Northlake Says Black Lives Matter

Northlake Lutheran Church, a predominately white Christian congregation, acknowledges that race relations in America today are rooted in centuries of white colonization and intentional dehumanization of Indigenous and Black persons through settlement and removal of Indigenous peoples and the economic system of slavery upon which the nation was built.

As white individuals, we have benefited from this system of oppression and have been complicit in its perpetuation. That complicity must end as we work to dismantle white supremacy culture and unequivocally affirm Black Lives Matter. Our central belief as Christians is that one cannot truly love God if one does not love one’s siblings, and we are all children of God.

The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Manuel Ellis, and countless others not filmed or on the news, are the result of a nation that is fundamentally rooted in white supremacy. Our belief is that God calls us to not only affirm our Black, Brown, Indigenous siblings’ rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but also to actively dismantle the institutionalized racism that oppresses them and harms us all.

We must always work to name, reject, and dismantle racism and white supremacy culture that works to benefit some at the expense of others. We are committed to doing this work. We stand with our Black, Brown, and Indigenous siblings in Christ and pray for people everywhere suffering injustice

Northlake Lutheran Church commits to:

• Doing deep, mindful work to examine and reflect on our own racial identities—understanding our white-centered culture and how it operates in our congregation and shows up in our relationships with Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.
• Look within ourselves and our own community for signs of racism: consider whose voices we draw knowledge and inspiration from, examine the books we have on our shelves, the art we choose to display, the stories we tell our children and reflect on how these choices inform who we are, where we stand, and what we believe.
• Call on policy makers to enact and enforce legislation that ensures fairness in our criminal justice and law enforcement systems as well as equitable access and outcomes in education, housing, employment, healthcare, community services, and voting rights.
• Provide on-going educational opportunities and discussions for our own congregation and community regarding race and the effects of racism in our congregation and beyond.
• Recognize implicit biases in ourselves and each other and interrupt the negative stereotypes we form from those unconscious biases.
• Commit our resources and join our voices with the elders, allies, and influencers within organizations fighting for justice across our country.

https://northlakelutheran.org/racism_statement/

The Baha’is of Snohomish County join with the statement of the Baha’is of the United States to the American people on the elimination of racial prejudice. With an aim of unity in diversity; and knowing religion has a key role in providing insight, motivation, faith, strength, and creativity for transforming our own hearts and transforming society, we look forward to joining hands with our neighbors of all Faiths in learning how to create models of what we want to see in American life.

Forging A Path to Racial Justice

A message from the Baha’is of the United States
June 19, 2020

The Baha’is of the United States join our fellow-citizens in heartfelt grief at the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others whose lives were suddenly taken by appalling acts of violence. These heartbreaking violations against fellow human beings, due only to the color of their skin, have deepened the dismay caused by a pandemic whose consequences to the health and livelihoods of people of color have been disproportionately severe. This has come to pass against a backdrop of longstanding racial injustice in virtually every aspect of American life. It is clear that racial prejudice is the most vital and challenging issue we face as a country.

Yet, amidst these tragedies, there are also signs of hope. Countless citizens have arisen to proclaim the truth that we are one nation, and to demand specific actions to address the pervasive inequities that for too long have shaped our society. We have remembered who we aspire to be as a people, and are determined to make a change for the better. This moment beckons us to a renewed commitment to realize the ideal of E Pluribus Unum—out of many, one—the very ideal upon which America was founded.

To create a just society begins with recognition of the fundamental truth that humanity is one. But it is not enough simply to believe this in our hearts. It creates the moral imperative to act, and to view all aspects of our personal, social, and institutional lives through the lens of justice. It implies a reordering of our society more profound than anything we have yet achieved. And it requires the participation of Americans of every race and background, for it is only through such inclusive participation that new moral and social directions can emerge.

Whatever immediate results might come from the current demonstrations, the elimination of racism will require a sustained and concerted effort. It is one thing to protest against particular forms of injustice. It is a far more profound challenge to create a new framework for justice. Our efforts can only succeed when we learn to build relationships with each other based on sincere friendship, regard, and trust, which, in turn, become pillars for the activities of our institutions and communities.

It is essential for us to join hands in a process of learning how to create models of what we want to see in every dimension of American life, as we learn to apply the principle of oneness through practical engagement and experience. To this end, we offer the following thoughts.

An essential element of the process will be honest and truthful discourse about current conditions and their causes, and understanding, in particular, the deeply entrenched notions of anti-Blackness that pervade our society. We must build the capacity to truly hear and acknowledge the voices of those who have directly suffered from the effects of racism. This capacity should manifest itself in our schools, the media, and other civic arenas, as well as in our work and personal relations. This should not end with words, but lead to meaningful, constructive action.

There are already significant efforts underway to learn how to create models of unity in neighborhoods and communities throughout the nation. Baha’is have been persistently engaged in such efforts for many years. The aim is not unity in sameness—it is unity in diversity. It is the recognition that everyone in this land has a part to play in contributing to the betterment of society, and that true prosperity, material and spiritual, will be available to us all to the degree that we live up to this standard. We should earnestly discover what is being done, what truly helps to make a difference, and why. We should share this knowledge throughout the country as a means of inspiring and assisting the work of others. If we do this, we could soon find ourselves in the midst of a mass transition toward racial justice.

Religion, an enduring source of insight concerning human purpose and action, has a key role to play in this process. All faith communities recognize that we are essentially spiritual beings. All proclaim some version of the “Golden Rule”—to love others as we do ourselves. Take, for example, the following passage from the Baha’i Scriptures in which God addresses humankind:

Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts how ye were created. Since We have created you all from one same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest.

To understand and firmly believe that we are all children of God provides us with access to vast spiritual resources, motivating us to see beyond ourselves and to work steadily and sacrificially in the face of all obstacles. It helps to ensure that the process is consistent with the goal to create communities characterized by justice. It gives us the faith, strength, and creativity to transform our own hearts, as we also work for the transformation of society.

We believe that the tribulations now encompassing much of the world are the symptoms of humanity’s failure to understand and embrace our essential oneness. The interrelated threats of climate change, gender discrimination, extreme wealth and poverty, unfair distribution of resources, and the like, all stem from this deficiency and can never be resolved if we do not awaken to our dependence upon each other. The world has contracted to a neighborhood, and it is important to appreciate that what we do in America impacts not only our own country, but the entire planet.

We should also never forget that the richness of our diversity, and our founding ideals of liberty and justice, attract the eyes of the world to us. They will be influenced by what we achieve, or fail to achieve, in this regard. It is not an exaggeration to say that the cause of world peace is linked to our success in resolving the issue of racial injustice.

The oneness of humanity is the foundation of our future. Its realization is the inevitable next stage in our life on this planet. We will replace a world society based upon competition and conflict, and driven by rampant materialism, with one founded upon our higher potential for collaboration and reciprocity. This achievement will mark the universal coming of age of the human race. How soon we achieve this, and how easily, will depend upon the commitment we demonstrate to this cardinal principle.

We have come to a moment of great public awareness and rejection of injustice. Let us not lose this opportunity. Will we commit to the process of forming “a more perfect union”? Will we be guided by “the better angels of our nature” to choose the course of wisdom, of courage, and of unity? Will we choose to truly become that “city upon a hill” to serve as inspiration to all humanity? Let us then join hands with each other in commitment to the path of justice. Together we can surely achieve this.

Baha’u’llah said: “So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.” May that light grow brighter with every passing day.

NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF
THE BAHA’IS OF THE UNITED STATES

https://www.bahai.us/path-to-racial-justice/

My parents moved to the United States of America as a young couple from Norway in 1950. As immigrants they knew poverty and struggle. They raised five boys in a modicum of middle-class comfort. But, they were white. They never had to worry about someone not respecting them because of their accent, because they were white. They never had to worry about someone not hiring them for a job, because they were white. The “American Dream” was there for them because they were white. My father knew many other immigrants from other countries because the trades were an easy entry point to employment. They worked alongside each other and were helped by citizens of this country. The Mexican-Americans, who lived on this land for several generations, corrected my father’s English. The African-Americans, whose ancestors came here on slave ships, showed my father how to navigate the paperwork with the county. Yet, my father was the one who landed the bigger jobs in the fancier neighborhoods because he was white.

It is time to address our systemic racism that consistently harms our BIPOC siblings. This country has so many wonderful, hardworking, generous people who are forced to remain in economic systems that insist they are not valuable; who are forced to remain in social systems that insist they are not worthy; who are targets for violence and incarceration at a far higher rate then people who are white.

There is a need for the BLM movement to challenge and hold us accountable as we move forward to a more free and healthy community for all our citizens.

Rev. Tor Kristian Berg
Parish Pastor
First Lutheran Church
Bothell, Washington

“We join with many throughout this nation and around the world who are deeply saddened at recent evidences of racism and a blatant disregard for human life. We abhor the reality that some would deny others respect and the most basic of freedoms because of the color of his or her skin. We are also saddened when these assaults on human dignity lead to escalating violence and unrest. The Creator of us all calls on each of us to abandon attitudes of prejudice against any group of God’s children. Any of us who has prejudice toward another race needs to repent! During the Savior’s earthly mission, He constantly ministered to those who were excluded, marginalized, judged, overlooked, abused, and discounted. As His followers, can we do anything less? The answer is no! We believe in freedom, kindness, and fairness for all of God’s children! Let us be clear. We are brothers and sisters, each of us the child of a loving Father in Heaven. It behooves each of us to do whatever we can in our spheres of influence to preserve the dignity and respect every son and daughter of God deserves. Any nation can only be as great as its people. That requires citizens to cultivate a moral compass that helps them distinguish between right and wrong. We need to foster a fundamental respect for the human dignity of every human soul, regardless of their color, creed, or cause. And we need to work tirelessly to build bridges of understanding rather than creating walls of segregation."

Contact Information: Ken Williams @ Bothellsp@gmail.com for more information

Link to the full statement by our Church President:

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/president-nelson-shares-social-post-encouraging-understanding-and-civility

Christian Family Fellowship, Kenmore, is a congregation of Grace Communion International. A statement regarding racism can be found at their denominational website, an article by Dr. Greg Williams, President of Grace Communion International.

https://update.gci.org/2020/07/apology/