Leading Reform and Conservative rabbis joined six other religious leaders in a call on people of all faiths to speak out against extremists following recent attacks on ethnic and religious minorities.

Rabbi Burton Visotzky, director of the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue at the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary, called on all Jews “to address this tragedy, this shock” by visiting a Sikh temple this Sunday as a way to address the recent shootings that killed six people in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

The press conference Thursday morning was organized by Shoulder-to-Shoulder: Standing with America’s Muslim: Upholding American Values. This group has spoken out in the past against anti-Muslim sentiment and the planned burning in Florida of the Koran.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The call also addressed the recent burning of the Islamic Center of Joplin, Miss. and the opening Friday of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, Tenn., a project that has faced protests, the opposition by some top politicians in the state as well as bomb threats and vandalism.

“Group-based assaults are more than mere acts of violence,” said Rabbi David Saperstein, director and counsel at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. “They are nothing less than attacks on those values that are the pillars of our republic and the guarantors of our freedom. They are a betrayal of the promise of America,”

No one should be scared to practice their own religion, the speakers all agreed. They urged everyone to get to know their neighbors regardless of their religious affiliations and join together to denounce those who advocate violence.

“This is a time for public mourning and public lament,” said Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. “Now is the time to reject violence” and begin engaging with people of different faiths.

Visotzky said the best way to raise awareness about different religions is to educate from both the pulpit and the classroom. Saperstein added that everyone needs to play a role in building bridges and delegitimizing those who want to cause violence and death.

All religions must “stand in solidarity. An attack on one religion is an attack on all religions,” Saperstein said.

Also speaking to the media were Rev. Richard Cizik, president of The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good; Bishop Denis J. Maden, chair of the Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Imam Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America; Kathryn Lohre, president of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and Rev. Peter Morales, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount