Monday 18 March 2019

MESSAGE TO THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY

We, the non-Muslim members of the Hobsons Bay Interfaith Network, offer our deepest sympathy to our Muslim friends after the terrorist attack in Christchurch. We are horrified that peaceful worshippers were killed and injured as they were at prayer. We commit ourselves to standing with our Muslim neighbours in this time of tragedy.

Those of us who are Anglo-Celtic Australians acknowledge that the terrorist was one of us, and said that he was acting in our name. We utterly repudiate his message of hate. We rejoice that we live in a multi-cultural and multi-faith community, and that all of us have been welcomed into Hobsons Bay by the elders of the Kulin Nations, who are the sovereign peoples of this land. We reject anything that divides us from one another.

As members of the Hobsons Bay Interfaith Network we commit ourselves to responding to hate with love; to terror with courage; to attempts to divide us with a deeper commitment to one another.

Hobsons Bay Interfaith Network Core Members:

• Rev Dr Avril Hannah-Jones, Williamstown Uniting Church
• Faz Fakhiyardi, Association of Islamic Dakwah Australia
• Myly Nguyen, United Vietnamese Buddhist Congregation in Victoria (Quang Minh Temple)
• Saad Hussein, Altona Muslim Youth Association
• Dr Scott Phillips, Holy Trinity Williamstown Anglican Church