SEWANEE, TN — In response to two bills in the state legislature, Senate Bill 0971 and House Bill 1079, that would easier to prevent our neighbors from voting, Rev. Dr. Jo Ann Barker of Sewanee released the following statement:
“If we believe that all human beings are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), then efforts to prevent some of God’s children from exercising their franchise must be opposed as a matter of fidelity to our faith. If we believe that how we treat people living on the margins is how we treat Christ himself, then we have a clear Christian mandate to ensure that society’s most disenfranchised can exercise the right to vote. Passage of Senate Bill 0971 and House Bill 1079 would violate this Christian mandate and pull Tennessee in a dark direction where not all rights are equal, especially those who need assistance registering to vote. Our communities are stronger when all of God’s children have a voice. We ask that our state legislature embrace voting rights for all of God’s children.”