On January 8, 2024, Tucson Hometown Heroes boarded a bus at 4:30 am, joining a diverse group of Tucson pastors and other ministry leaders headed to the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix. There, at 7 in the morning, they assembled with others from around the state for the annual Opening Day at The Arizona Legislature Prayer Walk led by Center for Arizona Policy President Cathi Herrod.
Tucson Fellowship Bible Church pastor Pat McClanahan organized the bus trip with the help of Our America Arizona Grassroots Director Paul Parisi, who is also a volunteer for Pastor Pat’s political outreach organization One Cry Tucson. With a motto of “Praying Citizens, Changing History One Vote at a Time”, they work towards creating solutions rather than just complaining about problems and doing so through positive interactions rather than hostility.
We are grateful to all those who attended for showing Americans that freedom of thought is as important in America today as it was at our founding. Many of the first people to come to colonial America did so to escape religious persecution, and the freedom of religious expression was so central to our identity that it was enshrined in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.
Unfortunately, in more recent times, a trend has emerged in American society. People from the narrow fringes are attempting to bully, silence, and cancel others for expressing different beliefs or for choosing to participate in their religious practices. Fringe individuals often claim they are trying to combat hate speech and misinformation or protect “marginalized groups” to justify their attempts to silence others.
But censorship is worse than any of these other threats. Our America applauds One Cry Tucson for demonstrating that religious freedom promotes civil discourse and is a platform to facilitate respectful conversation.
