[Dialogue] Another Voice

[cdhahn3031@insightbb.com]

The Moral Urgency of Electing John Kerry 
His life embodies the proud Catholic justice tradition of putting the common 
interest before personal gain.

By the Rev. James Forbes


September 12th, 2001 was a holy day--perhaps the closest the world has ever 
been to the moral ideal of one human family under God. The spirit of unity that 
reached across borders, states, and cultures propelled us to the very cusp of a 
shared humanity. 

Millions of Americans returned to the pews after September 11 in search of 
answers. My congregation struggled prayerfully with the moral challenge our 
nation then faced, and they helped me draft 10 Prophetic Justice Principles as 
a guide. First among these is the need to “seek the common good”--to cultivate 
the sense of being in this together. Our inability to rally a serious coalition 
behind the Iraq war demonstrated a moral failure to maintain a sense of shared 
purpose. Our rush to a tangential war and our willingness to sacrifice common 
standards of human dignity, even to the point of torture at Abu Ghraib, left 
the world feeling that this was America’s fight. They saw it as a war 
of “national interest” rather than of shared principles. A with-us-or-with-the-
terrorists attitude is more effective when the world believes you share their 
interests--but our leaders’ choice to waste the “global moment” of September 12 
cost us that moral credibility. 
The same go-it-alone attitude that has undermined our moral leadership on 
foreign policy exacerbates America’s spiritual sickness at home. That is the 
sickness of selfishness and greed. Despite Americans’ readiness after September 
11 to sacrifice for our country, our president cut taxes on the rich and on 
corporations. To do so, he dumped the largest tax hike in history on our 
children and theirs, squandering a $5.6 trillion surplus and creating a $5.2 
trillion deficit. The number of people without health insurance and children in 
poverty has risen every year under this president. 
The post-September 11 period was an historic opportunity to face the great 
challenges of eradicating global poverty that kills 30,000 children every day, 
addressing climate change, insuring every American, and checking corporate 
influence on governance. But that required real moral leadership. 
So should people of faith vote for Sen. John Kerry just because of President 
Bush’s failure to provide moral leadership? Or is there something more positive 
for the faith community to embrace? 
Kerry’s candidacy goes some distance toward calling America back to its moral 
principles. If our nation’s spiritual disease is selfishness, one vital 
antidote is a leader whose life embodies the proud Catholic justice tradition 
of putting the common interest before personal gain. Remember the moral courage 
it took for John Kerry to speak truth to power about Vietnam, incurring the 
wrath of President Nixon’s FBI. As a young prosecutor, he championed justice 
for victims of sexual violence before representing the people of Massachussets 
in the Senate for two decades. Kerry’s consistent sacrifice for the common good 
stands out against an increasingly self-centered culture. 
Kerry’s platform resonates deeply with our religious values. Here are how some 
of his positions measure up against the Prophetic Justice Principles: 
•  Seek the Common Good: Kerry’s approach to Social Security, Medicare, 
education, and diplomacy all embrace a society in which we watch our neighbor’s 
back--we are in this together. He cares about the 5 billion of God’s children 
who live beyond America’s borders and the moral call of a common humanity. 
•  Protect the Vulnerable and Care for the Poor: Perhaps no Biblical charge is 
clearer than caring for “the least among us.” Kerry has developed the most 
innovative health care plan of our lifetime, a college tuition plan with real 
teeth, a solid commitment to Medicare, and an expansion of America’s fight 
against global HIV/AIDS. He has spent over two decades demanding a balanced 
budget, so that we do not pass our mistakes onto future generations just 
because they cannot vote today. 
•  Ensure Stewardship of Creation: The morality of our times will be judged 
according to what we leave to our children. Kerry has the best environmental 
voting record in the Senate. 
•  Be Truthful in Facts and Motives: Kerry led investigations into MIAs in 
Vietnam and the Iran-Contra scandal. Over his career, he refused to take a 
single dollar of Political Action Committee money, and has taken less money 
from lobbyists in his entire career than President Bush has received from a 
single Chief Executive Officer—Enron’s Ken Lay.
 
With such high stakes and stark policy differences, is it not time to recognize 
a more fitting moral litmus test than a candidate’s position on gay marriage? 
Is it not time to ask which candidate promotes the common good rather than 
playing on fear and greed? Is it not time to elect the person who will be a 
good president rather than the one who makes a good candidate? Is it not time 
for America to elect a man whose morality extends across his personal piety and 
his policies? For those of us who believe America’s true challenge is renewing 
its moral, spiritual and democratic values, now is that time--a time of moral 
urgency and of moral choice.

The Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. is senior minister at New York City's 
Riverside Church, an interdenominational, interracial church built by John D. 
Rockefeller Jr.