Rejecting Hate: Statement of Interfaith Solidarity Against Islamophobia in Massachusetts

As Boston-area religious and cultural leaders, we are committed to building a community that embraces people of different beliefs and practices, including our Muslim neighbors and friends. This work is particularly important in the present political climate, in which some public figures are voicing messages of intolerance and xenophobia, pitting segments of the American populace against one another.

It is for this reason that we are deeply concerned to learn of an event scheduled for November 2nd in Stoughton featuring three speakers whom the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified as anti- Muslim extremists or hate group leaders. Jerry Boykin, Frank Gaffney, and Tom Trento cast Islam as an inherently immoral faith, and spread conspiracy theories that Muslims are secretly infiltrating US and European governments as a "fifth column."

For example, Mr. Gaffney has claimed that "most of the Muslim-American groups of any prominence in America are now known to be, as a matter of fact, hostile to the United States and its Constitution," and Mr. Boykin has argued that "We need to realize that Islam itself is not just a religion - it is a totalitarian way of life. ... It should not be protected under the First Amendment, particularly given that those following the dictates of the Quran are under an obligation to destroy our Constitution and replace it with Sharia law." This inflammatory rhetoric has no factual basis and directly fuels anti-Muslim discrimination and hate crimes.

Our houses of worship should be spaces for prayer, reflection, study, and community building. While free political debate is a vital element in our democracy, voices that demonize ethnic, racial, or faith groups have no place in our sanctuaries.

As clergy and organizational leaders seeking to cultivate a shared ethos of interreligious and cross- cultural cooperation, we the undersigned reach out to and call on Congregation Ahavath Torah to revoke their invitation to these individuals, all known purveyors of vitriol and acrimony. They, and the gross misinformation in which they traffic, are not deserving of a platform in our community.

In Peace,

Rev. Lois Adams - First Baptist Church of Sharon Professor Rachel Adelman - Hebrew College Fr. Jack Ahern – St. Mary Parish in Randolph Rev. John Allen - First Congregational Church of Milton Rabbi Katy Z. Allen - Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, Dean, The Rabbinical School of Hebrew College Rev. Dr. Jim Antal - Minister and President, Massachusetts Conference, UCC Marya Axner - New England Jewish Labor Committee Dr. Angela Bauer-Levesque, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean; Harvey H. Guthrie Jr. Professor of Bible, Culture, and Interpretation Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts Rabbi Howard A. Berman, Central Reform Temple, Boston Rev. Eliza Blanchard - First Parish of Brookline Rev. Beverly Boke – First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Canton Rev. Dr. Christian Brocato - Rector, Saint Peter's Episcopal Church, Cambridge Rev. Jeffrey Brown – Twelfth Baptist Church Sister Marie-Thérèse Browne, SCN, Roman Catholic Sister Rev. Rebecca Bryan - First Parish in Brookline Rev. Dr. Karin Case - First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, UCC Rev. Arrington Chambliss - Executive Director, Episcopal City Mission Rev. Rebecca Cho - First United Methodist Church, Stoughton, MA Fr. Brian Clary - Saint Mary of the Assumption, Brookline Rev. Rainey G. Dankel - Associate Rector, Trinity Church in the City of Boston Rev. Dr. Christopher Duraisingh - Professor Emeritus, Episcopal Divinity School Rev. John Edgerton – Old South Church, Boston Cantor Roy Einhorn - Temple Israel, Boston Michael Felson - Executive Director Emeritus, Boston Workmen's Circle Rev. Kent French, Senior Pastor, The United Parish in Brookline Rabbi Ronne Friedman - Senior Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Israel of Boston Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman - Temple Sinai of Brookline Joseph Gerson - American Friends Service Committee, New England Region Rev Marlene Gil - Associate Executive Minister for Church Relations, American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts Rabbi Neal Gold - Temple Shir Tikva Rabbi Eric Gurvis – Senior Rabbi, Temple Shalom Rev. Dr. Ray A. Hammond - Senior Pastor, Bethel AME Church Rev. Wendy Vander Hart, Associate Conference Minister, MA Conference, United Church of Christ Rev. Kim K. Crawford Harvie - Senior Minister, Arlington Street Church (Unitarian Universalist) Rabbi/Cantor Anne Heath - Congregation Agudath Achim Rabbi Suzie Jacobson - Temple Israel, Boston Rabbi David Jaffe, The Kirva Institute, Sharon, MA Rabbi Howard L. Jaffe - Temple Isaiah, Lexington Rev. Laura Ruth Jarrett - Senior Pastor, Hope Central Church, Jamaica Plain Rev. Edwin Johnson – St. Mary's Episcopal Church of Dorchester Rabbi Randy Kafka - Temple Kol Tikvah, Sharon Alice Kidder, Clerk, Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries Rev. Dr. David A. Killian - President, Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries Jen Kiok – Executive Director, Boston Workmen's Circle Idit Klein, Executive Director, Keshet Rabbi Claudia Kreiman - Temple Beth Zion, Brookline Rabbi Judith Kummer - Jewish Chaplaincy Council of Massachusetts Rabbi Allan Lehmann - Hebrew College Rabbi Ben Lanckton - Community Tikkun Leil Shavuot Rabbi David Lerner, Temple Emunah, Lexington; President, Massachusetts Board of Rabbis Rev. Rosemary Lloyd – The Conversation Project Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd - Rector, Trinity Church in the City of Boston Rev. Rob Mark - Church of the Covenant, Boston Rabbi Emily Mathis - Temple Beth Avodah Rev. Michael McGarry, C.S.P. - Director, The Paulist Center Rev. Kathleen McTigue – UU College of Social Justice Rabbi Bernard H. Mehlman, Senior Scholar, Temple Israel, Boston, Rabbi Margot Meitner - The Meeting Point, Jamaica Plain Rev. Jeffrey W. Mello, Rector, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Brookline Rabbi Jeremy S. Morrison - Temple Israel of Boston Fr. Jerry Morrow SCP -- Rector, Saint John's Episcopal Church, Sharon Dr. Vito Nicastro, A.D., E.&I. - Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Professor Padraic O'Hare – Founder, Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations at Merrimack College Rev. Gerald J. Osterman – Immaculate Conception Parish Riva Pearson - President, Boston Workmen's Circle Rabbi Barbara Penzner - Temple Hillel B'nai Torah Rev. Mary Perry – First Congregational Church of Stoughton, UCC Rev. Oscar J. Pratt, II - St. Katharine Drexel Parish Fr. Rocco Puopolo, s.x. - Xaverian Missionaries Rev. Cristina Rathbone - Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston Rabbi Victor Reinstein – Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue Rev. Don Remick, Associate Conference Minister, Massachusetts Conference UCC Rev. Doug Robinson–Johnson – United Parish of Auburndale Rev. Dr. Rodney Petersen – Executive Director, Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries Rabbi Or Rose – Miller Center for Interreligious Learning and Leadership, Hebrew College Rabbi Sonia Saltzman - Temple Ohabei Shalom Scott Schaeffer-Duffy - Saints Francis & Thérèse Catholic Worker Community Rabbi Rachel Schoenfeld - Shir Hadash Rabbi Michael Shire - Hebrew College Rev. Dr. Paul Shupe, Hancock United Church of Christ (Congregational), Lexington Rev. Daniel Smith, Senior Minister, First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, UCC Rabbi Matthew Soffer - Associate Rabbi, Temple Israel, Boston Rabbi Toba Spitzer - Vice President of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis Rev. Burns Stanfield - President, Greater Boston Interfaith Organization and Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church, South Boston Rabbi Keith Stern, Temple Beth Avodah The Very Rev. John P. Streit, Jr. - Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston Cantor Jodi Sufrin - Temple Beth Elohim, Wellesley Rev. Stacy Swain - Union Church in Waban Rev. Nancy Taylor – Senior Minister and CEO, Old South Church, Boston Rabbi David Thomas - Congregation Beth El Rabbi Andrew Vogel – Temple Sinai Brookline Rabbi Moshe Waldoks - Temple Beth Zion Rev. Liz Walker – Roxbury Presbyterian Church Joanna Ware - Director of Special Projects, Keshet Rev. Gretchen Weis – Murray Unitarian Universalist Church Rev. Margaret L. Weis – Bell Street Chapel Rabbi Ora Weiss - Congregation Beth Hatikvah Rev. Dr. Donald A. Wells - Theologian in Residence, Old South Church, Boston Rev. Joseph M. White - St Joseph Catholic, Boston Sr. Ann Whittaker - Sister of Charity of Nazareth Rev. Elizabeth Williams - Pastor, Wollaston Congregational Church, United Church of Christ Rev. Jay Williams - Union United Methodist Church, Boston Rabbi Elaine Zecher - Senior Rabbi, Temple Israel, Boston