The Leadership Conference Condemns Growing Number of Attacks on Faith Communities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Shin Inouye, [email protected], 202.869.0398

WASHINGTON – Ashley Allison, executive vice president of campaigns and programs at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on the recent attacks on faith communities:

“The civil and human rights community is heartbroken and enraged by the recent attacks on communities of faith. We strongly condemn the recent string of anti-Semitic attacks, including the targeting and killing of Jewish people in Monsey, New York yesterday. We also condemn and are equally disturbed by the shooting and loss of life at a church near Fort Worth, Texas earlier today.

“While motives are not fully clear, the impact of these heinous attacks on communities of faith is undeniable. At a time of year when families gather to celebrate, too many people are mourning the devastating loss of loved ones. No one in this country should feel unsafe when they are practicing or living their faith. Hate has no home here.”

Earlier this year, The Leadership Conference’s sister organization, The Leadership Conference Education Fund, issued Hate Magnified: Communities in Crisis, a report of the Communities Against Hate initiative. As the report noted, more than two-thirds of Americans say that hate incidents have intensified during the past two years.

Communities Against Hate is a national initiative to collect data and respond to the increase in incidents of violence, threats, and property damage motivated by hate across the United States. The initiative leverages a reporting database that aggregates reports from victims, witnesses, and news accounts of hate incidents, as well as offers legal resources and social services to support people in need.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 220 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

Communities Against Hate (CAH) is a national initiative led by The Leadership Conference Education Fund in partnership with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and a diverse coalition of national organizations and neighborhood groups, aiming to document stories and respond to incidents of violence, threats, and property damage motivated by hate in the United States. As a historic coalition of diverse national organizations and neighborhood groups, CAH provides a safe place for survivors and witnesses to share stories of hate incidents through our online database and telephone hotline. For more information, visit https://communitiesagainsthate.org/.