 You're tuned into the COVID-19 community report here on KDRT 95.7 FM in Davis, California. I'm Autumn Lab-A-Reno and today is Tuesday, October 27th, 2020. We share local news and resources around the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Davis and elsewhere in Yolo County and today is Episode 41. For the past seven months, I've been talking to people about how COVID has impacted their lives, their work, their school, their services, how they move through the community. I've also mentioned many times during the course of the show that we're not just weathering a global pandemic right now. 2020 has been a complex year. It's one where layers have been pulled back on institutional racism, where fear and scarcity loom large and where divisiveness seems to be the order of the day. In short, we're a highly stressed people right now. And it's with an awareness of all of this that a group of local faith leaders approached me and asked for some time on KDRT. Together, they've submitted a letter to local media and it's titled, Toward a More Perfect Union, A Statement on the 2020 Election from the Davis Area Interfaith Religious Leaders Network. Five members of this network are here with me today to talk about the intersections between faith, democracy and their shared religious values that promote equality, justice and respect for all and the sacred dignity of all. In the face of what they're seeing among their own congregations, they felt called to speak out more widely. So the show is different. We're pre-recording it using Zoom, but it will air exactly one week before the election on November 3rd. I'm really excited to have a conversation with these local leaders. As we move through the interview, I will ask each of them to self-introduce as we start this conversation. So let's start by talking about why we're here. Why is this group of interfaith leaders coming together to craft a letter in anticipation of the upcoming election? Well, I'd be glad to answer that. And I'm the Reverend Beth Banks and I'm from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis, where I serve as the senior minister. So this is a group of religious leaders and we gather somewhat regularly throughout the year to address different issues in our communities. So as soon as there is an issue that seems to require a response, we do gather together. It's not, certainly not all of the clergy in our area. It's not exhaustive of this Davis area, although there is a really wide swath, a wide variety of religious communities represented. And we bring many different viewpoints. And so we sort of found each other through having some similar points of view, somewhat similar points of view, and when we do the public action together. And so the door is really still open for other religious communities who might like to join us. We, one of the things that characterizes us is that we're really open to listening to each other and learning from each other. And one thing that I've said is that we bend to each other's language. I'm finding it really exciting to work with folks in this way, especially in the process of writing letters when we learn about each other's faith in that process. So this letter, this most recent letter is our response to the challenges that we see to democracy and our combined desires for this community. And it was a rich discussion that produced the letter. Thank you, Reverend Banks. Ken, one of you talk about why you have this imperative now to speak out. I can speak to that. My name is Pastor Sarah Tillema, and I am the Director and Campus Minister at Cal Aggie Christian Association, which we affectionately know as CA House in the Davis community. And it is a campus ministry to to UC Davis. So we chose to draft this statement right now because there's a lot of general concern that we're seeing in our world and in our communities that we serve about the future of democracy as we approach November 3rd. Some of these concerns are not new. So concerns about foreign influence in our election, unfortunately. And voter suppression tactics such as gerrymandering and intimidation elimination of polling places leading up or which leads to extremely long lines on election day. We're seeing extreme voter ID restrictions. There's a long list of different concerns that we're seeing in this election that may not be new necessarily to this election. But there are also a number of unprecedented aspects to this November 3rd election that are escalating concern for many Americans. And the first and most obvious difference this time around is that we're in the middle of a global pandemic and many states are changing their laws and regulations for this election to accommodate social distancing guidelines. Many states going to a all male voting structure to prevent the spread of COVID-19 so that people can safely exercise their right to vote. But there are also many states that are making it even more difficult to vote right now due to the pandemic by limiting ballot drop off locations by making it harder to get registered to vote by mail. We're also witnessing many political leaders who are suggesting that the increase in mail in voting is going to open the doors for voter fraud. And so this is maligning a long existing institution of American democracy and is not a claim that's grounded in fact. So with all of those things in mind, there's a lot of confusion and concern right now. And so to say the least, this is a critical moment in American history. And as religious leaders, we think that it's really important right now for us to make a statement that strongly advocates in favor of a free, fair and safe election in a time where we're finding that the foundations of democracy may be in question. And I want to invite Seth to say a little bit more on this. Thank you, Pastor Tillman. My name is Rabbi Seth Castleman. I am the leader of the interface meditation community called mindful moment meditation that meets weekly here in Davis. I wanted to clarify that while this is a very partisan time in our country. And that most people in our country are not only supporting a candidate, but would feel devastated if the other candidate one, we're not coming to this as faith leaders with with a partisan position but more a concern about the democratic process as a whole. And the fact that things have become so partisan that so much of the country is going to be up in arms, perhaps quite literally, if not figuratively, surely figuratively when their candidate loses, but that more important is the idea that perhaps for the first time and at least for the most significant case in in over 100 years 150 years. The very foundations of our democratic voting seems to be at risk. And that's the part that concerns us the most is keeping the democratic process alive and well and thriving. And we should be a leader in the in the world for how free elections happen, not a country that needs outside poll watchers, the way that we send poll watchers to other countries that are just fledgling democracies. Thank you Rabbi Castleman, and thank you for underscoring non partisanship because I want to remind people that we're heavily involved in local elections but DMA and catered are always non partisan and everyone and every viewpoint is welcome here. All right, I'm really wondering in this unparalleled time. How is the situation affecting your, I know you will call them different things parishioners participants or congregants. And I'm especially curious to know how families with with children and youth are explaining this time to their offspring so who can take that question. Take that. Thank you, autumn. I'm Pamela Dolan. I'm the rector of the Episcopal Church of St. Martin here in Davis, a rector for those who don't speak Episcopalian is like a pastor. And autumn you already did a really great job of sort of setting the stage of the multiple issues that we've been facing in 2020 that it didn't start with the pandemic. It's not just about election season. And so many of us feel like there's kind of a perfect storm to use that overused metaphor of so many different reasons to feel anxious to be stressed. And we're seeing that in our families, in our communities, in our faith communities. And the way I think about it is you have, you know, you have these multiple levels of stress we have, even before, as I said the pandemic we had economic inequality we can climate inequality we had racial injustice, and they just keep building up and building up. And when you get really stressed and anxious. What I'm seeing all around me and in myself is certain of our better qualities begin to shut down our creativity, our compassion, our curiosity about other people and other ways of seeing things. Without those, we can't be the communities, the people that we are being called to be right now. We really have big jobs in front of us, and, and we need to push past this place where many of us keep sort of getting stuck in this swirl of anxiety and loss and fear, and all of that. In terms of younger people, I think that's a that's a huge issue right now. First of all, we're in a college town, we know that we are right next door to a campus that that is part of our community and we want to be part of it. And the people on campus, whether they're students or administrators are having the extra crush of how to be doing school in a way they've never done before. We have this election that will be absolutely determining so much about their futures, all of our futures, but really for those people who are about to leave college, they've, they've got a lot on their minds. And then they know that the whole world is watching because it's an international institution. That's, that's where we are right now. I have three children at home, older children, I have a teenager who's in high school and I have a young adult who just graduated from college. We talk about this all the time. And, and for people who are in that beginning stage of life to know that the adults are going to be adults, and we're going to, we're going to be there for them and we're going to stand behind them and stand with them. And we know that they have leadership roles to take on, and we don't want to get in their ways, but we want to be reassuring and helpful. Thank you so much for that. As I talk with all of you, I'm wondering what would success look like here what are your, your hopes for this effort. Yeah, I'd like to, you know, kind of summarize what we're hoping will come out of this. My name is Ann Chemtrup, and I'm not a religious leader per se, but I am a community leader for the Muslim community. I'm coordinator for Muslim Davis engagement and interfaith network or also known as Muslim Dean and we are a group of Muslims in the in Yolo County, who participate in interfaith activities and work on social justice issues. What spoke to me about this letter and why it was important for me to participate is that it really reminded me actually of a line or a verse in the Quran that says after hardship comes ease and it repeats it after hardship comes ease. And what that really means in that hardship is that this is a time that to be rewarded with ease is means that you've got to you've got to work during these times and what that, you know, spoke to me is that we're really thinking about the patients that you need and standing firm in your values and your faith. And that's really part of that hard work. So, so what we're and what our letter goes into detail about is to really do a few things to urge our communities first of all to get out and vote it's really important to be part of that process. And then one of the things that we've done is we've actually developed a graphic that is is we're, we're going to ask folks to put on their on their websites and that can be printed that it's a coloring graphic and it has coloring options for both adults and children. And, you know, as we think about this, this anxiety that some people have this is a neat way to help people come together on the on a little project and once done putting in your window. It's a great way to bring the community together. Part of this is a way to bring our community together. It's important that folks check in with their own congregations. Many congregations do have resources available on what to do during this time. And, you know, it's back to keeping with your values and keeping with your faith it's a way to maintain that that patients. Other activity celebration of Abraham is a 20 year old organization in town that will have that information on our website as well. And we are also as leaders here exploring ways for coming together to have a moment of reflection post the election. We know it is going to be a time of anxiety we know we may not actually have the answer for the election right after, you know, the polls are closed so we're as a group here working together to figure out what would be a safe way to bring us all together. Thank you. And thank you all so much for coming to me with the desire to reach a broader community with what you're trying to do here, because we're recording this principally for radio I can't really show the the graphic but in a blog post follow up I can share the letter and the graphic and and the individual sites for your different churches and faith communities. Right now I want to thank everyone for tuning in. This has been the covert 19 community report live in the catered studio. I'll actually be taking a break from this show on Election Day as I'm co hosting our live election night coverage, and my co host across our three hour show our Davis Mayor Gloria Partida, and Davis Council members Dan Carson and Brett Lee they happen to be the three who are not running for office this time around. And as they've run the race, so to speak, I think they'll be. We'll be back with some conversations with our 22 guests. You can tune in live starting at 8pm on DC TV channel 15 on the Comcast system on Davis media access accesses YouTube channel and also you can simulcast it listen to the simulcast here on catered. We'll be back with the show on November 10. Thanks for tuning in. Autumn LeBae Renault out from the catered studio.