American Values Religious Voices: 100 Days, 100 Letters gathers the collective wisdom of 100 scholars who articulate and reaffirm core American values connected to our various faith communities. You can help us amplify these 100 voices and your own!
ADD YOUR VOICE
Preach or teach about ideas and scriptural texts discussed in the letters. Blog or post on social media about your responses to the opinions expressed. Write your own letters to your elected officials telling them about the issues you care about and how those issues relate to your faith tradition. Pick up the phone and call the White House, members of the House and Senate, or your state or local representatives when those issues are on the line. Donate time and money to organizations that reflect your values and are trying to make a difference in the world.
SHARE THIS PRAYER
This beautiful prayer was compiled and adapted from American Values Religious Voices letters by Eboo Patel, Jean Pierre Ruiz, Andrea Weiss, Susan Garrett, Carmen Nanko-Fernández, Aristotle Papanikolaou, Katharine Rhodes Henderson and M. Craig Barnes. Download it and share with your friends, family, and community.
PURCHASE THE BOOKS
In 2019, at the midway point of the Trump presidency, the University of Cincinnati Press published the American Values, Religious Voices letters in a full color book that includes the 100 letters, artwork used to promote the campaign, essays that chronicle the creation and impact of this grassroots effort, and indexes that highlight key themes and scriptural sources, all of which helps readers make the most of the letters. The campaign and subsequent book are the result of a unique partnership between Bible scholar Andrea L. Weiss and graphic designer Lisa M. Weinberger who have used the project as a way to foster civil discourse and model how we can learn from one another and work together for the common good. Buy the book here.
In 2021, Weiss and Weinberger invited religious scholars and leaders to address President Biden, Vice President Harris, and members of the 117th Congress in their national letter writing and social media campaign. During the first 100 days of the Biden administration, religious leaders from across the country and from a range of religious denominations once again sent one letter a day to elected leaders in Washington. These letters bring an array of religious texts and teachings to bear on our most pressing contemporary issues. Arranged chronologically, the 2021 edition features 59 returning letter writers and 42 new scholars, new artwork, original essays, and and a new section focused on putting the letters into practice by using them for teaching, preaching, meditative practice, civic activism, and more. An alternate table of contents arranged by core values that emerged in the letters over the 100 days allows for thematic reading. Buy the book here.
Seder Supplement
Enhance your seder with the diverse perspectives and important insights from the American Values Religious Voices letter writing campaign. Our Seder Supplement compiles Passover related quotations that reflect on the biblical story of the Exodus and its relevance for us at this particular moment in our nation’s history. Download it here.
This national campaign brings together scholars from a range of religious traditions to speak about core American values that have grounded our nation in the past and should guide us forward at the start of a new administration.