NCC - Religious Leaders Denounce Anti-Muslim Bigotry

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> Washington, September 7, 2010

Beyond Park 51: Religious Leaders Denounce Anti-Muslim Bigotry and
Call for Respect for America?s Tradition of Religious Liberty

As religious leaders in this great country, we have come together in
our nation?s capital to denounce categorically the derision,
misinformation and outright bigotry being directed against America?s
Muslim community. We bear a sacred responsibility to honor America?s
varied faith traditions and to promote a culture of mutual respect and
the assurance of religious freedom for all. In advance of the ninth
anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we
announce a new era of interfaith cooperation.

As Jews, Christians, and Muslims, we are grateful to live in this
democracy whose Constitution guarantees religious liberty for all. Our
freedom to worship in congregations of our own choosing, to give
witness to our moral convictions in the public square, and to maintain
institutions that carry out our respective missions?all of these are
bedrock American freedoms that must be vigorously guarded and defended
lest they be placed at peril. The United States of America has been a
beacon to the world in defending the rights of religious minorities,
yet it is also sadly true that at times in our history particular
groups have been singled out for unjust discrimination and have been
made the object of scorn and animosity by those who have either
misconstrued or intentionally distorted the vision of our founders.

In recent weeks, we have become alarmed by the anti-Muslim frenzy that
has been generated over the plans to build an Islamic community center
and mosque at the Park 51 site near Ground Zero in New York City. We
recognize that the vicinity around the former World Trade Center,
where 2,752 innocent lives were cruelly murdered on 9/11, remains an
open wound in our country, especially for those who lost loved ones.
Persons of conscience have taken different positions on the wisdom of
the location of this project, even if the legal right to build on the
site appears to be unassailable. Our concern here is not to debate the
Park 51 project anew, but rather to respond to the atmosphere of fear
and contempt for fellow Americans of the Muslim faith that the
controversy has generated.

We are profoundly distressed and deeply saddened by the incidents of
violence committed against Muslims in our community, and by the
desecration of Islamic houses of worship. We stand by the principle
that to attack any religion in the United States is to do violence to
the religious freedom of all Americans. The threatened burning of
copies of the Holy Qu?ran this Saturday is a particularly egregious
offense that demands the strongest possible condemnation by all who
value civility in public life and seek to honor the sacred memory of
those who lost their lives on September 11. As religious leaders, we
are appalled by such disrespect for a sacred text that for centuries
has shaped many of the great cultures of our world, and that continues
to give spiritual comfort to more than a billion Muslims today.

We are committed to building a future in which religious differences
no longer lead to hostility or division between communities. Rather,
we believe that such diversity can serve to enrich our public
discourse about the great moral challenges that face our nation and
our planet. On the basis of our shared reflection, we insist that no
religion should be judged on the words or actions of those who seek to
pervert it through acts of violence; that politicians and members of
the media are never justified in exploiting religious differences as a
wedge to advance political agendas or ideologies; that bearing false
witness against the neighbor?something condemned by all three of our
religious traditions?is inflicting particular harm on the followers of
Islam, a world religion that has lately been mischaracterized by some
as a ?cult.?

We call for a new day in America when speaking the truth about one
another will embrace a renewed commitment to mutual learning among
religions. Leaders of local congregations have a special
responsibility to teach with accuracy, fairness and respect about
other faith traditions. The partnerships that have developed in recent
years between synagogues and churches, mosques and synagogues, and
churches and mosques should provide a foundation for new forms of
collaboration in interfaith education, inter-congregational
visitations, and service programs that redress social ills like
homelessness and drug abuse. What we can accomplish together is, in
very many instances, far more than we can achieve working in isolation
from one another. The good results of a more extensive collaboration
between religious congregations and national agencies will undoubtedly
help to heal our culture, which continues to suffer from the open
wound of 9/11.

We work together on the basis of deeply held and widely shared values,
each supported by the sacred texts of our respective traditions. We
acknowledge with gratitude the dialogues between our scholars and
religious authorities that have helped us to identify a common
understanding of the divine command to love one?s neighbor. Judaism,
Christianity and Islam all see an intimate link between faithfulness
to God and love of neighbor; a neighbor who in many instances is the
stranger in our midst. We are united in our conviction that by
witnessing together in celebration of human dignity and religious
freedom; by working together for interfaith understanding across
communities and generations; and by cooperating with each other in
works of justice and mercy for the benefit of society, all of us will
demonstrate our faithfulness to our deepest spiritual commitments.

We are convinced that spiritual leaders representing the various
faiths in the United States have a moral responsibility to stand
together and to denounce categorically derision, misinformation or
outright bigotry directed against any religious group in this country.
Silence is not an option. Only by taking this stand, can spiritual
leaders fulfill the highest calling of our respective faiths, and
thereby help to create a safer and stronger America for all of our 
people.

> ATTENDEES

Rev. Father Mark Arey

Director, Inter-Orthodox Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, Greek
Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Galen Carey

Executive Director of the Office of Governmental Affairs, National
Association of Evangelicals

Rev. Richard Cizik

President, New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good

> Dr. Gerald L. Durley
> Pastor, Providence Missionary Baptist Church

Dr. Mohmaed Elsanousi

Director of Community Outreach, Islamic Society of North America

Prof. Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer

Chair, Department of Multifaith Studies and Initiatives,
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

> Dr. Welton Gaddy
> President, Interfaith Alliance

Rabbi Steve Gutow

Executive Director, Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Rev. Donald Heckman

Director for External Relations, Religions for Peace

Bishop Neil L. Irons

Executive Secretary, Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church

Mr. Rizwan Jaka

Board Member, Islamic Society of North America

Rev. Rich Killmer

Executive Director, National Religious Campaign Against Torture

Dr. Michael Kinnamon

General Secretary, National Council of Churches (NCC)

Imam Mohamed Hag Magid

Vice President, Islamic Society of North America

Rev. Steven D. Martin

Executive Director, New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good

Father James Massa

Executive Director, Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)

> Rabbi Jose Rolando Matalon
> Rabbi, Congregation B?nai Jeshurun

> Dr. Ingrid Mattson
> President, Islamic Society of North America

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick

Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, Archdiocese of Washington

Bishop Donald J. McCoid

Executive for Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations, Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)

> Dr. Roy Medley
> General Secretary, American Baptist Churches

Rabbi Jack Moline

Director of Public Policy, Rabbinical Assembly

Mr. Nicholas Richardson

Communications Director, Archdiocese of New York

> Pastor Bob Roberts
> Pastor, Northwood Church in Keller, Texas

Mr. Walter Ruby

Muslim-Jewish Relations Program Officer, Foundation of Ethnic 
Understanding

Rabbi David Saperstein

Executive Director, The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ)

> Rabbi Marc Schneier
> President, Foundation of Ethnic Understanding

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld

Executive Vice President, The Rabbinical Assembly, the Association of
Conservatives Rabbis

Dr. Parvez Shah

Secretary General, Universal Muslim Association of America

> Bishop Mark Sisk
> Bishop of New York City, The Episcopal Church

Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed

National Director, Islamic Society of North America

> Rabbi Steve Wernick
> Executive Director, United Synagogue

Mr. Jim Winkler

General Secretary for Church and Society, United Methodist Church

Mr. Safaa Zarzour

Secretary General, Islamic Society of North America

> Dr. James Zogby
> President, Arab American Institute