In an effort to raise the level of civility in this year’s presidential campaign, Cardinal Timothy Dolan has written to both President Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and their running mates to ask them to sign the Knights of Columbus “Civility in America” pledge.

According to Headline Bistro, Cardinal Dolan sent a letter to all four candidates personally inviting them to sign the pledge.

“I am writing to you, and to the other candidates for President and Vice President of this great nation, to ask for your support of this effort, so that the upcoming campaign will remain focused on the critical issues facing our nation, and not on personal attacks,” he wrote.

The pledge reads: “We, the undersigned citizens of the United States of America, respectfully request that candidates, the media and other advocates and commentators involved in the public policy arena employ a more civil tone in public discourse on political and social issues, focusing on policies rather than on individual personalities. For our part, we pledge to make these principles our own.”

According to the Knights of Columbus, the pledge has been signed or “liked” on Facebook by more than 25,000 people thus far. It was devised after a Knights of Columbus-Marist poll found that almost eight in 10 Americans (78 percent) were frustrated by the tone of political campaigns in this country with 74 percent seeing the problem as getting worse, and another 64 percent saying that it was damaging our political process.

“Signing this non-partisan pledge is an important way for Americans to demand a better tone from candidates of every party. Signing does not mean that Americans don’t want a good debate on differences in policies and philosophy among candidates,” said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, “but such debates can remain civil on the national stage, just as they do in homes and neighborhood diners across our country. We all know how to disagree with our friends and family members without resorting to name calling in private, and it has no place in our public discourse either.”

Click here to sign the pledge.

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