In the days since the New Orleans attack, the rhetoric of blame and hatred has grown. A group of faith leaders have issued the following statement – not just about the attack, but about our response to it. It’s clear we have work to do as a community.

If you’d like to sign this statement, please use the form at the end and we’ll add your name.

As we began a new year with hopes for renewal and celebration, we were instead met with the devastating news of a tragedy in New Orleans. On a day of celebration, we found shock and mourning instead. In a season when we celebrate the light, we were overwhelmed by an act of darkness.

While our society so often calls for division and blame, we call today for our community to come together in the face of this senseless attack. Each of our faiths has its version of “love your neighbor as yourself,” but perhaps in this case, this saying from the Holy Quran says it best: “Whoever takes a life… it will be as if they killed all of humanity.”

And so we stand together today as one community – many faiths, but one humanity. We pray comfort for those who lost loved ones in this attack, healing for those who were injured, and peace for those whose lives are forever changed by what they experienced.

We stand together today as one community – we condemn this attack and the use of violence as a statement or a solution to any disagreement. Some will claim this attack was religiously motivated, but that idea is repulsive to our faith traditions. The use of violence in the name of any religion is a perversion of that religion and an affront to the Higher Power that we worship.

We stand together today as one community – especially with our Muslim and immigrant neighbors who find themselves repeatedly blamed for a tragedy in which they had no part. The perpetrator was born an American citizen, served in the U.S. military, and did not participate in his local Muslim community. Both immigrants and Muslims were among those harmed in his attack. We must move beyond our human tendency to stereotype, to blame or dismiss an entire group or religion because of the criminal acts of one person.

We stand together today as one community – we call for action among people of all faiths.

We call for people of faith to pray for all those directly or indirectly impacted by this event.

We call for people of faith to take up the hard task of waging peace in our communities, to stand up to the violence and hatred that are tearing us apart each day.

And finally, we call on people of faith to live into the best of our faith traditions – to heal instead of hurt, to embrace instead of exclude, to seek reconciliation instead of retaliation.

Working together towards justice and peace,

Faith Leaders in Baton Rouge:

Bishop Michael Duca (Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge)

Emad Nofal (Islamic Center of Baton Rouge)

Imam Abdullah Bayoumi (Islamic Center of Baton Rouge)

Rev. Dr. J.C. Robinson (Wesley United Methodist Church)

Leigh Rachal (Louisiana Interchurch Conference)

Dauda Sesay (Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants)

Jon Parks (Executive Director, Interfaith Federation of Greater Baton Rouge)

Thomas Oswald (St. Joseph Cathedral)

Rev. Robin McCullough-Bade (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)

Rev. Alexis Anderson (PREACH)

Barbara J. Wittkopf (St. Paul Lutheran Church)

Rev. Eric Fulcher (University Baptist Church)

Janet Moulder (Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge)

Erica Hamer (Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge)

Rev. Mamie Broadhurst (University Presbyterian Church)

Deacon Randall Waguespack (Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge)

Monica Murphy (St. James Episcopal Church)

Eugene Collins (Executive Director, Baton Rouge AIDS Society)

David Shaler (Music Director, Broadmoor United Methodist Church)

Jane Aslam (Islamic Center of Baton Rouge)

Alham Khaled (Islamic Center of Baton Rouge)

Summarah (Mandeville, Louisiana)

Karen Fawley (St. George Catholic Church)

Colleen LeBlanc (St. George Catholic Church)

Fr. Ralph Howe, Jr. (Episcopal priest, retired)

Carolyn Peyton (First United Methodist Church)

Maha Rashid (Islamic Center of Baton Rouge)

Weaam Toom (Islamic Center of Baton Rouge)

Rosemary John (University Presbyterian Church)

David Lindenfeld (Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge)