Higher Ground Moral Declaration

The publication of the Higher Ground Moral Declaration coincided with the launch of a 2016 National Moral Revival Tour to Redefine Morality in American Politics. The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President and Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach and the Rev. Dr. James Forbes Jr., National Minister of the Drum Major Institute, President of Healing of the Nations Ministries, and Senior Minister Emeritus of the Riverside Church were invited to travel throughout the nation to lead “The Revival: Time for a Moral Revolution of Values.”  

The Revival was a catalyst for renewed moral activism among faith and community leaders. The first leg of the tour covered 15 states and the District of Columbia, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma, and New York, from April 2016 through January 2017.  Throughout the tour they were joined by the Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon, Executive Director of the UCC Justice and Witness Ministry and Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of NETWORK, as well as other Jewish, Muslim and moral leaders.  

This Higher Ground Moral Declaration provides a moral agenda for our nation on issues including: democracy and voting rights; poverty and economic justice; workers’ rights; education; healthcare; environmental justice; immigrant rights and challenging xenophobia; criminal justice; LGBTQ rights; and war-mongering and the military. For each issue area, an individual moral and constitutional foundation is established. The positions are neither left nor right, nor conservative or liberal. Rather, they are morally defensible, constitutionally consistent, and economically sound. Most importantly, they represent, as Dr. King urged, a revolution in values.