Being the balm, the comfort, and the fire for justice: recommitting to our Muslim siblings

Candle and hands

As people committed to building inclusive communities of love and justice, our hearts are heavy with the recent news of the murders of Muslim worshipers in Christchurch, New Zealand. When members of our global communities and families are harmed, we know we must recommit to caring for one another; to being the balm, the comfort, and the fire for justice.

We recommit to understanding Islamophobia and anti-Muslim violence as part of a growing movement of white Christian nationalism that traces its roots to the United States and conflates racial resentment with religiosity.

We recommit to interrogating our own complicity in Islamophobia and anti-Muslim violence. We recommit to growing the skills we need to practice community safety and to not perform safety that so often increases criminalization by involving the harms of policing and militarization.

We recommit to learning about policies and practices that create a climate of violence and how to resist them, whether on the national level like the“Muslim Ban” or on the local level, like surveillance programs such as Countering Violent Extremism.

If you are Muslim or a target of Islamophobia or anti-Muslim violence, may you recommit to abiding, fierce self-love and love for your community.

Love Resists is with you in loving solidarity. We affirm and echo the words of UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray:

“This attack is part of a global trend of unapologetic nationalism and white supremacist violence that we cannot ignore. We must call it out. We must condemn it. We must also interrogate our own hearts for the disease of bigotry and work to eradicate it.”

Resources for recommitting to learning and healing: