Join us on June 23 at 4pm ET for a conversation on Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Rabbi Michael Holzman will facilitate a discussion with Rev. Vernon Walton, Rev. Latricia Scriven, and Derrick Scott III, exploring what Douglass’s words meant in his time and what they ask of us now. This text study models the kind of conversations has by faith250 clusters, opening space to listen across difference and find shared values rooted in America’s founding ideals. The event is free and registration is required.

Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/p0hLesqGSHGTRPsY4gcsGA

Participating Congregations

Temple B’rith Kodesh
First Unitarian Church

Participating Congregations

Temple Shomer Emunim
Jewish Community Relations Council of Jewish Federation of Greater Toledo

faith250 seeks to bring clergy and congregations from multiple faith traditions together; gathering across differences, breaking bread, and studying America's foundational texts. Participants describe discovering that their shared civic values run deeper than the distinctions between them. Houses of worship are among the few places where neighbors, friends, and newcomers regularly meet face to face, study text, and seek truth together. Faith communities are uniquely positioned to be stewards of America's civic culture. Learn more at faith250.org and share this video with friends and neighbors.

Special thanks to the Einhorn Collaborative for their support in creating this video.

When faith250 began, the idea was simple: bring clergy and congregations together across faith traditions to study America's founding texts and engage honestly with what those texts ask of us as citizens today. We believed that if we started locally, something larger could grow.

It has.

We now include over 254 congregations in 39 clusters across the country. That number represents dozens of clergy who picked up the phone, reached out to a colleague, and said: let’s do this together. It represents multifaith gatherings where people who might never have spoken instead shared a meal together, read Frederick Douglass side by side and asked hard questions about what it means to be an American right now.

We’re not stopping here. Our goal is to see many more clusters of congregations doing this work in communities across America. Could we get to 250 clusters?!

If faith250 has meant something to you, share it. Forward this post. Tell a clergy colleague. The next congregation to join could be the one down the street from you.

Learn more and register your cluster at faith250.org.

Participating Congregations

Grace Episcopal Church
Providence Presbyterian Church

Participating Congregations

Trinity Episcopal Church
St. John’s Episcopal Church
Covenant Presbyterian Church
First Presbyterian Church
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church
Temple House of Israel

What does love have to do with civics? On Wednesday, June 10 at 1:00 PM ET, Rabbi Michael Holzman will explore that question with Bishop Tom Berlin, Resident Bishop of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, in a live conversation as part of the faith250 Perspectives series. The discussion will also include a brief introduction to faith250 and an invitation to join the 254 congregations in 39 clusters across the country using the program to engage in multifaith dialogue during the 250th anniversary of America. This free event takes place via Zoom. Registration is required. You can register here.

If you’ve been wondering whether faith communities have a role to play in America’s civic life right now, this conversation is for you. faith250 invites faith leaders and congregations across traditions to form local clusters that become sacred spaces for listening, for wrestling with America’s founding texts, and for celebrating our shared hopes as a nation. Whether you’re ready to start a cluster or simply want to learn more, we’d love to have you join us.

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass stepped to a podium in Rochester, New York, and said something that stopped his audience cold. He had been invited to give a Fourth of July address. Instead, he turned the celebration itself into the subject of his remarks.

Douglass understood that rituals have meaning — and that when a ritual loses its integrity, something deeper than a ceremony is lost. He quoted the Israelites in Babylonian exile, who refused to sing their holiday songs in a strange land. He quoted Isaiah, who told a fasting people that God was not impressed by their observance: “Because on your fast day, you see to your business, and oppress all your laborers … No, this is the fast I desire: To unlock fetters of wickedness, and untie the cords of the yoke.” Then Douglass landed his blow. To celebrate liberty while tolerating slavery, he said, was “brass fronted impudence,” “hollow mockery” that did not just fail to honor American values, but actively corroded them.

His warning has never stopped being relevant. And as America approaches its 250th anniversary, it feels more urgent than ever.

What is a Ritual?

Before we continue, I need to explain how I am using the word ritual. It is not simply something repeated ritualistically, or done rote. It is also not just worship, although worship is a kind of ritual. Rather, ritual is when a group of leaders and participants enter into a defined period of imagination and suspended disbelief and open themselves to the possibility of being changed. Unlike a drama, when a group of spectators watch a group of actors play a role and then everyone departs and snaps back to their old ways of being, ritual is meant to be lived authentically, with a posture open to transformation.

Ritual uses all the various forms of human expression—poetry, prose, song—individual, collective, choral—instrumental music, archetecture, costuming (both for leaders and participants), lighting, social gathering, food, storytelling, and calendar—to communicate a message beyond mere words. By doing so it brings into existence possibility and imagination. Through symbolism, ritual asks us to consider how the world might be different, how we might be better, or how we might be part of something bigger than we can comprehend.

Democracy Needs Ritual. Here’s Why.

Because ritual has the power to bridge from experience to ideal, it serves a critical function in democracy, because democracy is hard to sustain emotionally. Somebody always loses an election. Policies you care about get reversed. Leaders you distrust take power. The question for any healthy democracy is whether the people on the losing side — this time, or this cycle — can hold on to their sense of belonging, their investment in the shared project, their willingness to stay at the table.

Laws and institutions help. But they are not enough on their own. What holds people together at the level of the heart is ritual.

The political theorist Danielle Allen puts it plainly. Democratic citizens, she writes, are “by definition empowered only to be disempowered.” Winning and losing are baked into the system. What makes that bearable — what keeps the losing side from walking away or tearing things down — is ritual. Shared ceremony creates shared meaning. It reminds people that they belong to something larger than any single election or leader.

This is why people fill sanctuaries after tragedies. After the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in 2018, our congregation was packed the following Shabbat. The room held turbans and hijabs alongside kippot, elected officials alongside neighbors who had never been inside a synagogue before. No speech could have done what that gathering did. Only a ritual — with its layers of music, prayer, symbol, and presence — could hold the weight of that moment.

It’s also why even people who never set foot in a house of worship will seek out ritual at the hinge moments of their lives. Birth. Marriage. Death. Something in us knows that these moments require more than words. They require ceremony.

Nations are no different.

What We’ve Lost — and What’s at Stake This Year

The problem is that our national rituals have been hollowing out for a long time. Federal holidays have become long weekends. The national anthem gets performed at sporting events but rarely sung together. Jon Rauch, in his recent book Cross Purposes, talks about the “load-bearing walls” of democracy — the structures of shared life that hold the whole thing up. Civic ritual is one of those walls. When it crumbles, we do not always notice right away. But the foundation is weakening.

America’s 250th anniversary is one of the most significant civic moments in a generation. How we mark it will say something loud about who we are and what we value — whether we plan it to or not.

Why faith250 Is Asking Congregations to Lead

This is exactly why faith250 encourages its clusters of congregations to create public civic rituals in their communities. Not private worship services. Not internal programs. Public rituals — ones that open the doors, invite the neighbors, and say to the broader community: we are here, we belong to this place, and we believe this country’s story is worth telling together.

Congregations are uniquely positioned to do this. We have the space, the relationships, the trained leadership, and the tradition. Clergy are among the last professionals in American life who are specifically trained in how to create and conduct ritual. And faith communities are woven into the fabric of local life in ways that national organizations simply are not.

Which brings us to something faith250 is intentional about: we provide resources, but we do not create the rituals for our clusters. That’s not an accident or an oversight. It’s the whole point.

A ritual that lands — one that actually moves people, holds meaning, and builds community — has to be rooted in local soil. The needs of a congregation in rural Mississippi are not the same as those of one in suburban Virginia or urban Chicago. The history is different. The wounds are different. The hopes are different. A ritual designed somewhere else and handed down will always feel like it was designed somewhere else.

So faith250 offers frameworks, ideas, and support. But the people who know the community — who have sat with its grief, celebrated its milestones, and argued about its future — are the ones who need to shape the ceremony. That’s not a limitation. That’s what makes it real.

Taking on Douglass’s Challenge

Douglass did not just denounce the hypocrisy he saw around him. He called people to something better. He believed that American ideals were worth fighting for — worth insisting on, worth embodying in public, communal life.

faith250 makes that same claim. This anniversary year is not something to hand off to big, splashy, national events planned by politicians. It belongs to communities. It belongs to congregations. It belongs to the people who will still be here, doing the slow work of democracy, long after the speeches are over.

The ritual is ours to create. Let’s get to work.

Many in our congregations feel uncertain, even hopeless, about what is happening in our country right now. In this time of extreme polarization and political disruption, they are looking for moral clarity, and honestly, sometimes it's hard to know what to offer. faith250 starts from the premise that faith communities have a significant role to play in restoring civic culture, and that sacred text study, which is practiced in our own traditions, is a powerful tool for doing it.

The program brings multifaith clusters of congregations together to study what we call American Scriptures: the Declaration of Independence, Frederick Douglass's "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?," Emma Lazarus's "The New Colossus," and "America the Beautiful.” These texts, among many others which have been core to the founding and development of our country, articulate the values and ideals that can inform how people of faith respond to this particular moment in our shared history. The program has three components: clergy relationship-building and text study; clergy-led multifaith events for their congregations to gather; and a local public civic ritual. faith250 provides the resources and guidance so that local faith leaders can create something meaningful for their congregations and the broader community.

Thanksgiving is one of the most natural occasions in the US calendar for a public civic ritual, and we've put together a practical guide to help clergy work through the full faith250 process with a Thanksgiving public civic ritual as the destination. The guide walks you through forming your cluster and initial engagement with the texts alongside neighboring clergy through the summer, building congregational gatherings in the fall, and bringing your community together for a public event during the Thanksgiving season. Two flexible timelines are offered — one that overlaps the clergy and congregational phases, and one that sequences them — so you can choose the approach that fits your community. Planning for music, promotion, and the civic ritual itself are all addressed.

If you've been looking for a structured way to engage your community in civic life this year, one that's grounded in relationship and rooted in text study, this guide is your starting point. You can find it now at faith250.org. We would love to have your congregation be part of what is happening in communities across the country.

Participating Congregations

Cincinnati Harmony Initiative (CHAI)
Lakeside Presbyterian Church
Beth Israel Congregation
Nexus United Church of Christ
Northern Hills Synagogue

On May 20, the faith250 team hosted a live general info session for interested faith leaders. We covered the basic components of the program and addressed a few frequently asked questions. The recording is now available HERE.

If you’re already part of a cluster, share this with a clergy colleague or friend who leads a congregation. And now is a great time to start planning for the fall.

If faith250 is new to you, learn more at faith250.org, subscribe to this Substack at joinfaith250.org, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook @joinfaith250.

faith250 was very well received by those who attended, and two faith leaders were inspired to take the program to their own congregations. The discussions were thoughtful, meaningful, and intentionally nonpartisan, with a recurring theme emerging throughout the conversations: these historical documents present ideals that, while we have not always lived up to them as citizens or as a nation, provide aspirations toward which we can continue to strive. Participants reflected on how these ideals align closely with many teachings found across our faith traditions, particularly values centered on hope, justice, compassion, and love for others.

At this sacred time of the Hajj, when millions of your children drink from the Zamzam Well on their way to Kaaba, help humanity taste the miracle which saved the child Ishmael, cast out by fear and ignorance and the desire that we forever remain separate from one another. O Merciful One, teach us that we can be like the living waters which bring comfort to the grieving, hope to the newly insecure, and reassurance to our neighbors.

Source of wisdom, grant us the common sense to see that those who live amongst a flood of swords and a dearth of plowshares will forever sow blood and death, and that no legal or constitutional principle should justify the cheapening of human life. And if we are so stiff-necked and bald-faced as to persist in our folly, at least let us discern that we are not powerless to act. You who Grants Knowledge, make us know how to send a text, make a call, write a card, reach out to a friend or neighbor who is hurt and afraid right now. Teach us that if we have not already forged bonds between our shuls and mosques, churches and temples, cathedrals and mandirs, gurdwara’s and masjids, synagogues and basilicas, then our bill is past due. For Cain will come again soon.

Yes, my brothers and sisters, the work is hard and the list is long, but the Master is impatient, and even if we cannot finish the task, we are not free to desist from the labor. The best time to know one another was long ago, but the second best time is now.

O Great Healer, help us recognize our ability to heal one another. Show us that we must close the distance between us, connect the places where we congregate and worship, and strengthen the relationships that bind us together. For by Your great Providence, we can now live with one another, eat together, visit in each other’s homes, and come to understand our varied ways. This is Your miracle, a radical blessing in the long history of human isolation.

And through this blessing, Eternal One, allow someone, somewhere to be Your unwitting messenger, an angel unknown even to the self, able to bring hope, to touch a soul, and to turn someone on the road from grief to grievance, from bereavement to bitterness, away from the next act of hate. And thus another miracle will be done.

Participating Congregations

First Presbyterian Church of Granville
Centenary United Methodist Church
Temple Israel

Participating Organizations

Jewish Community Relations Council
CEIE at Seattle University
Paths to Understanding

Participating Congregations

Sebastian United Methodist Church
Bahá’í Center of Brevard
Concordia Lutheran Church
Christ the King Lutheran Church
Kashi Ashram
St Andrew United Methodist Church

On May 7, the National Day of Prayer, faith250 joined Braver Angels for an evening of reflection on the Gettysburg Address — and if you missed it, you can now watch the full recording on YouTube. faith250's Derrick Scott III, Rev. Becca Messman, and Rabbi Michael Holzman participated in the event along with leaders from Braver Faith, One America Movement, Interfaith America, and others for short reflections and thoughtful prayers inspired by one of America's most defining texts. It was exactly the kind of gathering we love the see — people of faith, across traditions and backgrounds, gathering around the words that have shaped this nation and asking what they mean for us today. Watch the recording here.

This guest post was originally posted in the Christian Citizen.

I yearn for people of faith to help us heal our country.

No doubt, our politics are broken. But as America approaches its 250th anniversary, it’s clear we suffer from a deeper, more profound challenge: a crisis of belief—in our leaders, institutions, systems, even one another. The issue we face is how we can restore our belief that we can get things done together—not as Republicans, Democrats, or Independents, but as Americans, as human beings.

I recently spoke to a gathering of nationwide faith leaders convened by a new initiative called faith250. I addressed the special role that faith leaders can play in addressing this crisis. As a nation, we need the moral clarity and practical capacities of faith leaders to ground us in our shared values, prompt action on issues that matter in our local communities, and restore our belief.

During the faith250 discussion, the host asked how often I see faith leaders coming together across congregational lines to take shared action in the community. My response? Not often enough.

Instead, I see too many faith leaders using differences in doctrine to stoke divisions and political enmity to “win” for their “side” at any cost.

I also routinely encounter interfaith dialogues, episodic service events, and individual congregations that support charitable activities like food pantries or school supply drives. While these are worthy endeavors, something is still missing.

If we want to address this crisis of belief, and we believe people of faith have a vital role to play, then faith leaders must lead with civic purpose.

Consider what happened in Alamance County, NC, one of the fastest-growing communities in the country and home to over 300 churches. It is one of the most divided places I’ve worked in nearly four decades across all fifty states. Like in many places, churches in Alamance are the backbone of the community. But as I learned early on in working there, they were also fragmented and focused on their own survival. Indeed, faith leaders rarely worked together with a civic purpose; nor did their congregations.

Enter a group of faith leaders who joined together across congregational lines to figure out how they might work with a civic purpose. As you might imagine, turning these conversations into action proved difficult. I recall one pastor telling me, “I’ll lose my standing with my minister’s circle if I start talking about doing this kind of work with other churches.” Others worried what their own congregations would say to them and how they might push back.

I hear these concerns time and again. But this group stayed in the game. Rather than turning inward even more to their own congregations, they made the intentional choice of turning outward to the community, focusing on what they could agree on, and seeking at every turn to build together rather than just talk.

A breakthrough came when one brave faith leader proposed framing their work around “faith with a civic purpose.”

That simple reorientation around a “civic purpose” helped different faith leaders hold onto their individual beliefs and transcend them. Under the banner of civic purpose, taking action on behalf of the community was an expression of shared values—care, service, devotion—rather than a departure from their own faith’s particular beliefs. Gone was the need to negotiate or fully align on doctrine.

Equipped with a stronger sense of shared purpose, opportunities for practical ways to take action on longstanding issues quickly emerged. This group ultimately unleashed a whole chain reaction of actions that involved organizing new types of service days where people from different congregations mixed together to forge new community relationships and norms; supporting multiple local schools to create more belonging for youth, regardless of their faith backgrounds; reinvigorating a stagnant coalition of faith leaders to address housing challenges; and developing a new network of food pantries that required churches to work together rather than in isolation.

One leader named the underlying value of their efforts by saying, “Churches previously working in silos are now working together as a network. Churches are not just looking at serving their own congregations; they’re looking to serve the entire community.”

Rather than diminish the role of faith leaders in the community, these efforts only made faith leaders more relevant, trusted, and valued. Their work benefited the community and their individual congregations.

That’s because working with a civic purpose asks faith leaders to transcend individual perspectives to work for the good of the community. It doesn’t ask faith leaders to give up their beliefs or set aside their spirituality.

America’s 250th is calling faith leaders to step forward in a new way. If not now, then when? If not faith leaders, then who?

Rich Harwood is the Founder and President of The Harwood Institute.