April 18, 2013

Today, several faith and security leaders signed a joint statement calling for unity of all faiths and partnership with law enforcement in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon tragedy.  As President Obama is participating in an interfaith memorial service in Boston at this time, the group is preparing for dealing with challenges to our national defense from a faith-base community perspective.  

The statement and signatories follow:

Throughout the history of our country and our respective faiths, we have been challenged with trials that can tear both apart.  Yet our mandate to unite in the midst of turmoil, and our need to stare down the eye of peril, is an imperative for survival and growth, for our collective defense and our social prosperity.  And this is what brings us together today as we try to make sense of the senseless and heinous terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon.  It is our faith and our country that brings us together.  And we make a collective prayer to heal our wounds, to strengthen our moral fiber, and to unite under our Creator, for our nation.

The Boston Marathon represents our open society, and we want to preserve that openness.  It represents our great American diversity, for it brought together people from all walks of life and from all over the world, and we want to enrich that diversity.  It represents excellence of all competitors, and we want to fortify that healthy competition.

Terrorism is a remnant of evil in our world.  It oppresses with darkness, whereas our faiths tell us to shine light.  Our faiths tell us to work after we gain spiritual direction to do what is defined by justice and compassion.

Today, we declare to redouble our efforts to end the scourge of terrorism, to defeat this plague.  We know that we can only succeed as a united front.  We can only succeed as we stand firmly behind our President and in partnership with law enforcement.  We dedicate our lives to the security of our nation, our world, and humanity.  It is a matter of our Sacred Honor.

Signed:

Salam Al-Marayati, 
President of the Muslim Public Affairs Council and Member of the Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council's Faith Based Security and Communications Subcommittee

Lee Baca, 
Sheriff of Los Angeles County

Anju Bhargava, 
Founder of Hindu American Seva Communities

Mohamed Elibiary, 
Founder of Lone Star Intelligence

Ronald Haddad, 
Police Chief of Dearborn

John Hodson, 
North America Director of Church Security for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Imam Mohamed Magid,
President of the Islamic Society of North America

Bonnie Michelman, 
Director of Police, Security and Outside Services at Massachusetts General Hospital

Rev. Lance McCune, 
Founder of United Clergy and Police Training Program

Jasjit Singh,
Associate Executive Director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund

Suhag A. Shukla, Esq.,
Executive Director and Legal Counsel of the Hindu American Foundation

Organizational affiliation is for identification purposes only.