A Partnership of Faith in New York City is an organization of 35 leaders of local faith communities - mosques, synagogues, churches - in the City of New York and was founded in 1991 by Rabbi Ronald Sobel of Temple Emanu—El, Dr. James Forbes of Riverside Church and Dr. Arthur Calliandro of Marble Collegiate Church.  Clergy from major faith institutions were invited to meet together in order to respond, in an interfaith manner, to what was then an epidemic of racial, ethnic, police/citizen, sexual violence in the city, including violence in the public discourse.   The group grew over the years to include 35 Moslem, Jewish and Christian religious leaders.  Membership has been restricted to local faith communities (we’d call them parishes) as opposed to institutional or denominational leaders. The group meets monthly, usually at Central Synagogue.   Congregations contribute as they are able.  Mary Burns Huff, whose office is at Marble Collegiate Church, is Executive Director, part time.  The Co-chairs are Peter Rubenstein, senior rabbi at Central Synagogue,  and Stephen Bauman, senior minister at Christ Church Methodist.   I have been a member since 1999 and serve as Treasurer. 

 Several citywide crises situations have been addressed – sometimes quietly and sometimes publicly – by this group.  This include the Amidou Diallo arrest case in 1999, the Sean Bell case in 2006, the mayoral election in 1993 (Dinkins/Giulliani), and again in 1997, to keep race out of the campaigns.  The Partnership spent a lot of time after September 11, 2001 organizing interfaith responses, prayer services and community-educating meetings.  In our October meeting, 17 of us (4 imams, 3 rabbis and 8 Christians (2 RC priests, 1 Lutheran, 2 Methodists, 3 Episcopalians) and 1 Unitarian/Universalist spent significant time – and will continue to spend time in coming months – working on interfaith responses to “Islam under siege” in the city and in the nation.

This document has not yet been signed by all of us, but I expect that will happen quickly so it can be released to the public.  Several Partnership members, including 3 imams, 2 rabbis and 3 Christian clergy, produced this statement, working from my original draft.  I am especially proud of, and call your attention to item 3, which is based on my continued application of the words of Pastor Martin Niemoller, with respect to his long silence (and eventual outspokeness) during the Shoah in Germany, 1933-1945.  For clarity, I am including Pastor Niemoller's words after the Partnership's statement.

Peace and Joy,

Amandus J. Derr

Senior Pastor 

A Partnership of Faith in New York City

October, 2010

Because we contribute to a free society in which we live, work and worship, a society that constitutionally protects the rights of all of its members (including the right to worship freely), we are bound to one another.

We, the members of the Partnership of Faith in New York City, have become increasingly alarmed by the rising levels of discrimination, and the escalating words and acts of hatred against Muslims. These hate-mongers clearly seek to marginalize and demonize our Muslim brothers and sisters, particularly those who live and work in America, and who contribute to American life.  

Painfully, we have learned from history that, more often than not, marginalizing and demonizing one group in the society ultimately damages, and often destroys all.

Therefore, as members of A Partnership of Faith in New York City,

1. We affirm the constitutional protection of the free exercise of religion, and support the right of the owners of Park51 to plan, construct and operate a facility on that property, which conforms to the applicable zoning and land use laws of the City of New York.

2. We recognize the autonomy of the owners of Park51 in all decisions related to the use or disposition of that property, and pledge to support them in whatever decisions they make, with respect to the disposition or use of this property.

3. We regard all words of hatred, all acts of violence, all attempts to marginalize and/or demonize any religious leader or community, and all violations of the sacred space of any house of worship as words and actions against us. We pledge that, in both our public and private discourse, we will speak and act as one, in solidarity with all those who suffer in this way. 

4. We implore all our fellow citizens, particularly other religious leaders, and all in public life, to cease and desist from all inflammatory rhetoric, and to speak out publicly and privately in defense of the freedom of religion which we all cherish as fellow citizens of this land. 

We pray for God’s continued guidance and blessing on all of us, on this great city, and on the United States of America.

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Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) was an ardent nationalist and prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last 7 years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.

The quotation stems from Niemöller's lectures during the early postwar period. Different versions of the quotation exist. These can be attributed to the fact that Niemöller spoke extemporaneously and in a number of settings. Much controversy surrounds the content of the poem as it has been printed in varying forms, referring to alternating groups such as Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, Trade Unionists or Communists depending upon the version. Nonetheless his point was that Germans -- in particular, he believed, the leaders of the Protestant churches -- had been complicit through their silence in the Nazi imprisonment, persecution, and murder of millions of people.

At the same time, however, Niemöller, like most of his compatriots, was largely silent about the persecution and mass murder of the European Jews. Only in 1963, in a West German television interview, did Niemöller acknowledge and make a statement of regret about his own antisemitism.