As a foundation to AFN's "Faith, Equity & Inclusion" event series, the Theological Dialogue Commission developed the statement, Faiths’ Response to Racism. The statement speaks to our need to:
- Understand personal and institutional manifestations of racism
- Recognize personal complicity in racist behaviors
- Understand what our own and other faith traditions say about racism
- Acknowledge the many root causes of racism
- Be willing to decry the micro-aggressions and oppressions that are a result of racist mindsets
- Speak prophetically from our faith traditions about both personal and institutional racism and
- Find ways to work on reconciling and recompensing the generations of injustice that have been meted out due to racism
We encourage people of faith to add their voices to this call and to understand that racism and its concomitant ills are antithetical to all faiths and that a change of mindsets about the depth, proliferation and impact of this issue in American society must be accomplished. Please sign on today!