{"id":13861,"date":"2016-04-19T01:14:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T01:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/how-to-fight-extremism-unite-for-religious-liberty-rabbi-says-41223\/"},"modified":"2016-04-19T01:14:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-19T01:14:00","slug":"how-to-fight-extremism-unite-for-religious-liberty-rabbi-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/04\/how-to-fight-extremism-unite-for-religious-liberty-rabbi-says\/","title":{"rendered":"How to fight extremism? Unite for religious liberty, rabbi says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Washington D.C., Apr 18, 2016 \/ 07:14 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Facing a rising tide of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and government crackdowns on religious practice, European religious communities must stand together, insisted one religious leader this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time in history, we recognize that all faiths are at risk,\u201d Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks told an audience at the National Press Club on Monday in Washington, D.C. He added that \u201call faiths can stand together recognizing our shared humanity under the sovereignty of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabbi Sacks gave the keynote address at the conference put on by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, titled \u201cEurope at a Crossroads.\u201d The conference focused on efforts by civil and religious leaders to combat \u201creligious hatred and bigotry in Europe,\u201d especially Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth is that things are difficult, in Europe and throughout the world. I have been very, very shocked by what is happening in Europe,\u201d Rabbi Sacks said.<\/p>\n

More Jews are leaving France, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Sweeden, and Denmark because of increasing acts of anti-Semitism. The political hostility has become particularly bad in Hungary, Rabbi Sacks noted, and the climate toward Jews in Poland is deteriorating.<\/p>\n

Throughout Europe, synagogues have been attacked, Jewish stores have been targeted, and Jews are afraid to wear symbols of their faith in public. Whenever the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalates, so too do public acts of anti-Semitism in Europe.<\/p>\n

It was recently discovered that a member of Britain\u2019s Labour Party praised Hitler amongst a slew of anti-Semitic tweets, including statements that Iran should \u201cwipe Israel off the map\u201d and that Hitler was the \u201cgreatest man in history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jews are the not the only victims of religious-targeted violence throughout Europe. In Glasgow, a Muslim shopkeeper who wished a happy Easter to the \u201cbeloved Christian nation\u201d of Britain was shortly afterward stabbed to death by a Sunni radical for insulting Islam. Muslim women in Britain have been targeted for veiling their faces or wearing a hijab, a headscarf.<\/p>\n

Laws prohibiting or infringing on religious practice have also surfaced. A German law required parents to discuss circumcision with their children. French laws outlawed the wearing of the hijab in public. Denmark banned Kosher and Halal animal slaughter.<\/p>\n

Threatened by extremism and hostile secularism, religious communities must stand together, Rabbi Sacks insisted. He drew from an account of Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi from his book \u201cIf This Is a Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Passover, Jews begin eating the \u201cbread of affliction\u201d in remembrance of the toil the Hebrews endured as slaves in Egypt. At the end, however, they eat the \u201cbread of freedom\u201d that their ancestors ate at the first Passover, their exodus from Egypt, Rabbi Sacks explained.<\/p>\n

In his book, Levi wrote of a meal that the suffering prisoners at Auschwitz shared together in between the Nazi departure from the camp and the Soviets arriving. \u201cAnd I suddenly saw that even if what we eat is the bread of affliction, if we are willing to share it with someone else, we have begun the process of turning affliction into freedom,\u201d he wrote, quoted by Rabbi Sacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the same way, everyone must be \u201cstanding together in defense of religious liberty,\u201d Sacks said, \u201cand that stands a chance of success. Whereas if we stand on our own, we stand no chance whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an example, Sacks explained how, when he was Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, the BBC had him do a television program \u201cas a message to the nation.\u201d He used the opportunity to \u201cshow the most beautiful faces of the Muslim community in Britain.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cend result\u201d of this was that \u201cwe realized we had to be there for others if we wanted others to be there for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Another time when anti-Semitic acts became more prevalent on Britain\u2019s college campuses, he explained to fellow Jewish leaders that they would monitor for anti-Semitism, but they would also \u201clead the fight against Islamophobia.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he sees it, \u201cif you are hurting because people hate you, then stand in solidarity with other people\u201d who also face hatred.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Washington D.C., Apr 18, 2016 \/ 07:14 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Facing a rising tide of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and government crackdowns on religious practice, European religious communities must stand together, insisted one religious leader this week…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to fight extremism? 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