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Westchester Interfaith statement against hate...SUNDAY UN Association event at Greenburgh Library
Release Date: March 04, 2017

Earlier this week two Jewish Community Centers (one in Tarrytown) received bomb threats.  In recent weeks Anti Semitic graffiti has been found in communities all over Westchester (including Hastings). History has taught us that hateful graffiti leads to threats which eventually leads to violence.  There is too much hate out there against different ethnic groups - against minority groups - people who are different. 
 Fortunately, our Westchester clergy has taken a stand. This is their statement.

PAUL FEINER

 

 
 

coexist!

Westchester Interfaith Clergy Statement on Hate


“If you can’t see God in all, you can’t see God at all.” These are the words of Harbhajan Singh, a member of the Sikh religion from Pakistan. This message voices the universal declaration of all religions: We belong to one human family. When any of us experiences joy, all of us share in that joy. And when any of us experiences pain, all of us share in that pain.

Today, we are in pain. We, clergy of many different religions and denominations, good and true neighbors, affirm our common love for every man, woman and child on this planet. As one, we condemn the bomb threats which were made against two Jewish Community Center facilities in Westchester. While we are grateful that no one was hurt, we denounce the hatred that has been unleashed on our neighbors.

Sadly, this is only the most recent of aggressive, intolerant acts that have been perpetrated against different groups across our nation. In the polarized atmosphere that now pervades our country, we are not surprised such threats have arrived to Westchester. It was only a matter of time.

As a community of diverse houses of worship, we embrace the highest ideals of respect and consideration for everyone. We call upon our local and national leaders to renew America’s promise as a nation that was built by people from every conceivable land and ethnicity. We implore those who have the ears of this nation’s citizens to affirm that bigotry will never be permitted to blot out tolerance, understanding and goodwill.

America is so much better than this. We must all be better than this. How we treat those whose religion is different, whose skin color is different, whose nation of origin is different, whose sexual or gender identity is different — this will determine the stature of our humanity and our citizenship.

What we see is unacceptable and we pledge to work with each other and within our communities to create bonds that are based upon mutual respect and love.

America was founded on the principle that we could all build this nation together. Our shared religious perspective would put it this way: God wants us to reject intolerance. God longs for us to embrace each other. God waits for us to open our doors, and in one simple, loving gesture, to proclaim, “You will always be welcome here.”

Signed (in alphabetical order),

Rev. John F. Backe
Trinity Lutheran Church
White Plains NY

Rev. Dr. Deborah Blanks
Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church
White Plains, NY

The Rev. Tami L. Burks 
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Mamaroneck, NY

Chappaqua Interfaith Council
Chappaqua, NY

The Reverend Samuel T. Clover
The Reformed Church of Bronxville
Bronxville, NY

Rabbi Fredda Cohen
White Plains, NY

The Rev. Susan Copley
Christ Episcopal Church & San Marcos
Tarrytown, NY

Rev. Dr. William P. Crawford
Larchmont Avenue Church
Larchmont, NY

Rev. Doris K. Dalton, UMC Deacon 
Westchester Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute of Nonviolence
White Plains, NY

The Rev. Noelle Damico
United Church of Christ, Metro Association
White Plains, NY

Rabbi Julie Danan
Pleasantville Community Synagogue
Pleasantville, NY

Rev. Mashona Walston Davis
Reformed Church of Cortlandtown
Montrose, NY

Rabbi Billy Dreskin
Woodlands Community Temple
Greenburgh, NY

Cantor Ellen Dreskin
Ardsley, NY

The Rev. Lynn M. Dunn
White Plains Presbyterian Church
White Plains, NY

Rabbi Joan Glazer Farber
Tarrytown, NY

Pastor Robert Freire
New Hope Fellowship
Tarrytown, NY

The Rev. Carol D. Gadsden
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Mamaroneck, NY

The Rev. Jeffrey Gargano
Reformed Church of the Tarrytowns
Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow
Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow, NY

Rev. Meredith Garmon
Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation
White Plains, NY

The Rev. Jeffrey A. Geary
White Plains Presbyterian Church
White Plains, NY

Cantor Margot E.B. Goldberg
Temple Beth Abraham
Tarrytown, NY

Cantor Jonathan Gordon
Woodlands Community Temple
Greenburgh, NY

Rev. Dr. Jane Ann Groom
All Souls Parish
Port Chester, NY

Rev. David R. Harkness
Irvington Presbyterian Church
Irvington, NY

The Rev. Sarah E. Henkel
White Plains Presbyterian Church
White Plains, NY

Rev. Robert P. Henry
St. Matthew & Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Hastings and Ardsley, NY

Cantor Randy Herman
Bet Torah
Mt Kisco, NY

Rev. Stephen Holton 
St. James Episcopal Church 
North Salem, NY

Rabbi David Holtz
Temple Beth Abraham
Tarrytown, NY

The Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs
First Congregational Church
Chappaqua, NY

Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe
Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester
Chappaqua, NY

The Rev. Dr. Carole Johannsen, BCC
Phelps Hospital / Northwell Health
Sleepy Hollow, NY

Cantor Robin Joseph
Temple Beth Shalom
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY

Rabbi Steve Kane
Congregation Sons of Israel
Briarcliff Manor, NY

Linda M. Knapp, 2nd Reader
First Church of Christ, Scientist
Tarrytown, NY

Rabbi Lori Koffman
Bet Torah
Mt Kisco, NY

The Rev. Richard Kunz
Grace/La Gracia Episcopal Church
White Plains, NY

Rev. Bruce Lamb 
Ardsley United Methodist Church
Ardsley, NY

The Rev. Dr. Gawain de Leeuw, OA
St. Bartholomew's Church
White Plains, NY

Rev. Paul D. Lent
Freedom Plains United Presbyterian Church
Lagrangeville, NY

Rabbi Maura Linzer
Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester 
Chappaqua, NY

The Rev. Claire Lofgren
St. Joseph of Arimathea Episcopal Church
White Plains, NY

Rabbi Shira Milgrom
Congregation Kol Ami
White Plains, NY

Rabbi Bethie Miller
Larchmont Temple
Larchmont, NY

Rev. Ted Miller
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Salt Point, NY

The Rev. Canon Patricia Mitchell
Church of the Ascension
Church of Sts. John, Paul and Clement
Mt Vernon, NY

Pastor Linda Nealon
United Methodist Church of the Tarrytowns
Tarrytown, NY

Father Robert Norris
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church
Elmsford, NY

Rev. Drew Paton
South Presbyterian Church 
Dobbs Ferry, NY

The Rev. Anna Pearson, D.Min.
Grace Episcopal Church
Hastings on Hudson, NY

The Reverend Yejide S. Peters
All Saints' Episcopal Church
Briarcliff Manor, NY

Rev. Leroy Richards
First Community Church of the Nazarene
Greenburgh, NY

Pastor Torrey Robinson
First Baptist Church
Tarrytown, NY

Ven. Tenku Ruff
Soto Zen Buddhist Priest
Chappaqua, NY

Rabbi Ed Schecter
Temple Beth Shalom
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY

Dan J. Schoch, 1st Reader
First Church of Christ, Scientist
Tarrytown, NY

Rabbi Dina Shargel
Temple Israel Center
White Plains, NY

Rabbi Benjy Silverman
Chabad of the Rivertowns
Dobbs Ferry, NY

Rabbi Jeffrey Sirkman
Larchmont Temple
Larchmont, NY

Rev. Elizabeth Smith-Bartlett
Larchmont Avenue Church
Larchmont, NY

Rabbi Jay M. Stein
Greenburgh Hebrew Center
Dobbs Ferry, NY

Rabbi Joshua Strom
Congregation B'nai Yisrael 
Armonk, NY

Rev. Peter D. Surgenor
Holmes Presbyterian Camp 
Holmes, NY

Rev. Erwin Lee Trollinger
Calvary Baptist Church
White Plains, NY

Rabbi Gordon Tucker
Temple Israel Center
White Plains, NY

Upper Westchester Muslim Society
Thornwood, NY

Rev. Noel Vanek
Community Church of the Pelhams
Pelham, NY

Rev. Julius Walls Jr 
Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church 
Yonkers, NY

Rev. Perry Wootten
Old First Church (Newark, NJ)
Mt. Kisco, NY

Bart Worden, Clergy Leader
Ethical Culture Society of Westchester
White Plains, NY

Rabbi Mara Young
Woodlands Community Temple
Greenburgh, NY

 

Westchester UN Association is sponsoring...

International Women’s Day  2017

"Women's Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work"

Sunday,  5 March 2017 
Registration at 2:00 PM
2:30 to 4:00 PM

Greenburgh Public Library
300 Tarrytown Rd.
Elmsford, NY 10523

 

Keynote Speaker
Michaela Walsh

Founder of Women’s World Banking and its President from 1975 to 1990; first woman partner of Boettcher & Co; first woman manager of Merrill Lynch International; founder of the Global Student Leadership and Enterprise Management at Manhattanville College.
 

Panelists

Kecia Palmer-Cousins

Entrepreneur, engineer and small business advocate; co-owner/COO of G&K Sweet Foods, LLC and co-owner of 
Aero-Ba-Soul, Inc, a career training company; board member, Benefit Committee for Girls, Inc. and Mary J. Blige Center for Women.

Antoinette Klatzky

Executive Director and Co-Creator of the Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute (EFLI); recognized by the Westchester Business Council’s Rising Stars 40 Under Forty award; Co-Chair, Westchester Women’s Agenda and Theater of the Oppressed NYC.

Panel Moderator 
Judith Beville

Greenburgh Town Clerk



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