Top National Faith Leaders to Remember 9/11, Mourn Victims, Promote Religious Freedom
Interreligious gathering will highlight four religious organizations that have led efforts to unite religious communities in the face of anti-Muslim sentiment
Families of Muslim victims will also attend
WASHINGTON – One year after issuing a historic statement calling for faith communities to promote acceptance and end religious bigotry, senior national religious leaders will reconvene on Thursday, September 8, to remember the September 11 attack, mourn victims from the tragedy and celebrate the religious community’s role in healing a nation still struggling to overcome the fear and division that has defined the years since the attack.
Participating religious leaders include the national heads of numerous denominations and faith groups representing Christians, Jews and Muslims. In addition to recognizing families of Muslim victims of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the group will highlight four of the many religious organizations that have led grassroots efforts to unite religious communities across the country in the face of anti-Muslim sentiment.
The September 8 interreligious meeting will begin at 11 a.m. at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church’s (1313 New York Avenue, NW) Radcliffe Room. Media is invited, and coverage is welcomed. Photo, video and interview opportunities will also be available.
The participating religious leaders represent the same denominations and faith groups that stood in solidarity on September 7, 2010, to speak out against the rise in Islamophobia leading up to the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks and the planned burning of the Qur’an in Florida.
In response to U.S. Representative Peter King’s (R-N.Y.) controversial congressional hearings into the radicalization of the American Muslim community, the religious leaders launched “Shoulder to Shoulder: Standing with American Muslims; Upholding American Values,” (http://www.shouldertoshouldercampaign.org) comprising 26 national religious, faith-based and interfaith organizations who have pledged to work together to promote tolerance and to work to end anti-Muslim bigotry.
WHO: Among the senior Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders are Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Rev. Geoffrey Black, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ; Bishop Martin Holley, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism; Imam Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America; Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches; Rabbi Marc Schneier, an Orthodox rabbi and president of The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding; and Rev. Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor at Northland, A Church Distributed.
Leaders from Armenian Church of America, Interfaith Alliance, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, Presbyterian Church (USA), Sojourners, Sikh Council on Religion and Education, Universal Muslim Association of America and the United Methodist Church are also expected to participate.
WHAT: Interreligious gathering to remember the September 11 attack, mourn victims from the tragedy, and celebrate the religious community’s role in healing a nation still struggling to overcome the fear and division that has defined the decade since the attack.
WHEN: Thursday, September 8 at 11 a.m. EDT
WHERE: New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Radcliffe Room, 1313 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C.