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Aside from weddings and funerals, I haven’t really gone to church in about 30 years. This morning, despite my non-belief (yes, I’m still going to hell), I felt a strong need to be part of a loving community and took myself off to Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church.

It was the warm, welcoming, consoling hug that I needed. A congregation unafraid to fight for what is right and just and moral. It was rage and anguish fashioned into love and a firm resolve to help end the occupation and support our neighbors. Among the clergy who spoke was Karen Larson, a Presbyterian minister who told her story of being arrested for civil disobedience at the Minneapolis airport in -22 degrees on Friday morning. (Read more about clergy organizing here.)

As I sat in the pew and wept for Alex Pretti, Renee Good, George Floyd and the state of our country, my own resolve crystalized into what I need to do support my community and help save our democracy. The latter may sound a bit melodramatic, but the moment many of us have predicted is here. This is not happening to Minnesota, this is happening to the whole country. Whatever they get away with in Minneapolis will just be the start of what they do in other parts of the country. This is the moment all of us need to stand up for what is right and just and moral. And dare I say, constitutional.

We all have things we can do.

• No matter what state you are in, call your Congressional delegation, red or blue, and let them know how you feel.
• Be vocal with your independent and Republican friends and family. Sometimes I think in an effort to respect varying opinions we stay quiet while all the oxygen is sucked out of the room by the lying liars. I’m not suggesting you get into arguments with MAGA turds, you will never win those, but don’t let their bullshit go unchallenged in front of others.
• There are plenty of organizations here in Minnesota that can use your help. Check out the donation links on the Stand with Minnesota website.
• In your own community, look for immigrant support groups, defense funds, the ACLU, and others that are fighting the good fight and give them your time and/or money.

You don’t have to believe in the divinity of Jesus to be a decent, caring, moral human being. And belief doesn’t automatically make you any of those things. I wish more “Christians” understood that.