest state-level legislation they argue would restrict voting rights.
The Poor People’s Campaign escalated its efforts a few days later in Washington, D.C.: In one of the largest mass-arrest protests at the U.S. Capitol in recent memory, more than 200 faith leaders and low-wage workers organized by the Poor People’s Campaign were detained by police while calling for lawmakers to pass an array of bills they argued would aid the poor — including the For the People Act.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church has also expressed support for the bill, and clergy in Georgia threatened to boycott local businesses earlier this year unless CEOs came out against state elections laws seen as restrictive and backed federal voting rights legislation — including the For the People Act.
One of the bill’s most vocal champions is Sen. Raphael Warnock, the prominent pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta who has suggested eliminating the filibuster in the Senate if Republicans don’t back it.
This article originally appeared here.
