Join the Campaign
Make a commitment to: Pray for Democracy and Act for Democracy.
We pray to protect the integrity of our elections.
We pray to protect the sanctity of our Democratic institutions.
We pray to protect women’s right to choose.
We pray to protect the health of our environment.
We pray for a just peace in the wars around the world.
We pray for wise leaders to bring us through the many crises we face.
We pray for Democracy.
Join with us and share your Prayers for Democracy and your Actions for Democracy.
An Invitation
For a long time, I’ve felt there is an urgent need for Progressives not to cede the territory of spirituality to the Christian Nationalists. I believe that there are a very large number of people who are not happy with the Christian Nationalists’ attempt to capture Christianity in the service of their politics and who would like to find a spiritual alternative.
Join the Campaign. To this end, I invite you to join a Pray for Democracy/Act for Democracy Campaign as one way to engage your spirituality and put your faith to work in the service of Democracy.
The idea for the campaign is simple. Just agree with yourself to:
- Pray for Democracy in whatever way you want on a regular basis.
- Act for Democracy in whatever way you want also on a regular basis.
And keep to your agreements with yourself.
Become a Member. If you would like to enhance your participation, I also invite you to sign up on this website to become a member of the Pray for Democracy/Act for Democracy Campaign to:
- Share your prayers and your actions if you want to.
- Join in the conversations to go deeper in exploring what we mean by Prayer, what we mean by Democracy, and how we can build the broadest Spiritual Coalition possible.
- Post information about the Campaign in your social media.
- Find other ways to work together.
We are just getting started, so, if you totally love this idea, you can join the Organizing Committee and participate in some Zoom meetings to provide your advice on how to build the Campaign and what other actions the Campaign should take.
To get us started with this website, I have provided some background on the thinking behind the Campaign; initial essays on Prayer, Democracy, and Building a Spiritual Coalition; and a couple prayers that I am praying and actions I am taking.
Hopefully you will make your own contributions.
I have faith that, together, we can build a powerful Spiritual Movement for Democracy.
James Hurd Nixon
What Sets Us Apart
Our Backstory
To provide you with some background on the Pray for Democracy/Act for Democracy Campaign, I need to begin by giving you a bit of my story. I grew up a Lutheran and even went to my last two years of high school and first two years of college at a Lutheran prep school studying to be a minister. That didn’t work out and I went on to be something of a leader in the Student Movement in the 1960s/1970s and, at the same time, studied philosophy.
Exploring Prayer
A while back, I sent an essay on the theme of Praying for Democracy to Robert (Silky) O’Sullivan, a friend of mine from all the way back when we were both going to a Lutheran high school and two year college studying to be Lutheran ministers, and he sent me back an audio book by Mathew Fox called Radical Prayer: Love in Action, which I listened to.
Our Democracy
In the mid-1960s, I served as the first Coordinator of the student initiated and run Experimental College at San Francisco State – the first time a group of students created their own college in association with a major educational institution.
Prayer Gap
Our campaign encourages not just prayer, but also tangible actions that support democratic processes and social justice.
Spiritual Coalition
Let’s explore how we can weave these groups together to form a spiritual majority coalition to support democracy.
Examples
Here are some examples of prayers and types of prayers. I hope you will add your examples going forward.