Tag: anjum rahman

Religious attitudes to racism

Dave Moskovitz

Public Meeting Online
Tuesday 30 June 2020, 7:30pm on Zoom
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87012063664

Video from the event:

We need to talk.

In the wake of Black Lives Matter, we need to talk about racism. Each of the three Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – has a chequered history of how we treat “the other”, and all three religions have also been on the receiving end of hatred.

But what do our prophets, our history, our traditions, and our lived experience in the contemporary world tell us about racism in the twenty-first century?

Come join our Zoom meeting, where we’ll discuss how our three Abrahamic religions approach racism.

ChairProf Paul Morris, Victoria University
ModeratorMeng Foon, Race Relations Commissioner
JewishJuliet Moses, NZ Jewish Council
ChristianCharles Waldegrave, Family Centre Social Policy Research Unit
MuslimAnjum Rahman, Inclusive Aotearoa Collective

There will be time for questions and answers immediately following the panel discussion.

We hope to see you there.

For further information, contact the meeting host, Dave Moskovitz, dave@abrahamic.nz or phone 027 220 2202.

51 seconds for Christchurch on 15 April

Dave Moskovitz

Jews, Christians, and Muslims will be falling silent for 51 seconds at 1:40pm on 15 April to remember the Christchurch mosque attacks of 2019. National and local commemorations for the attacks were cancelled last month due to COVID-19, and this is a chance for people to remember the attacks in their own way.

“With the whole country in lockdown, it’s more important now than ever to act together, and pause briefly in silence to think about how we can make our society more inclusive,” says Dave Moskovitz, the Jewish Co-Chair of the Wellington Abrahamic Council of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. “We’re asking people in each household to take less than a minute out of their day on 15 April to think: what can I do, what can our community do, and what can New Zealand do to stop hatred in our thoughts, words, and actions?”

Christian Co-chair Father Ron Bennett adds, “We’re a month late for the 15 March anniversary. It’s sad that commemorations were cancelled last month, but we couldn’t let this important event in New Zealand history go unmarked. We’re asking people to take 51 seconds – that’s one second for each life lost in the attacks – to build a more compassionate society. COVID-19 might slow us down, but it can’t stop us. Better late than never.”

Islamic Women’s Council of NZ Coordinator Anjum Rahman says that it is not Muslim practice to commemorate the deaths of specific people as death is a transition from one stage of life to another. “These attacks had a strong impact on our wider society. Many of us feel less safe now than we did before the attacks, and every person in our country has the basic human right to not fear for their lives, no matter what their religious beliefs are, nor how they might identify as a person. Celebrating difference and valuing others is the best way to counter hate.”

So on 15 April, take 51 seconds to remember the Christchurch mosque shootings, and join Jews, Christains, and Muslims around the country to think about how we’ve changed, and what we can do to make our society more inclusive. Please share this, and invite your friends to our Facebook Event.