Paris Attacks: Nottingham's Muslim, Jewish and Christian Leaders Meet in Show of Solidarity
Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders met at Nottingham's Council House in Old Market Square on Tuesday morning, where hundreds gathered the night before to show the city stands for peace.
The faith groups said they wanted to build on an "already strong relationships" in Nottingham after 129 people were killed in a series of choreographed shootings in the French capital on Friday.
Imam Sajid Mohammed, of the Islamic Centre in Curzon Street, St Ann's, said: "It's incredibly important that civic society shows courage in standing together because courage leads to unity, unity leads to justice and justice leads to love.
Religious leaders called for more community projects in Nottingham to be run by a group of different faiths during a show of solidarity in the wake of the Paris atrocities.
"Love is greater than hate and that's the message we are putting out.
"We are not going to be divided by fear or by terror; we are together with our shared values and we are going to stand together and make this city safe for everyone."
Sajid Mohammed, who is also a member of the multi-faith Nottingham Citizens group, said faith groups have been at the forefront of tackling poverty and racial injustice in Nottingham.
"We are all victims of this affront to humanity – every ethnicity and religious group in the world - and we need to have this public declaration to show that Nottingham is a city that will stand together and fight against hate."
Tanya Sakhnovich, Jewish rabbi at the Nottingham Liberal Synagogue, praised the work of the Salaam-Shalom Kitchen (SaSh) – a weekly service in Hyson Green that offers hot meals and volunteer support – for bringing Jews and Muslims together.
She said some Jewish members questioned Islam as a peaceful religion after news of the Paris attacks filtered through.
"Faith can separate people," said the rabbi. "Extremists try to cause friction between groups that are peaceful.
"The effect is that people are put off Muslim people who are peaceful, and it leads to hatred within the Muslim community towards other faiths and other people."
She said more projects like SaSh should be launched to improve relations between religions.
"I've been pushing for a food bank with the Synagogue and the Methodist church," she said. "It shows that different faiths can be united and strong.
"When different faith groups work together it shows ordinary people shared values and that's how we can build friendships which extremists and terrorists won't be able to destroy."
The Rt Reverend Paul Williams, bishop of the Southwell and Nottingham diocese, added: "People across the county were deeply shocked by news of what happened in Paris and as friends, and people of faith, we wanted to meet to affirm our common goal of working towards peace in the local context of the city."
"We have already got strong relationships between faith groups, so we had to show that solidarity here."
Nottingham Citizens is hosting a public meeting called Terror Has No Religion at the Bridge Centre in Hyson Green on Wednesday night, November 18.
Hundreds are expected to join faith leaders at the Gregory Boulevard venue from 7.30pm where around 100 guests are expected to be paired off.
The aim is to have 50 Muslims and 50 non-Muslims in two rounds of one-to-one conversation after an act of remembrance.
Source: Nottingham Post
