To the Editor:

As Christian clergy, we the undersigned feel compelled to respond to the ugly incident of racial violence that broke out last week in Charlottesville, VA.

It is not our intent to dissect the nuances of doctrine professed by any one group or another involved, nor do we pretend to know all the details of the incident as it unfolded. What we do know is this: Christianity can never be reconciled with a racist, white supremacist, or anti-Semitic ideology in any form. Period.

It is to be condemned and shunned. Anyone professing to be Christian while participating in such racist demonstrations is putting forth a lie, since they are attempting to enlist Christ and orthodox Christianity in the cause of racial violence and bigotry.

Likewise, it should be clear that any form of apology or justification for such behavior is incompatible with faith in Jesus Christ and a life ordered according to His moral teaching.

We profess and proclaim our conviction that every human person possesses a fundamental, inherent, and equal dignity, regardless of race or creed.

As Christians, we are committed to fostering authentic respect for such dignity of the human person among ourselves, our congregants, and our wider community.

It is abhorrent and troubling to us when we see violence perpetrated in the name of God by someone professing any religious creed, in any place, whether it is Charlottesville, Virginia or Barcelona, Spain.

As Christians, however, it especially troubles us when we see that some do indeed try to use a veneer of Christian symbols or historically warped “heritage” to justify and provide cover for their racialist ideology. Again, we say, this is reprehensible.

We join in prayer for those who suffer from racial injustice and bigotry, for those who have been injured or killed by such violence, and for the families of those who have been so harmed.

May we recognize the dignity of every human person without distinction or “identity” by recalling that nearly 2,000 years ago, while writing to members of the Church in Galatia, a city in modern day Turkey, Paul of Tarsus wrote: “there is among you no Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:27-28).

Judy Van Kennen, Emmanuel Congregational United Church of Christ, and President of the Greater Massena Ministerial Association

Rachael Jordan, Massena First and Grace United Methodist Churches

Fr. Mark Reilly, Pastor, Massena and Louisville Catholic Parishes

Sean Silkwood, Victory Point Church

Don Curry, Lead Pastor, New Testament Church

Charles Shearer, Massena Baptist Church

Fr. Tojo Chacko, Parochial Vicar, Massena and Louisville Catholic Parishes

Fr. Michael Jablonski, Parochial Vicar, Massena and Louisville Catholic Parishes

Justin Cardinal, New Testament Church

Greg Hurlbut, New Testament Church

Colin Lucid, Calvary Baptist Church

Heather Ramsdell, New Testament Church