THE PEOPLE HAVE spoken, democracy has worked, and it is time for a peaceful transfer of power. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have fairly won the presidential election, and I am hopeful about their commitment to both healing and change. We should accept the results, and call upon our faith communities to do the same, in order to help our nation move forward together.
We should be grateful for and inspired by the ways our faith communities worked for free, fair, and safe elections in 2020. Thousands of multiracial and interfaith poll chaplains helped to protect vulnerable voters from both suppression and intimidation at the polls and helped secure this election.
Racism was recognized as a religious issue in this election—and we must commit to a much deeper, and even uncomfortable, conversation in the body of Christ about the great and painful divisions between white Christians and believers of color that this election has again revealed. Addressing systemic racism, economic injustice, inhumane immigration policies, and climate change—all of this is required as expressions of our faith. Let us begin with healing our nation from the COVID-19 pandemic and then from our polarized divisions with grace and love and the reconciliation that comes from working together to build a more racially just and inclusive America.
As Christians, we are called to love our neighbors and our enemies and prioritize protecting the most vulnerable while advancing the common good. This is a moment in which both political and faith leaders must find the courage and resolve to put our country and the common good over political idolatry and naked ambition. Leaders must stop making reckless statements about election fraud, without evidence, which continue to stoke partisan and political flames.
As of this writing, President Trump—with no credible evidence of irregularities or fraud—has refused to concede the election and has repeated his longstanding allegations of improprieties favoring his opponent. This was not unexpected, but it has been dangerous and distressing, both for the short-term prospect of a peaceful transfer of power and for the long-term harm he is continuing to do to public trust, to the future of democracy in America, and even to national and global security. It is yet another assault on the health of the nation and another example of Trump putting his own interests ahead of the people.
All Americans should celebrate the historic firsts: A Black woman, a woman of South Asian descent, is our next vice president. Harris’ victory is one for America’s future.
What Trump won’t accept does not and should not matter. Our democracy is not determined by him; it is determined by the people. We remain committed to ensuring the peaceful transfer of power and will work faithfully and persistently to restore democracy and decency to our country.
It is time for all people of faith and conscience to defend democracy itself, which has been under real threat for the last four years. It is time to move forward together.
Jim Wallis is the founder and former president of Sojourners. He is the inaugural holder of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair in Faith and Justice at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy and director of its new Center on Faith and Justice. His latest book is The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy.
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