In an interview with Interfaith America’s Mary Ellen Giess, millennial Catholic Chris Crawford says:

The way I approach democracy stems from the way I approach human dignity in general.  My public engagement is rooted in my Catholic faith and the belief in the dignity of every person and that every person is made in the image and likeness of God. That core religious value plays out in a couple of ways in my advocacy for democracy. First, I believe every person has a right to vote as part of their right to help create the society in which they want to live and create better conditions for themselves as well as the most vulnerable people.  That has to be a focus of our democracy. I think democracies facilitate human flourishing. The opportunity for people to reach their full potential – the best chance of that is in the context of a democracy. My faith causes me to come at this from a different angle than other people might approach democracy; for me it’s about the idea that democracy is a means to respect the dignity of every person and help them to flourish and have their rights secured….

I love the Declaration of Independence; I love the lofty ideals contained there.  People who have gotten our politics right over time have seen it as their mission to help us live up to those ideals while recognizing we haven’t done so many times over time.  Expanding the idea of who is covered in the words of “all men are created equal” – that’s a sacred obligation for each of us.

You can read the full interview here.