“Beyond Tolerance” at Washington National Cathedral

Last week, religious leaders and community members gathered at the Washington National Cathedral for a multi-religious service called, “Beyond Tolerance: A Call to Religious Freedom and Hopeful Action,” followed immediately by a press conference introducing the Religious Freedom Pledge (text below). Washington National Cathedral and Shoulder to Shoulder co-hosted the religious service.

The service, keynoted by Rabbi David Saperstein, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, focused on the call from each of our faith traditions to commit ourselves to caring for one another, moving beyond mere tolerance of the other in our multi-religious society. The community gathered together celebrated religious freedom in the United States as a good in and of itself to be cultivated and protected, and as a model of robust religious freedom for communities and countries across the globe.

During the press conference that followed the service, a diverse group of religious leaders endorsed the Religious Freedom Pledge and called on public officials to demonstrate their commitment to religious freedom by signing the pledge. A number of religious leaders spoke about why they believe in the values of the pledge, and why they in turn call on public officials to sign it. Read more here.

The Pledge: A Commitment to Religious Freedom

I pledge and commit to the American people that I 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.

The event was covered by several news outlets, including PBS’ Religion and Ethics Weekly, Religion Dispatches, Religion News Service, United Church of Christ News, Baptist News Global, and Christian Today.