The National Black Church Initiative Condemns the Attack on Religious People across the World, the Three Cases Dramatize That Religious People are Being Systematically Targeted by Extremists and Racists

Washington, DC – The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches comprised of 15 denominations and 15.7 million African Americans, citing three recent attacks on religious people and institutions as an emerging trend, to silent moral voices of good will. This is a bad omen in light of extremist behavior and language, even in the US Presidential Race. We believe that Donald Trump is learning a lesson, when you utter racial hatred and insensitive language, it inflames those who are on the margin of society’s understanding of brotherhood.

 Of course this is in light of what happened in Charleston at Emanuel AME when Dylann Roof, who just recently was assaulted himself in prison, walked in to a church during Bible Study and murdered all of them that were present. Here are the three cases that dramatized this alarming trend: The death of Imam Maulama Akonjee, and his assistant, Thara Uddin, in New York, the death of Khalid Jabara by a racist anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, xenophobic neighbor and the death of Jacques Hamel in France.

The Black Church is declaring that religious leaders and institutions as violence free zones. The Church cannot and should not be the target of ones hatred.

Rev. Anthony Evans, President of the National Black Church Initiative says, “These three incidents, along with the Charleston massacre, underscores how vulnerable the Church and religious people are. In a letter to the Attorney General Loretta Lynch, I pointed out this fact and asked for nine initiatives to be created so that the religious community can protect itself going forward. To date, none of those initiatives that we suggested were ever implemented by the Department of Justice, and I suspect these three examples will not be the only free, as racist, deranged God haters continue to target the Church – God’s children.”