RALEIGH — They stood out among the thousands, with their clerical collars and yarmulkes.
The Historic Thousands on Jones Street rally, coined the Moral March in reference to the Moral Monday movement, drew thousands of people from all walks of life to downtown Raleigh on Saturday. It also drew hundreds of people of faith: religious leaders and their flocks.
“(This is) our religious obligation as Jews,” said Zemer Lexie Hallman, who serves as the director of Jewish music at Raleigh’s Temple Beth Or. “Beyond just the political side of this, it’s a moral call, to fight for people who don’t have a voice.”
Most of the religious communities represented at the march identified as progressive. Religious leaders at the march said they were attracted to the social justice aspect of the movement.
N.C. NAACP President the Rev. William Barber II, who serves as pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, is the face of the movement and frequently uses prayers in his rallying speeches.
The Rev. George Reed, executive director of the N.C. Council of Churches, said there is no unified stance for people of the religious community, but the council, which is a collection of congregations from across the state, tends to be on the less conservative side.
Racial justice and integration were some of the founding issues for the council, and Reed said members are still concerned about social inequalities today.
“(This is) where we ought to be — lots of clergy here today,” he said.
Dr. Bruce Grady, dean of the Shaw University Divinity School, said Christians are widespread in their views on special interest groups, but for him and the about 50 students and faculty from the Divinity School that came to the march, injustice for any group was an injustice for all.
