A Women’s Interfaith group in Oxford calls upon President Trump to immediately rescind his order to indefinitely halt admission of refugees from Syria and to suspend for 120 days admission from six other Muslim majority countries.

This order is not only discriminatory, it comes at a time when the world faces its worst refugee humanitarian crisis in history. For those of us in the faith community, this presidential order is offensive and dangerous.  It violates all that our respective faith traditions mandate. Namely we are to love our neighbor and welcome the refugee. President Trump has also stated that his priority is to help persecuted Christians resettle in the U.S. Such preference imposes a religious and political test that is at odds with the moral imperative to act justly. Refugees are human beings seeking safety. All refugees who seek safety should be free to apply for entry and should be treated equally.

We in the interfaith community have worked hard to build relationships and seek to promote understanding between and among our faith traditions.  These traditions include the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities. It is the path to peace. To close our doors to those from any country is a moral wrong. We cannot let this stand.

The interfaith group includes Muslim women, many of them immigrants; Jewish women who carry the sad history of the Holocaust and the fact that countries, including the US, denied admission to Jewish refugees during the early years of World War Two; and first generation Americans.

The president’s order regarding refugees is frightening and wrong. Members of the Oxford Women’s Interfaith Peace Initiative stand with all sisters and brothers throughout America and the world in opposition to this order.

Oxford Women’s Interfaith

Peace Initiative