Pittsburgh-area religious leaders voiced calls for prayers and peace during Wednesday’s storming of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., by supporters of President Donald Trump.
"There can be no justification, no defense, for this action," Pittsburgh Episcopal Bishop Dorsey McConnell said of the mob’s actions. "It is especially shameful and regrettable that it was incited, or at least encouraged, by remarks made by the President of the United States and some of his family."
Mr. Trump addressed thousands of his supporters Wednesday at a rally near the White House. “We will not let them silence your voices,” Mr. Trump told the crowd.
They cheered when he said, “We will stop the steal,” and promised that he will not concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden while again repeating his baseless claims of election fraud.
Bishop McConnell added: "Please pray that the country may go in a different direction. Pray now for the safety of our members of Congress and our senators, for the Capitol Police themselves, and pray especially for these rioters, that God will turn their hearts, that they may abandon this folly and pursue, instead, the way of peace."
Pittsburgh Roman Catholic Bishop David Zubik said: "With a heavy heart, I have watched the unfolding, violent protests at our nation’s Capitol building complex. To all of you, my sisters and brothers in southwestern Pennsylvania and beyond: I invite you to join me in prayer that our shared love for our nation will truly unite us. May God guide us to respond to the challenges of our day with a spirit of peace, and of faith, hope and love."
United Methodist Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi, in a statement Thursday, said she was reminded of a simple cross she was given, made of repurposed wood from old Senate cabinets, by a former parishioner who had worked in maintenance at the Senate office buildings. She contrasted that reverential gift with the destructiveness of the mob on Wednesday.
Bishop Moore-Koikoi, of the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, wrote that she took heart that leaders in both political parties condemned the attack and that Congress carried out its Constitutional duty to confirm the presidential election results.
“I am confident that all those who were responsible for the treasonous invasion of the U.S. Capitol Building will be held accountable,” Bishop Moore-Koikoi said. “... I have faith that as a result of this violence, our country will grow more fully into the ideals of life, liberty, and justice for all. I have faith that we will find a way to put the interests of our entire country before our individual desire for power or control. I have this faith because in God I trust.”
She offered prayers for all involved and urged the church “to resist all of the precipitating types of behavior that foster the kind of violence we saw taking place against our democracy.”
Rabbi James Gibson, a retired rabbi in Pittsburgh, called for the prosecution of anyone identified as taking part in the Capitol incursion, violating .
“There should be no quarter given to those who violate our most sacred civic spaces,” he said, adding that numerous people wearing white supremacist and anti-Semitic insignia were photographed in the mob.
He said President Trump incited the mobs. “I would feel safer if the present occupant of the White House was removed from office,” he said. “The means by which that could be done, I leave that to those on the ground in D.C.”
Roman Catholic Bishop-elect Larry Kulick, of Greensburg said: “Violence was thrust upon our nation and our people” on Wednesday.
“Violence is never an answer to any challenge nor can it be condoned in any form,” he said. “We must use respectful dialogue to connect with one another and resolve our differences. I urge the faithful to join me in prayer asking for God’s divine strength and courage that unity and peace prevail.”
The Rev. Sheldon Sorge was one of several religious leaders to note that the mob assault on the Capitol occurred on Epiphany, the day when most Christians commemorate the visit of the Magi, or wise men, to the Christ child.
“On a holy day celebrating God's light breaking in upon us (the literal meaning of ‘Epiphany’), we witnessed forces of darkness unleashed in Washington,” said Rev. Sorge, general minister for the Pittsburgh Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). “Presbyterians cherish the right to peaceful protest, but what transpired on this day was anything but peaceful. Armed election dissidents fueled by baseless conspiracy theories sought to undermine the will of the nation by storming the Capitol to halt the orderly process of certifying the presidential election....”
He added: “I want to make it abundantly clear that as Presbyterians we vigorously condemn threats and acts of violence that seek to undercut the will of the people expressed in their votes. We also call to account governmental leaders who seek to undermine the results of elections through baseless rhetoric or contrived mechanisms that thwart democratic process and incite violence.”
National religious leaders also weighed in.
“The peaceful transfer of power is a hallmark of American democracy, and today we saw the opposite of peace,” said Ronnie Floyd, president of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination. “This is not what we are called to be as Americans, and this is surely not what we are called to be as Christians.”
Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, who leads the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church, said that marchers who claimed to be acting in the name of God, and waving banners with slogans like “Jesus saves,” represented a “perversion of the Gospel.”
She added: “It is tempting to call for peace, for order and unity. And while we do need to reclaim the peace, we can only do so while speaking the truth of today's horror. It is time to name our reality, to name the deep divisions and hatred being played out in the Senate chamber and throughout the People's House. … As a church, as Christians, we must condemn all the forces that led to the unprecedented insurrection today — forces of hate, of white supremacy, of distorted self-interest, and abuse of power.”
The Council of Bishops for the United Methodist Church, the nation’s third-largest denomination, called for prayer and protection for "the public servants who are gathered at the U.S. Capitol to do their work as representatives of the people. Please add to your prayers the security officers and other first responders."
Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the violence “is not who we are as Americans.” He offered prayers for officials and law-enforcement officers.
“The peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of this great nation,” he said. “In this troubling moment, we must recommit ourselves to the values and principles of our democracy and come together as one nation under God.”
With reporting from The Associated Press.
First Published: January 6, 2021, 11:51 p.m.
Updated: January 7, 2021, 12:58 a.m.
