The Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence Coalition, a group of 50 faith organizations that includes FCNL, released a statement on the tragic school shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida along with a call to action.
The letter, organized by the Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence, was released on February 16, 2018. The full text of the letter is below.
Interfaith Coalition Issues Statement on Parkland School Shooting and Call to Action
On Wednesday, February 14, seventeen lives were taken from this Earth at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. We mourn this loss of life, and the transformation of a place of learning and community into a site of death and destruction. To the dead, the injured, and the hundreds of family members, friends, and communities that are grieving, we commit our prayers and our tireless action to prevent gun violence.
The shooting in Parkland is the 30th mass shooting since the beginning of the year, six weeks ago. No other country in the world tolerates this level of deadly slaughter. Gun violence shames this country daily.
As members of the faith community, we firmly believe that in the face of gun violence, the invocation of “thoughts and prayers” without action is sacrilege. The job of people of faith—especially those legislators who profess faith—is not to offer empty words. The role of the faith community does not begin after the killings. Statements, prayers, and funerary rites do not exhaust the extent of our work, nor the substance of the faiths we claim. Our faiths call us to transformative action that heals our society.
Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence is a coalition of 50 national faith organizations, denominations, and groups committed to the prevention of gun violence. We engage in advocacy and organizing, seeking legislative and societal change that will transform the reality of “93 gun deaths daily.” In recent months we have held press conferences, advocated with Congressional leaders, worked against state bills that would allow guns in houses of worship, and opposed federal proposals to mandate concealed carry reciprocity.
It is time for faith-based organizations to become part of this larger movement to prevent gun violence. We invite all national faith-based groups to join our coalition.
We call on all faith communities to engage in this work, take up this cause, and ensure that the voices of people of faith are present in the development of solutions to prevent gun violence.
We urge all local, state, and regional faith groups, denominations, and houses of worship to reach out to the members of Faiths United who represent you at a national level in our coalition. Below is a list of these member organizations of Faiths United. Online at www.faithsunited.org, you can read about the policies and actions we support. We stand ready to help you engage in the call to end gun violence. Together, our voices will be even stronger. Together, we can make a meaningful difference.
We are with you in prayer, in work, and in action of solidarity.