At a January 21, 2016 press conference on the campus of Lehigh University, a statement was released addressing the rising tide of harsh anti-Muslim rhetoric that has become a troubling part of contemporary political and media discourse. Forty-three religious leaders, including bishops and judicatory heads, rabbis and cantors, college and university chaplains and senior pastors of independent churches or leaders of other religious bodies in the Lehigh Valley signed the statement, with many of the signatories offering remarks at the press conference.
The statement of support for Muslims was not directed at any individual or group but at attitudes that are contrary to ideals widely shared in America about religious people from different traditions respecting one another and living together in peace. The statement is positive in its support for Muslims in the local community. It is positive in its support of the First Amendment that protects the free exercise of religion for all Americans. It is positive in reaffirming the value of tolerance of diverse viewpoints and the commitment to religious pluralism in what scholar Diana Eck has identified as the "world's most religiously diverse nation."
As one of the authors of the statement, I offered in my remarks at the press conference these words that had come to me from a Muslim friend, "In my four decades plus years of living in the U.S., this is the first time that I feel apprehension being Muslim. In hindsight, it appears that period of 9/11 and its immediate aftermath was mild compared to the present moment." The anti-Muslim rhetoric is causing pain, and leaders representing a broad inter-religious community that included, among others, Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians; Buddhists; and Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Jewish leaders sought to address that pain with a statement of solidarity with local Muslims. The statement released reads as follows:
Statement of Support for Muslims in the Lehigh Valley
by Community Religious Leaders
Troubled that anti-Muslim rhetoric is spreading in the media and that attitudes of hostility toward Islam are on the increase in the United States, we affirm the right of Muslims to practice their religion freely and without fear or intimidation. We call on all citizens who believe in religious liberty to stand in solidarity with our Muslim neighbors that they might be assured of support from the larger inter-faith community of which they are so vital a part. Accordingly, we, the undersigned, who are leaders in the religious community of the Lehigh Valley, offer our names in support of the following affirmations:
1. That Muslims who live in the Lehigh Valley community as neighbors and friends have a right to live free from fear and intimidation;
2. That the First Amendment stands as the foundation upon which has been built the world's most religiously diverse nation, and that infringing the religious liberty of one group diminishes the rights of all;
3. That respecting the right of all people to exercise religious belief and practice in a context of peaceful co-existence is not only a legal but a moral imperative, and that hate-filled speech and actions that threaten the personal safety or the dignity of others constitute a form of violence, which has no place in an open, free and religiously pluralistic society;
4. That our religious traditions have themselves endorsed the importance of showing hospitality to the newcomer and that all people in new settings are in need of welcome, hospitality, friendship and peace;
5. That Muslims, who have themselves been the subjects of terrorist attacks throughout the world, deserve the protections of law and the good will that citizens in the United States afford to each other.
As religious leaders we affirm the need for dialogue among people of diverse religious traditions, and we urge members of our community, whether or not they are religious, to study and learn about Islam and other religions. We affirm the values that we cherish as Americans: free inquiry, respectful encounter with others, tolerance of diverse viewpoints and peaceful co-existence among a wide array of religious bodies, groups and organizations. We celebrate the diversity of our religious community and the good will of citizens in the Lehigh Valley.
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The purpose of the statement was to reassure all Muslims who live and work in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, who are raising children and enjoying the fruits of American liberty, that the wider religious community will stand with them as they exercise their religious rights free from fear and intimidation. Religious leaders in other communities have taken similar actions in support of Muslims, and the hope is that more of this kind of inter-religious support will emerge in the days ahead. Anti-Muslim statements and attitudes ought not be condoned with silence. Because religious liberty has been threatened in a contentious political environment, people of good will should make the effort to reaffirm First Amendment values and counter words of hatred and attitudes of discrimination that have come to play a destructive role in America's political and religious life with words of that celebrate religious diversity and freedom.