European Imams and Rabbis meet together to counter hate preaching, bigotry, prejudice and extremisim
An excellent and heartening example of Interfaith cooperation and dialogue:
Seventy European Muslim and Jewish leaders pledged on Wednesday to show “zero tolerance” to hate preachers of any faith including their own ranks, citing what they called rising religious intolerance on the continent.
Imams, rabbis and community leaders from 18 countries agreed to jointly counter bigotry against Jews and Muslims and combat legal threats to common religious practices such as circumcision of boys and the kosher and halal ritual slaughter of animals.
The two-day meeting brought together Muslim-Jewish teams from around Europe to compare experiences in fighting religious prejudice and report on recent trends against minority faiths.
There have been several attacks on Jews in Europe this year, some from radical Muslims. In the worst case, a French Islamist killed a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse last March.
Extreme right-wing political parties are also increasingly agitating against Jews and Muslims, participants in the meeting said.
“We must institute a ‘zero tolerance’ policy against religious leaders of any faith who misuse their pulpits to incite religious bigotry,” they said in a declaration.
“We vow to each other to speak out loudly and forcefully against any religious leader who defames those of other faiths, and, if such bigots emerge from within our own communities, to condemn them loudly and clearly.”
Tags: Religion Society
September 7th, 2012 at 10:43 am
It is a pity the hard work of many to counter religious extremism and hate-speech never makes it to the pages of the news papers – and certainly not the more reactionary pages found on the internet! I have been challenged and humbled at the various events I have attended at places such as Finsbury Park Mosque or East London Mosque. There are far more people of faith who voice their opposition to violence and bigotry than preach hatred.
Of course the irony is, with Christians, Jews and Muslims – they have far more in common with each other than they have differences: perhaps that explains why they are often at each other’s throats…
September 7th, 2012 at 1:40 pm
@Fr Richard,
Some would probably brand and criminalise myself as being a right-wing extremists, maybe you would also be challenged and humbled if you and I ever met.
“We must institute a ‘zero tolerance’ policy … “.
That sentence and its connotations are about as far removed from mutuality as one can get.
September 8th, 2012 at 7:10 am
But remember, it isn’t “hate preaching” if the establishment approves of it. Demanding that all the Jews be thrown into the sea isn’t hate, you know? It’s just a polite request for justice for the Palestinians.
It would be much more useful if they committed not to incite violence against anyone, and to promote freedom of speech.