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This Simple Truth

As we enter the new year of 2017, we clergy of many different religions find a sense of urgency in proclaiming our unity in combating hatred. No matter the religious tradition to which we belong, we agree that a cornerstone of our varied faiths is this simple truth: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18).

Our shoreline has not been immune to the spike in hate crimes in recent days and months. 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. In these dark days of winter, we ask that they to kindle light and spread warmth. 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.

The Rev. Dr. Ginger Brasher-Cunningham, First Congregational Church of Guilford

Judith Cooke, Pastor of North Guilford Congregational Church

Rev. Jeanette Cooper Hicks, The United Churches of Durham

Rev. James H. Latimer, Pastor,

North Madison Congregational Church

Rev. Maureen Lederman St. John’s

Episcopal, North Guilford

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

The Rev. Stephen M. Sledesky, St. George Roman Catholic Church, Guilford

The Rev. Sarah J. Verasco,

First Congregational Church of Guilford

The Rev. R. Harrison West, Rector,

Christ Episcopal Church, Guilford