To Bigotry No Sanction, to Persecution No Assistance

 On Monday, September 7, interfaith leaders from the Boston area gathered at the statehouse to speak out against the growing scourge of anti-Muslim sentiment in the country. More than 1,000 people have signed on to the statement of witness around which this event was organized. To view the full statement, click here.

Rev. Sue Phillips, the CBD-MBD District Executive, was a featured speaker along with the following:

• Rev. Dr. Nancy Taylor, Senior Minister, Old South Church
• Rabbi Gurvis, Temple Shalom & Past President, MA Board of Rabbis
• Dr. Abdul Cadar Asmal, Past President, Islamic Council of New England
• Rev. Hurmon Hamilton, President, Greater Boston Interfaith Organization & Senior Pastor, Roxbury Presbyterian Church
• Father Walter Cuenin, Catholic Chaplain, Brandeis
• Dr. Nick Carter, President, Andover Newton Theological School

We offer Sue's full statement here:

Good morning, I am The Reverend Sue Phillips, and it is my honor to represent 23,000 Unitarian Universalists in 118 congregations in Massachusetts and Connecticut. 

We stand together as interfaith clergy because the growing surge of hatred against Islam is a challenge to our faith, an offense to our conscience, and a threat to our country’s deepest values.

We stand together because we no longer have the luxury of silence. Moral urgency has moved us from the safety of our sanctuaries. Because Muslim people are being physically attacked. Because Qurans are being burned. Because politicians and pundits are using intolerance and fear as cynical political ploys. And because every act of hatred degrades the intrinsic American right to worship freely.

This has to stop. As people of faith we have to stop it.

Unitarian Universalism teaches us that wherever bigotry rears its monstrous head there must people of conscience stand. 

Our faith teaches us that the antidote to fear and hatred is love. Not a passive love, but one fueled by witness and action – by moral compulsion. 

Our faith calls us to stand on the side of love.

When we stand on the side of love, we speak out in the face of religious intolerance.

When we stand on the side of love, we work aggressively with other people of conscience to combat fear-mongering and scapegoating.

When we stand on the side of love we place our bodies in the path of organized attacks against the freedom to worship.

All of us here today – all of us – are called to stand on the side of love.  We are called to witness that our multicultural communities are the beating heart of American life. And we are called to fight back when religious hatred and bigotry invade our communities. 

As individuals we cannot be spiritually whole while our Muslim brothers and sisters are persecuted. Our communities of faith cannot be whole while another suffers bigoted attacks. And our country cannot be whole without Islam as an honored part of our people’s religious mosaic.

Thank you.

Rev. Sue Phillips was also part of a National Public Radio special report on "The Mosque Next Door".  You'll hear her comments at time 7:18 on the recording below or on WGBH at this link: