Asking the Clergy: Faith communities' response to rising hatred

On the heels of a rise in hate crimes across the United States, the interfaith group Abraham’s Table of Long Island is offering free “Beloved Community” resources tool kits for congregations planning activities during Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend (Jan. 13-16, 2023). This week’s clergy, including members of Abraham’s Table, discuss how people of faith on Long Island can counter this alarming trend.

Isma H. Chaudhry

Board of trustees co-chair,

Islamic Center of Long Island, Westbury

Our nation is submerged in the quagmire of hatred and discord, which regrettably is becoming a norm in our society. This hate-mongering rhetoric is fed by ignorance and arrogance. It is a disgrace to humanity whenever a community’s physical and mental well-
being is threatened this way.

Islam does not allow Muslims to be quiet, distanced bystanders to hate and injustices. The Holy Quran guides us: “do not let your hatred of a people incite you to aggression” (5:8) and “do not let ill will towards any folk incite you so that you deviate from dealing justly” (5:2).

Faith leaders should lead their communities to stay responsive to combat hate in our homes, houses of worship, schools, neighborhoods and every hate-filled alley of our nation. Our message should have a loud resounding echo coming from all communities that we denounce and stand united against all forms of hate that have eroded our nation, including Islamophobia, antisemitism and hatred based on a person’s race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, disability or sexual orientation.

Rabbi Anchelle Perl

Director, Chabad of Mineola

At their core, those who hate others actually hate themselves. Beneath their macho exteriors lies a profound emptiness, a vacuous hole in their souls. They subconsciously sense that their ideology is false, their beliefs empty, their lives void of meaning. And when you are empty, you hate those who are full. When you lack meaning, you envy those who have it.

Their hatred is a symptom of their anger at themselves, which they refuse to face, so they project it on another.

If you want to know which ideology is the destructive force of the age, look at the people who embrace antisemitism. The Jews of all times, under threat of annihilation, did not become less Jewish, but more so. We don’t fight emptiness by becoming emptier, and we don’t make someone else’s problem into our problem. In the face of irrational hate, we stay proudly and defiantly Jewish, trusting in God and loyal to our people.

While we hope that all those haters will one day find meaning to fill their void, we will not sit by and be victims of those who haven’t. We will continue to fight evil and emptiness by bringing more light to the world.

The Rev. Canon Marie A. Tatro

Canon for Community Justice Ministry, Episcopal Diocese of Long Island

As Christians begin our holy season of Advent, Scripture invites us to “lay aside the works of darkness and clothe ourselves in the Armor of Light” (Romans 13:12). I used to bristle at this military imagery, but given the wave of mass shootings and the rise in antisemitic and anti-transgender violence, in particular, arming ourselves for battle seems appropriate.

Jesus was a peaceful resistor to the tyranny and violence of the Roman Empire; he refused to normalize the violence and pain all around him. And his followers are called to do the same. We must not normalize the murders of LGBTQ children of God, nor normalize the threats and violence against our Jewish siblings.

As Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum wrote to her members at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, an LGBTQ synagogue in Manhattan, “Together we can increase light, even in times of hate. Perhaps especially in times of hate we have a calling to do whatever we can to make sure that each day we are the reason that people continue to believe in the goodness of humanity.”

In that interfaith spirit, I encourage you to join the anti-hate observances across Long Island on Martin Luther King weekend. Armed with love, we will win.