{"id":289210,"date":"2026-05-29T18:53:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T18:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/289210\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T18:53:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T18:53:21","slug":"orlandos-civility-pledge-should-inspire-us-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/289210\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando\u2019s civility pledge should inspire us all"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like Jews worldwide, Orlando philanthropist Alan Ginsburg was deeply shaken by Hamas\u2019s brutal Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel<\/a>,\u00a0which killed 1,200\u00a0and took\u00a0hundreds hostage.<\/p>\n

Soon,\u00a0numerous\u00a0elite U.S. university campuses erupted, displaying anti-Israel rhetoric sometimes spilling into crude antisemitic tropes<\/a>. Ginsburg felt civil discussion\u2019s decline into polarized shouting matches was unhealthy in a city of tourism and theme parks.\u00a0So, he contacted the Rev. Joel Hunter<\/a>, former pastor of Northland, a 20,000-member suburban megachurch.<\/p>\n

In early\u00a02024,\u00a0Hunter and\u00a0the Ginsburg Family Foundation invited 150 civic and community leaders to devise a way forward. Their Central Florida Pledge<\/a>\u00a0aimed to help build \u201cAmerica\u2019s most welcoming community\u201d and keep \u201cCentral Florida a safe community for all who live here and for future generations.\u201d\u00a0It read as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cI will lead by example\u2014treating all people with dignity and respect, especially those with whom I disagree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will\u00a0refrain from inflammatory words and actions, and actively support those being attacked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will\u00a0report threatening incidents of hate and violence to 800-423-TIPS (8477).<\/p>\n

\u201cI will\u00a0educate myself about all forms of discrimination, including antisemitism, homophobia, Islamophobia, racism, and help others in my circle of influence to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, 6,000 people have signed, including about a thousand from area high schools and colleges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pledge has made a real impact especially with young people,\u201d said Rabbi Steven Engel, emeritus rabbi of the Congregation of Reform Judaism<\/a>. A founding pledge member, Engel helped involve the interfaith community.<\/p>\n

Pledge members applied their credo in March 2025, after\u00a0fundamentalist Christians demonstrated at several Orlando area churches, including a gay congregation and a gay-affirming United Methodist Church. Inside and outside, protesters disrupted Sunday services, calling Joy Metropolitan Ministries a \u201csynagogue of sin<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0Hunter and about 70 pledge-signers came out in support.<\/p>\n

In response, the Rev. Terri Steed Pierce told the\u00a0Orlando Sentinel<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cIt meant a lot to me, but it meant even more to my congregation when they walked in to see a bunch of people they\u2019ve never seen before standing outside saying, \u2018You\u2019re going to have to go through us to get to them,’\u201d she said. \u201cAnd ninety-nine percent of those people standing outside my gay church were not gay.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two pledge founders, Ginsburg and Hunter,\u00a0are ideally suited for this effort.<\/p>\n

Ginsburg, a concert promoter turned affordable-housing developer, is a major Orlando philanthropist.\u00a0His Ginsburg Family Foundation\u2019s many causes include two Orlando hospitals, helping finance the University of Central Florida\u2019s Hillel center<\/a>, plus $6 million for a new, downtown Holocaust museum<\/a>. He also co-founded and sponsors summer \u201cSeeds of Peace\u201d programs<\/a>\u00a0involving young Israelis and Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Hunter is hardly a typical Sunbelt preacher. A Midwesterner,\u00a0the\u00a01960s Civil\u00a0Rights\u00a0Movement kindled his ministry commitment. Then, in\u00a02016, the Pulse nightclub shooting<\/a>\u00a0that killed 49 and wounded 58 in Orlando\u00a0galvanized Hunter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we had gay people in the congregation,\u201d Hunter told a reporter at the time. \u201cBut there was no one who felt like they could reach out to\u00a0us, apparently. \u2026\u00a0And so, I went to the congregation and said, \u2018I\u2019m going to do a self-examination as to whether or not I have been culpable by not speaking to a broad love of all our neighbors, especially the gay community.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, he told the\u00a0Sentinel,\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m\u00a0a conservative evangelical Christian,\u00a0for crying\u00a0out loud. And I have not had to sacrifice one iota of what I believe\u201d in developing the pledge. \u201cBut I have been able to figure out how I can best respect other people in what they believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Sue Wasiolek<\/a>, a faculty participant in Duke University\u2019s Civil Discourse Project, \u201cEfforts like the Central Florida Pledge work because they move civility from an abstract ideal into a lived, public commitment. When people see neighbors showing up across lines of difference, it reshapes what\u2019s\u00a0possible in divided communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBorn out of crisis, The Central Florida Pledge became a community-driven movement,\u201d Ginsburg\u00a0 told me\u00a0in an interview.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0\u201ca simple step the community can take to encourage widespread safety, dignity and respect, and help make Central Florida America\u2019s most welcoming community by neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durham, N.C.-based\u00a0journalist\u00a0and author Mark I. Pinsky covered religion for the\u00a0Orlando Sentinel\u00a0for 15 years.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

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