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We Are United

December is a time of many religious celebrations. No matter the religious tradition to which we belong, our holidays share a common denominator: at this season of greatest darkness, we kindle light. We find a sense of urgency this year, after a very polarizing national election, to participate in that common human act of kindling light in the midst of darkness.

Our shoreline has not been immune to the spike in hate crimes against minorities. We shout our defiant rejection of these acts and call on all our neighbors to stand up to hate and spread more light. We are liberals and conservatives, we are Democrats, we are Republicans, and we are unaffiliated. We have strong differences, but underneath those differences we are united in our desire to see every human being treated with dignity.

We profoundly reject actions that denigrate minority groups. We decry the anti-Semitic swastika-writing graffiti that has appeared in our towns. We deplore the hateful acts against Muslims and all acts that target and threaten minority populations. We on the shoreline can and must do better. We embrace the fact that ours is a community of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Humanists, Buddhists, secularists, Hindus, and more. We affirm the words of George Washington that bear repeating: “The United States gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requiring only that they who live under its protection should [conduct] themselves as good citizens.”

As religious leaders of Guilford and Madison, we ask for your readers’ vigilance. We ask them to kindle light. We ask them to embrace our collective human responsibility: to stand up to hate when we see it and to spread light and love throughout our nation.

Rev. Dr. Ginger Brasher-Cunningham,

First Congregational Church of Guilford

Judith Cooke,

North Guilford Congregational Church

Rev. Jeanette Cooper Hicks,

The United Churches of Durham

Rev. James H. Latimer,

North Madison Congregational Church

Rev. Jeanne Lloyd,

Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Society, Madison

Hazzan Kevin Margolius,

Temple Beth Tikvah, Madison

Shariya Molegoda, Rector,

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Madison

Rabbi Stacy Offner,

Temple Beth Tikvah, Madison

John Reichart, Pastor,

Shoreline Vineyard Church

Rev. Stephen M. Sledesky,

St. George Roman Catholic Church, Guilford

Rev. Sarah J. Verasco,

First Congregational Church of Guilford

Rev. R. Harrison West,

Christ Episcopal Church, Guilford

Rev. Todd Vetter,

First Congregational Church of Madison, UCC

Interfaith Clergy Counsel of Guilford and Madison