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Under the leadership of its president Pastor John Cager, the Los Angeles Council of Religious Leaders has released the following compelling statement.
LOS ANGELES COUNCIL OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS (LACRL) STATEMENT ON VIOLENCE COMMITTED BY WHITE SUPREMACISTS IN CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA
The Los Angeles Council of Religious Leaders (LACRL) is shocked and saddened by the violent actions that contributed to the deaths of three persons and the injuries of dozens more in Charlottesville, VA, on Saturday morning. We offer our heartfelt condolences to the families that are in mourning and pray for the full healing of those hurt in the various confrontations. We ask for a spirit of peace to descend on the region and calm the situation. Clearly, the pain that occurred directly resulted from the actions of armed white supremacists, neo-Nazis and “alternative right” adherents who wanted and planned for a major disturbance of the public order. By design, they held an unlawful assembly that embarrassed the entire nation with its ugliness and caused immeasurable pain to several families.
As faith leaders, we must acknowledge the reality that Saturday’s horrible events are a direct result of the vitriolic and confrontational style of discourse that has infected the media, the internet and even floors of our state and federal legislative chambers. In particular, the rise of hate speech and the intentional “otherizing” of groups because of race, ethnicity, gender, income level and other considerations are offensive to people of faith and incompatible with all normative concepts of the divine, as well as the universally held concept of community.
LACRL recognizes that there is unity in diversity and celebrates the 93 languages, 146 ethnicities and over 154 identified belief systems that make Southern California the dynamic and vibrant community that we love. We join in the great cloud of witnesses throughout the country who reject hate speech and intolerance as an acceptable form of public expression, and we condemn in the strongest terms those who intentionally incite violence to advance a political agenda.
ABOUT THE LOS ANGELES COUNCIL OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS
Representing faiths for more than three decades, the Los Angeles Council of Religious Leaders (LACRL), is an informal alliance of heads of major religious bodies in the Greater Los Angeles area consulting and collaborating in common cause. Past presidents include Rabbi Mark Diamond (Board of Rabbis of Southern California), Archbishop Hovnan Derderian (Western Diocese, Armenian Church of North America) & Bishop J. Jon Bruno (Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.)
With Linda Lee Culbertson, Abp Hovnan Derderian, Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker, Bishop R. Guy Erwin, Rabbi Morley T. Feinstein, RabbiSarah Hronsky, Nirinjan Khalsa, Omar Ricci, Hedab Tarifi, Bishop John H. Taylor, and more. #belovedcommunity