September 19, 2012

CHICAGO – Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) commend the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for convening a hearing Sept. 19 on hate crimes and domestic extremism in a "Statement for the Record" submitted today by the ELCA to the Senate.

In the record, ELCA leaders stated that it is a moral imperative that policymakers and elected officials take strong measures "to build a future where hate has no place." The "policies and practices of racial and religious profiling perpetuate bias and divert resources that should be used to protect those on the margins of society, who are most at risk. The threat is not the ‘other' it is those who hate the ‘other.'"

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, and other ELCA churchwide ministries leaders urged Congress, the White House and appropriate government agencies to:

• ensure robust and comprehensive implementation of the Matthew Shepherd and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act;

• improve federal hate crime data collection, categorization and reporting efforts, adding new categories for affected communities not yet covered – anti-Arab, anti-Sikh, and anti-Hindu;

• allocate and prioritize federal funding for initiatives that prevent, investigate and combat hate crimes, hate groups and domestic extremism;

• establish formal interagency efforts, in partnership with community stakeholders, including religious communities, to address hate crimes; and

• contribute to a civil discourse, setting a moral standard that adheres to the ideals that our nation and many of our faith traditions hold in common: fairness, equality, dignity and respect.

"As people of faith, and as Americans, we uphold the values of inclusion, plurality and diversity and seek to live according to the commandment that summarized the law: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31), stated ELCA leaders.

ELCA News Service