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Faith leaders gather, speak out on behalf of the marginalized

Interfaith gathering sends out message of inclusion, solidarity, compassion

By Scott Hewitt, Columbian staff writer
Published: February 8, 2017, 9:22pm
5 Photos
Dr. Khalid Khan, a board member of the Islamic Society of Southwest Washington, speaks during an interfaith gathering at at Vancouver Heights United Methodist Church on Wednesday afternoon.
Dr. Khalid Khan, a board member of the Islamic Society of Southwest Washington, speaks during an interfaith gathering at at Vancouver Heights United Methodist Church on Wednesday afternoon. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian) Photo Gallery

Elizabeth Dunsker’s great-grandfather managed to escape a Siberian prison where he’d been thrown “because he dared to speak out against the czar,” she said. The other side of her family overheard a “plan to burn and pillage their town and to rape and murder everyone who survived.”

All these people fled Czarist Russia for their lives.

“I know through my own family what it means to need a safe harbor,” she said. “My family was saved … through the welcoming doors of the United States, opened to an entire town of Jews marked for death.”

Dunsker, the rabbi at Congregation Kol Ami, was one of nearly 30 Clark County faith leaders who gathered Wednesday afternoon at Vancouver Heights United Methodist Church to support an interfaith “Call to Beloved Community,” demonstrating compassion, determination and solidarity with all marginalized people who feel threatened simply for being who they are during this time of deep political division and distrust.

“Our government has created an atmosphere of fear among those of us with the least power and authority, and there is a sense that world is becoming riskier for women, for people of color, for immigrants, for non-Christians, for the LGBTQ community,” Dunsker said. Recent executive orders closing American borders to refugees and limiting the speech of health professionals overseas “create this atmosphere, and I cannot remain silent when my government threatens the freedoms of so many,” she said.

“A Call To Beloved Community”

We, the Interfaith Coalition of Southwest Washington, call on everyone in Southwest Washington to affirm the dignity and worth of all people and reject bigotry, hatred, and violence.

All our varied traditions call us to work for equity, justice, and compassion. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “Love is creative and redemptive. Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys.” Our aim, like his, is “reconciliation and the creation of the beloved community.”

We pledge to stand in solidarity with those who may be targeted because of who they are: immigrants and refugees, people of color, LGBTQ folks, and members of diverse faith, religious or ethnic backgrounds, including Muslim and Jewish. We pledge to challenge those who create discord by demeaning and attacking others. We also pledge to listen to the concerns of all people, including those who have felt left behind, isolated and alone in their beliefs.

We, the Interfaith Coalition of Southwest Washington, believe that every single person in our neighborhoods and communities must be treated with dignity and respect. We pledge to work together to keep the Pacific Northwest a place of peace, a sanctuary where everyone is welcomed, accepted, and respected. We aim to affirm the differences that some would use to divide us. 

We call on you to join us in our efforts to offer compassion and kindness, and to reject discrimination and violence of thought, word and deed.  We call on you to join us in affirming the dignity and worth of all people as equal children of God.

Dunsker said that 5,000 years of Jewish wisdom and tradition compel her “to offer loving rebuke.”

Joining Dunsker onstage were members of the Interfaith Coalition of Southwest Washington, including local Episcopal, Islamic, Lutheran, Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, Congregational and Metropolitan Community Church leaders. Also there was Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt, who was invited at the last minute but said he didn’t want to miss it.

“Vancouver is an open and inclusive community that rejects xenophobia, intolerance, sexism, racism, classism” in every way, Leavitt said. He added that he issues official proclamations all the time, but only one has been framed on the wall of his City Hall office — the one issued right after Election Day 2016, which says: “We are a nation bound not by race or religion, but by the shared values of freedom, liberty and equality. … Our community is strengthened by our growing diversity and ensuring that pathways that foster diversity, dignity, tolerance and respect remain clear and open.”

The Rev. Greg Ward, the interim minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church, said his faith has taught him to “live as large as the times demand.” This moment in history is “a moment that matters. We will always show up for one another,” he vowed.

The Rev. Jennifer Brownell said she and her Hazel Dell church have already lived that experience. The First Congregational United Church of Christ was heavily damaged by an arson fire in May; while no motive for the crime is known, the church is a left-leaning one that eagerly hosted the first same-sex marriages in Clark County and has been involved in other progressive causes.

After the arson, Brownell said, her congregation received many gifts of cash, equipment and worship space from other congregations.

“What got us through that day was the love and support of the people of Vancouver,” she said. “How much greater than any one act of hate or malice love and community can be.”

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