Pastor, priest and rabbi agree that religion, civility are in decline

It’s not only evangelical Christians who are noticing a decline in religion in the United States. Jewish, Catholic and Protestant leaders agreed on the disturbing trend during a recent event at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in New York City.

“I think we have a crisis here,” Joseph Rabbi Postanik said at the event. “But we have an opportunity. Many of these young people don’t walk through the front door of the house of worship, but they will walk to a food pantry. They will do something to help others. And they’ll say, ‘I’m not religious, I’m spiritual.’ And we try to say to them, ‘what you call spiritual, we call religious.’”

The nation’s political division is causing stress for many people

“The message of Jesus transcended the political landscape of his time, and it transcends the political landscape of our time,” the Rev. A.R. Bernard of the Christian Cultural Center said. “The reality is that we live in this world, and we are affected by policies, systems, structures and practices. And we need to respond. And we respond through voting. And when we think about voting, we are actually giving power to someone to make decisions about our quality of life and the future of our nation, so we should take it very seriously and imagine a nation that’s consistent with our key principles of human dignity and common good.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the current archbishop of New York, urged people and politicians of different beliefs to treat one another with more respect, according to a Fox News report.

“We need to be as passionate and as excited about the issues as we can be but always to respect the people who hold them,” he said. “Stick to the principles. Stick to the policies. Stick to the issues. Don’t be lashing out. Don’t be trying to judge motives or lashing out at the person. We need to be as passionate and as excited about the issues as we can be, but always respect the people who hold them. And that’s what we don’t need, these ad-hominem campaigns, and I’m talking about both sides.”

–Alan Goforth  Metro Voice