Dozens of prominent national faith leaders add their names to joint sign-on declaration
Dozens of Interfaith leaders convened on December 19, 2023 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. to sign a declaration against Antisemitism and Islamophobia in the wake of exponentially increasing acts of hate and hate-fueled violence
The Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign, a multifaith coalition of religious denominations and faith-based organizations committed to ending anti-Muslim hatred, discrimination, and violence in the United States of America, expresses concern and stands together against the alarming increase in Islamophobia and in antisemitism across the United States in recent weeks.
In the context of a major escalation of violence in the Middle East, we stand firm in our founding conviction that “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.” We will continue to speak out against incidents brought to our attention that negatively impact the freedom, safety, and integrity of the religious and cultural communities we care and represent.
In communities, on campuses, and on social and commercial media, incitement against Muslims and Jews is explicit and spreading. Muslim, Jewish, and all other communities targeted in this escalating climate of hate, including Palestinian, Arab, and Sikh Americans in the US have experienced heightened fear and violence and increased threats at places of worship and community gatherings. No one should fear for their lives and safety because of their religious or cultural identity. As we asserted in our founding statement, the United States “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 Middle East is a place of religious diversity in which Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze, and others have lived for centuries. The conflict in Israel/Palestine is often oversimplified, reduced to a clash of religions in which Jews and Muslims are pitted against one another. Not only does such an understanding ignore the vibrant presence and witness of Middle Eastern Christians, but it also ignores many of the fundamental issues that must be resolved to reach a just and lasting peace. It exacerbates the blame and targeting of Jews and Muslims there and elsewhere in a way that diminishes the values of their faith, violates the rights and dignity of individual adherents, and feeds the antisemitism and Islamophobia we abhor and work to counter in this country. We acknowledge that religion is an inseparable aspect of the conflict, but we reject a framing that focuses exclusively on oppositional religious narratives.
As we stated at our founding in 2010, “We are committed to building a future in which religious differences no longer lead to hostility or division between communities. Rather, we believe such diversity can enrich our public discourse about the great moral challenges facing our nation and our planet,” including the Middle East. We stand firm in this commitment.
As leaders and individual communities committed to the work of the Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign, we acknowledge that we have not always done all we can to counter both anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish discrimination within our communities. We have sometimes failed to interrupt harmful and dangerous myths and stereotypes, and we have sometimes failed to call out overgeneralization and collective labeling in our midst. We recognize that we have sometimes failed to love our neighbors as we should.
Each of our faith traditions values the life and dignity of each person. We cannot stand idly by when human life is at stake. We repeat what we have said before: Silence or inaction in the face of hate, discrimination, and violence is not an option. As religious and spiritual leaders representing the various faiths in the United States, we accept and reaffirm our moral responsibility to stand together and denounce the hate, violence, ridicule, misinformation, and outright bigotry directed against any religious or cultural group in this country. Only by taking this stand can we fulfill the highest calling of our respective faiths and thereby help to create a safer and stronger society for all people.
We, the undersigned, recommit ourselves to addressing hate and discrimination in our communities, congregations, and organizations through and beyond the Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign.
