growing in recent days and weeks<\/a>\u00a0as Google search trends, religious leaders like Rev. Samuel Pullen of the Community Congregational United Church of Christ in Los Alamitos said it will fall on all faith figures, including himself, to be community bastions of civility and nonviolence.<\/p>\n\u201cThe worst thing that we could do, if the results of the election are contested and there is (unrest) across the country, is sit home and watch as more and more conflict is brewing,\u201d Pullen said at a Friday interfaith demonstration in Anaheim. \u201cSo we will need that courage \u2026 and we will need to be prepared to enter, sometimes, an atmosphere where people engage (in conflict) and be that peaceful presence.\u201d<\/p>\n
That call to action, and the question of what role exactly will religious leaders play in the coming weeks to unsew any conflict, is a test for community members like Lillian Chesley, who appeared at the Friday demonstration on behalf of the Mormon\u00a0Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.<\/p>\n
Questions of what she\u2019s willing to do to put herself out there and encourage peace \u201chadn\u2019t occurred to me,\u201d Chesley said after the demonstration, adding she\u2019s wary of putting herself in potentially dangerous situations, especially as Covid-19 is still a problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cI certainly want to do what I can, where it\u2019s safe for me to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rev. Jason Cook of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Fullerton said he already knows what he and his congregation will do:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will show up physically, if there is unrest. We will be there as quickly as we can be, simply to offer people calming in the turmoil.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will such calls for unity and peace bear success? Brie Loskota, Executive Director for the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California (USC), said \u201cour society is thirsty for more leadership, looking for people to exemplify our values, and when any group steps in it has an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even with religion\u2019s effect and influence over populations throughout world history, \u201cthe hard part is we live in a very fractured society,\u201d Loskota said. \u201cThe people who would listen, will listen. The people who never listen, will not.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added because these fractures fall along political, moral, religious and racial lines, \u201cit\u2019s very hard to find any unifying figures that anybody or majority will coalesce around.\u201d Add onto that, she said, the fact that not all religious leaders pay attention to or are involved in the civic process.<\/p>\n