OUR MISSION

PrayersForLiberty

August 22, 2025

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Our Fellow Americans,

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Our religious traditions teach the moral imperative to create just societies where every person is treated with fairness and dignity, as each is created in the image of God — B’tzelem Elohim (Genesis 1:27). Sacred texts call us to love our neighbors (Leviticus 19:18), uphold justice without bias (Deuteronomy 19:16–18), and protect the vulnerable (Isaiah 1:17; Matthew 25:35–46; Quran 16:90).

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While America is a pluralistic, secular nation, we are at our best when these timeless values infuse our laws and institutions. Our founders enshrined them in the Constitution, guaranteeing due process to all persons in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Yet today, we are sliding further down the road toward authoritarianism — and this slide is accelerating and growing more dangerous every day.

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As Americans and as people of faith, we believe in the rule of law, the enduring power of the US Constitution, and the moral imperative to love our neighbors. We are for democracy, for liberty, and for the free exercise of religion. Yet, the current administration is compromising our ability to live freely in our own country, to trust due process for all, and to worship freely in our own houses of worship. 

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Therefore, we call on others to join in action with #PrayersForLiberty on Monday, September 1, 2025. We will gather to pray, march, and sing our way from Lexington to Boston, recreating the route of our Revolutionary forebearers. 

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We gather in PrayersForLiberty because we believe the following actions are immoral, illegal, and unjust as they undermine due process, the US Constitution, and the rule of law: 

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• Sensitive locations violated — For decades, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, avoided entering public schools, hospitals, and houses of worship. Now, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is violating the sanctity of our churches, mosques, temples, and synagogues, in addition to terrorizing the broader immigrant community with their masked raids.

• Rewriting of History: Attacks on the Smithsonian and the removal of African American and Native histories from national parks erase vital truths and silence the stories of marginalized communities.

• The denial of due process — Tens of thousands of individuals who have complied with every legal requirement have had their immigration status revoked when laws and protocols were suddenly and unilaterally rescinded. Some are showing up to court hearings only to be taken away from their families - and thousands, including all those deported under the Alien Enemies Act - have been deported with no access to any due process at all.

• Racial Profiling – Immigration agents target immigrant communities, staking out gathering places like supermarkets, parks, and houses of worship in order to arrest people they believe may lack legal papers based, in the words of the White House Border Czar Tom Homan, “on their physical appearance.”

• Mass firings and purges in law enforcement and judiciary — Immigration judges removed and replaced with political loyalists; FBI senior leadership dismissed in sensitive cases; lawsuits filed against federal judges who blocked deportations. Together, these moves undermine judicial independence and politicize law enforcement.

• Unprecedented executive overreach — Federal takeover of D.C. police and deployment of the National Guard stripped local communities of control, reflecting a dangerous centralization of power.

• Birthright citizenship under attack — Though blocked in court, the executive order to end birthright citizenship reveals an intent to override the Constitution’s clear text.

• The moral test — Beyond policy, the cruelty itself is corrosive. Our traditions call us to lift up kindness as the true measure of a just society.

Whether technically permitted or forbidden by law, acts of willful and gratuitous cruelty against the vulnerable shock and offend the conscience.

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The Pattern

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These actions share a familiar pattern: bypassing the courts, eroding checks and balances, and punishing dissent. This is no longer a theoretical concern. History teaches that when a government disregards law and due process, it escalates — causing greater harm to communities and to democracy itself.

We believe in an America where we can trust the Constitution to be upheld and trust the President to follow the law. Instead, we have an Administration that routinely ignores the Constitution and repeatedly attempts to defy the rule of law. 

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As citizens, we will not be silent as due process in our nation is eroded. 

As people of faith, we are answerable to our God and our highest values. Thus, we organize to resist these unabashed power grabs in the move towards autocracy. We worship no king. 

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A Call to Action

As much as we make our #PrayersForLiberty, we believe the Almighty calls us to act. Therefore,

We call upon our Congressional Delegation to:

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• Use every oversight power you have to protect due process and defend judicial, intellectual and artistic independence and freedom of speech.
   

• Ensure no one is above the law.
   

• Support measures shielding sensitive locations — including houses of worship — from immigration enforcement.

We call on the Clergy, on People of all faiths, and on all Americans to:

• Speak out — in pulpits, in public squares, and in conversations with neighbors — against the normalization of authoritarian tactics.
   

• Collaborate with secular organizations which are mobilizing to defend democracy — imperfect as all human institutions are, they are indispensable.

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Join us in the following ways:

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• Community Resistance & Non-Violent Noncooperation Training: Saturday, September 13, 2025, 10 am - 3 pm Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, Cosponsored by the Massachusetts Council of Churches, Episcopal City Mission, and the Cathedral Church of St. Paul. This in-person gathering will equip people of faith with tools for nonviolent resistance, faithful noncooperation, and solidarity in times of crisis. Lunch will be provided. Registration required. Register here. Future dates forthcoming.

• Opportunities to pray for and with our neighbors, for the rule of law, and bear witness:

• Every Wednesday, 11:00-1:00 pm at the ICE field office in Burlington as part of “Bearing Witness.”

• Vigil for Love 5:30 - 6:30 pm in New Bedford. (Here’s a calendar to see the location each week.) And Thursdays, 4:30-5:30 pm in Maverick Square, East Boston

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The founders of this nation rejected tyranny. As Thomas Paine reminded us: “The law is king, and no person is above the law.” We must insist that principle remains true — now more than ever.

With prayers for liberty and justice for all,
 

Prayers for Liberty Steering Committee

Rev. Laura Everett, Executive Director, Massachusetts Council of Churches

Rabbi David Lerner, Temple Emunah, Lexington

Rev. Cristina Rathbone, Congregational Coordinator, Massachusetts Council of Churches

Rev. Fred Small 

Rabbi Andy Vogel, Sinai Brookline, 

Rev. Steve Watson, Reservoir Church, Cambridge

Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, New Roots African Methodist Episcopal Church, Boston

Supported/Co-sponsored by The GBIO (Greater Boston Interfaith Organization), the Massachusetts Council of Churches, and the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis.

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For more information, click here - PrayersForLiberty.org