Building Interfaith Solidarity

As we neared the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I felt a need for Denton faith communities to gather. Back in September 2001, following the attacks, Denton's mosque was fire bombed. For ten years Denton's Muslim community continued to live in fear. I drew together faith leaders and created the first widely interfaith worship service that Denton had seen to date. First United Methodist Church in Denton hosted the event that brought three hundred people. An excerpt of the worship service can be found here: https://youtu.be/v99s38UOqh4 From that event, the interfaith community continued to work together offering panels, community service projects, and events working together to heal the fear and discord that had unfolded.

I was a member of the Denton Faith Alliance Member from (2010-2018) and served as the Coordinator (2015-2016). As part of the Denton Faith Alliance, I organized monthly meetings, lined up speakers, and helped sustain connections among interfaith leaders and nonprofit leaders in the larger Denton community. I also organized interfaith service days on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekends.

Regional Response to the Shootings in Garland, Texas—When two gunman opened fire at an anti-Islam cartoon contest in Garland, Texas on May 3, 2015, our Muslim neighbors experienced a tremendous amount of fear as hateful, anti-Muslim speech began to rise around the country and specifically from voices within our local Dallas/Fort Worth communities. I led an effort with area clergy to write a letter to be signed by local faith leaders denouncing hatred and affirming local Muslim leaders and community members who were in no way associated with that violence. The letter can be viewed online.

National Response to the Rally in Phoenix, Arizona—On Friday, May 29, 2015 a second cartoon event was planned to disparage the prophet of Islam. Acknowledging the need for a more national response, I worked with national faith leaders, crafting a letter affirming Muslim men and women and their Islamic faith. The letter can be viewed below:.

One June 22, 2015, following the shooting deaths of nine people from Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, I was one of four interfaith clergy invited to pray on a particular theme at a vigil at St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church in Denton.