Christians in the United States and around the world have seen their faith in Jesus Christ distorted and leveraged in defense of authoritarian leaders who seek to erode freedoms essential to a thriving democracy. Some Christians enthusiastically praise dictatorial leaders and regimes.

This fall, Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice hosted a summit of interfaith leaders with the intention of countering these disturbing trends. The Summit took place on September 19-20 at the new McCourt School of Public Policy building on Georgetown’s Capitol Campus.

The summit included the unveiling of a new statement presenting a theologically centered Christian defense of Democracy, sessions on the themes of religion and democracy and devoted to strategizing about how to maintain the integrity of our faith traditions and our tradition of democratic governance.

We met in a moment of crisis. Yet we did so as people of God animated by faith, hope, and love. It is in this spirit that we reaffirm Christian support for democracy and invite all Christians and people of moral conscience to do the same.

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