Adopted by the Tri-City Interfaith Council on Thursday, January 07, 2016
The Tri-City Interfaith Council is horrified at the violence we witness in our world, and we are appalled by the recent acts of bloodshed in San Bernardino, Paris, and throughout the Middle East. We continue to pray for all who suffer as a result of these senseless acts of terror.
We also pray for the strength and courage to respond to this violence with love and mercy. We refuse to let these acts of death and destruction sow the seeds of fear and mistrust that threaten to tear our communities apart and lead inevitably to more violence and harm.
We are witnessing the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War. More than 4 million Syrians have fled violence in their homeland and 12 million more are displaced internally. Syrian refugees are fleeing exactly the kind of terror that we have witnessed in these past few weeks. More than 250,000 have lost their lives; many more have lost family, home, and community.
At a time when the world is in desperate need of humanitarian relief, some are calling for suspension of the US refugee resettlement program, an end to funding for Syrians, or a rationing of mercy based on religious creed. Such restrictions violate the tenets of our many faith traditions and the principles of our nation.
As an Interfaith organization, we choose to stand for life and hope. We condemn the use of Islamophobia to divide us. We will not give in to fear. We will not allow others to divide us by race or creed or nationality and we will not turn our back on our Syrian sisters and brothers in their hour of greatest need.
The Tri-City Interfaith Council is horrified at the violence we witness in our world, and we are appalled by the recent acts of bloodshed in San Bernardino, Paris, and throughout the Middle East. We continue to pray for all who suffer as a result of these senseless acts of terror.
We also pray for the strength and courage to respond to this violence with love and mercy. We refuse to let these acts of death and destruction sow the seeds of fear and mistrust that threaten to tear our communities apart and lead inevitably to more violence and harm.
We are witnessing the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War. More than 4 million Syrians have fled violence in their homeland and 12 million more are displaced internally. Syrian refugees are fleeing exactly the kind of terror that we have witnessed in these past few weeks. More than 250,000 have lost their lives; many more have lost family, home, and community.
At a time when the world is in desperate need of humanitarian relief, some are calling for suspension of the US refugee resettlement program, an end to funding for Syrians, or a rationing of mercy based on religious creed. Such restrictions violate the tenets of our many faith traditions and the principles of our nation.
As an Interfaith organization, we choose to stand for life and hope. We condemn the use of Islamophobia to divide us. We will not give in to fear. We will not allow others to divide us by race or creed or nationality and we will not turn our back on our Syrian sisters and brothers in their hour of greatest need.