Friendship Not Fear – Solidarity with our Muslim Neighbors
Join Us in Interfaith Friendship and Support for Sonoma County’s Muslim Community:
Friendship Not Fear:
Standing With Our Muslim Neighbors
An alarming wave of Islamophobia is sweeping our nation. It has taken the form of hate crimes, profiling and verbal attacks. Increasingly inflammatory political rhetoric has included calls for internment camps and halting the resettlement of Muslim refugees who are fleeing war and terror.
As people of many faith backgrounds living and worshiping in Sonoma County, we, the undersigned, and so many other people, are committed to working for justice, equality, inclusion and safety for all the members of our community. We are keenly aware that the scapegoating of religious minorities has never ended well – in this country or elsewhere – and we do not want to see it in our county or under our watch.
We call on this community to oppose and reject Islamophobia in all its forms. We will not be silent or indifferent. We call on all people of good conscience to stand up for peaceful coexistence. We call on this community to extend the hand of friendship to our Muslim neighbors so they know they do not face this challenging time alone.
— Statement issued by the Interfaith Council of Sonoma County, February 1, 2016.
I think this yard sign idea is worth doing up in a couple thousand copies and handing out. From the DailyKOS:
“While going to the store I passed the house of a MSU Professor of Agricultural that I know. He is a Great guy and very smart, he is so darn smart that he has traveled the world to teach poor countries how to raises crops that will help feed them.
The sign is his yard read “ I Don’t Care Where You are From, You are Welcome to be my neighbor” The sign was in 3 languages, The first was Spanish, then English, then Arabic.”
God says: ” O’mankind We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of God is the most righteous of you. Indeed, God is Knowing and Acquainted”
(The Muslim religious scripture QURAN, 49:13)
This is very similar to part of your Mission statement:
“Affirming our vision that humanity is of One Soul….”
In order to know each other, we should have more engagement and meetings.
Thank you for your thoughtful message.
The wording of our mission statement is indeed inspired by the Quran passage you quoted. And that passage was also the basis for our council’s Of One Soul project, which works to support our Muslim community here in Sonoma County, California.
Are you living in Sonoma County, or in Northern California?
If so, please get in touch. You can reach me at davidh@interfaithsonoma.org.
David Hoffman
Chair, Interfaith Council of Sonoma County