Advent Greetings,
\nBelow is a statement by our Interfaith Clergy, which as sent to the press today. Please share and forward this important message of peace and hope.
\nIn peace and prayer,
\nRev. Gwyneth Murphy, Interim Pastor<\/p>\n
To the Members of the Yorktown community,
\nA few short weeks ago, on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, some of our diverse Yorktown faith communities–Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist– came together in prayer and celebration of our common values. Standing in front of this beautiful congregation, we members of the clergy put our arms around one another and prayed for peace and blessings for all. In this moment, we embraced not only one another, but also the ideals upon which our nation was built.
\nThese ideals include our diversity, our religious freedom and the idea that we are all bound together as one American people. In our country, we defend one another\u2019s rights and we fight for freedom. We recognize that we are predominantly a nation of immigrants, who came seeking a better life from around the globe. The same words at the base of the Statue of Liberty that welcomed many of our fore-parents remain a beacon, reminding us that America opens its heart and doors to those who are oppressed.
\nIn recent days, our hearts have been filled with sadness as we have watched our Muslim neighbors\u2014our American brothers and sisters\u2014become the target of hate, suspicion and violence across our country. American Muslims have seen their mosques defaced and burned, and have been harassed in their own hometowns. A leading presidential candidate has even proposed a complete ban on Muslim immigration and suggested that Muslims in our own country be forced to carry special identification cards.
\nAs members of the clergy, we must point out that these proposals violate the fundamental freedom of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment. Hatred, violence and prejudice violate the precepts of all of our faiths as well. Our religious traditions demand of us that we treat others with kindness, compassion and human dignity. We are called upon to welcome the stranger, to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to act with righteousness.
\nWe entreat our Yorktown community to stand up to this wave of intolerance that threatens to engulf us. We are a community of good and decent people, who have the power to make a difference in this world. If we give in to the fear which is consuming our nation, we will cease to be American in the most basic sense\u2014a nation of freedom for all. We will also cease to live our lives according to the beautiful faiths that coexist in our community. Let us make good on the promise of our Interfaith Thanksgiving service\u2014the promise that we will stand together in peace and friendship.<\/p>\n
The Yorktown Interfaith Clergy Group
\nRev. Karen Brammer, Fourth Unitarian Society
\nRev. Chip Low, First Presbyterian Church
\nThe Rev. Gwyneth MacKenzie Murphy, Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin
\nRev. Iwy Patel-Yatri, United Methodist Church of Shrub Oak
\nZead Ramadan, Hudson Valley Islamic Center
\nRev. Tami Seidel, First Presbyterian Church
\nRev. Paul Tesshin Silverman, Tetsugyuji Zen Temple
\nRabbi Seth Sternstein, Yorktown Jewish Center
\nCantor Jamie Tortorello-Allen, Temple Beth Am
\nRabbi Robert Weiner, Temple Beth Am
\nThe Rev. Claire Woodley , St. Mary’s Episcopal Church<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Advent Greetings, Below is a statement by our Interfaith Clergy, which as sent to the press today. Please share and forward this important message of peace and hope. In peace […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/goodshepherdny.org\/?author=1"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Advent Greetings, Below is a statement by our Interfaith Clergy, which as sent to the press today. Please share and forward this important message of peace and hope. In peace […]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodshepherdny.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodshepherdny.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodshepherdny.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodshepherdny.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodshepherdny.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4919"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/goodshepherdny.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4921,"href":"https:\/\/goodshepherdny.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4919\/revisions\/4921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodshepherdny.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodshepherdny.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodshepherdny.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}