Minnesota religious leaders against religious-based violence

Violence in the Name of Religion

I want to say a thank you to all who speak out against violence in the name of faith and violence aimed at those of a different faith. And make note that such speaking out comes from many, many faith groups.

For more than 40 years the Minnesota Council of Churches, and many other councils of churches, have been in interfaith dialogue and in that time we have heard these other faith groups denounce the use of violence again and again.

When one asks, "Why I work so hard to gather in interfaith activity?" I may have a fairly distinct notion of who I believe God to be as revealed in Jesus Christ, and I may find that stands in opposition to another faith. But precisely because of what I know about God in Jesus Christ, I am obligated to my fellow citizens and therefore I work for the good of all. That commitment to the common good propels my commitment to democracy and the freedom of religion therein.

Minnesota Council of Churches works hard to gather in interfaith not because we agree with all those other religions. It's not because we believe there are no distinctions between us theologically, but we make this interfaith effort in the public arena because we value our neighbor, because we believe that faith needs to be expressed in public life, and because we honor the constitution, which guarantees the right to religious freedom, without threat of violence.

We share concern for global violent repression due to faith such as Christians in areas like Syria, Iran, and most recently the beheading of Copts in Libya. We are also concerned about the role Christians have played in religious oppression.

Lest any Christians think that we Christians are exempt from religious-based violence: remember the Holocaust. Hitler was raised as a Christian. He attempted to create a unified Protestant Reich Church from Germany's 28 existing Protestant churches to use the church for his ends.

Remember the Indian Removal Act of 1830 in which thousands of Native Americans died? This Act was passed by many legislators who called themselves Christian. This act required that those Native Americans who chose not to assimilate with American society be removed. And assimilating to American society was often interpreted as becoming Christian.

There was:

The Inquisition

Puritans hanging Quakers in Boston

The Oklahoma City bombing

There was:

Colonel John Covington, a Christian minister, who ordered the Sand Creek Massacre.

During the Dakota War here in Minnesota, people of faith fought against Native American brothers and sisters and a faith element was brought into that fight.

And there continue to be acts by individuals, who understand themselves to be Christians, whose acts result in the deaths of others based on difference of religion.

But in all these cases there were people of faith resisting such actions or later confessing such actions. Christians were among those resisters as well.

Missionaries to the Cherokee, Choctaws and Seminole pleaded with the churches to fight the Indian Removal Act.

The denominations have acknowledged culpability for situations like the Sand Creek massacre.

Virtually every large Christian denomination has officially denounced the Ku Klux Klan.

The Confessing Church in Germany finally prevented the success of Hitler's United Protestant Church.

Today I join those who would resist the violence perpetuated in religious disagreement. We affirm the best of this country's intention to allow religious liberty even when we may deeply disagree with each other. And we affirm the best of our faiths' traditions which call for respectful engagement with each other and denounce the use of violence toward other faith groups.

On September 16, 2001, at the state capitol, 35,000 Minnesotans gathered. Thousands more participated from home; all of the television stations carried the event. And religious leadership was present. The Governor's office had spoken with the Minnesota Council of Churches, asking the council to gather a diverse group of religious leaders. Three days later an unprecedented group was present: ELCA and Roman Catholic bishops, head rabbis, the head of our largest Islamic Center, an imam of the Somali community, an elder of the Ojibway nation, the president of the State Baptist Convention, the district superintendent of the Assemblies of God, the regional leadership of the Salvation Army, a Coptic Orthodox priest, a Hindu priest, a representative of the Baha'i community, and a lama from the Tibetan Buddhist community. All together witnessing against the power of violence to settle or create anything. Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders all denounced the violence perpetrated against the World Trade Center and all of America.