FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rev. Dr. James B. Vigen
Faith Community Network of College Park
301.927.5508
pastor@hopecp.org
FAITH COMMUNITY NETWORK OF COLLEGE PARK ISSUES STATEMENT AGAINST THREAT TO DESECRATE SACRED SCRIPTURES OF ISLAM
Faith Community Leaders, Students Express Care for Those Injured by This Act of Intolerance
COLLEGE PARK, MD.–The Faith Community Network of College Park is committed to fostering good relations and understanding between all houses of worship in our greater College Park area and throughout the nation. We also work cooperatively together to further the common good of all our citizens. For this reason, we cannot, in conscience, remain silent in the face of the turmoil that has embroiled our nation because of the misguided threat by one religious group to desecrate the sacred Scriptures of the Muslim community. We deplore all such intolerant actions and are gratified that, for the time being at least, the religious community in Florida has responded to the worldwide outcry and has announced a suspension of their plans. This result is, we believe, an answer to the fervent prayers of many people. We continue to pray that, as a result of the talks in New York next week, a final decision to renounce any further plans to burn the Koran will be announced.
The Faith Community Network of College Park urges all American citizens and sojourners living among us to work together for better relations and increased understanding of one another’s most cherished beliefs, including the freedom to worship according to the dictates of one’s own conscience and the freedom from fear of persecution or discrimination for one’s religious or other beliefs. These freedoms are those recognized by the founding fathers and mothers of our nation and are enshrined in the United States Constitution.
The Faith Community Network of College Park plans to implement in the year ahead, forums and social occasions where we can get to know our neighbors from various faith communities better and we invite the widest possible participation from the greater College Park area. We also plan on creating an “inter-faith prayer response team” to immediately go to any location where a hate crime has been committed or an act of intolerance is performed so that we can pray there and demonstrate to the wider community that such acts are deemed reprehensible by the wider faith community and the majority of our citizens.
Questions, comments or inquiries about the Faith Community Network or to sign up for inclusion in our communications are invited by the group’s spokesperson, The Rev. Dr. James B. Vigen at: 301-927-5508 or pastor@hopecp.org.
