[no subject]

[Philip Jenks <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

>Emergency meeting of top faith leaders
>to address anti-Muslim fear, intolerance

>MEDIA ADVISORY

>CONTACT: Kara Goehring
>Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications
>202-265-3000; Kara@rabinowitz-dorf.com 

WASHINGTON-Top Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other faith leaders from 
across the country will brief media on the outcome of an emergency 
interfaith meeting to address the growing tide of fear and 
intolerance that has emerged in the wake of the New York Muslim 
Community Center debate. 

The press conference will take place Tuesday, September 7 at 1 p.m. 
in the National Press Club's Murrow room, four days before the 
anniversary of 9-11 and before the planned burning of the Holy Koran 
in Gainesville, Florida.  Media coverage of the press conference is 
welcomed. 

The meeting, organized by the Islamic Society of North America 
(ISNA), aims to raise a shared religious voice that has been largely 
missing in the debate until now. Participants are expected to release 
a joint declaration underscoring the clergy's moral responsibility in 
communicating the need for solidarity and compassion and to lay out a 
plan of action for interfaith collaboration going forward. 

Participants will discuss the state of interfaith solidarity and 
propose solutions to the anti-Muslim discrimination and hatred that 
has emerged in recent weeks.  
Among those expected to attend are the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, 
general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Cardinal 
Theodore McCarrick, the Archbishop Emeritus of Washington; Bishop 
Mark Sisk, the Episcopal Church's Bishop of New York; and Rabbi David 
Saperstein from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. 
Leadership from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Greek Orthodox 
Archdiocese of America, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, 
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, The Foundation For Ethnic 
Understanding, the Archdiocese of New York and Archdiocese of 
Washington are also expected to participate. 

WHO: Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders from across the 
country 
WHAT: Joint press conference to discuss interfaith response to the 
emerging atmosphere of fear and intolerance in the wake of the New 
York Muslim Community Center debate.  
WHEN: Tuesday, September 7 at 1 pm EDT 
WHERE: The National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW, The Murrow Room