Faith leaders from around the globe and across the full religious spectrum have united together to condemn the bombing of a Coptic congregation that left at least 21 people killed and 90 wounded.
Imam Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America, released a statement on Monday, calling the bombings “absolutely reprehensible.”
"It is a sad day for all people when a simple act of worship or community celebration is marked by violence and innocent deaths. ISNA asks Muslim community members and organizations in Egypt and Nigeria to lend support to the families who lost loved ones during these attacks and urges Muslim Americans to join them in prayer for God to ease the suffering of all those affected by this terrible tragedy," said Magid.
The statement went on to declare that these acts of violence should lead us to doubling “our efforts in promoting religious harmony and the right of people to worship free from fear and violence everywhere in the world.”
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs also conveyed their solidarity with the Coptic Church.
“We are pained to see the New Year begin with such blind hatred, bigotry, and wanton disregard for human life,” said JCPA President Rabbi Steve Gutow. “The targeting of any people because of their faith is an attack on all people of faith and indeed all humanity. Coptic Christians have had a peaceful home in Egypt for centuries. Their pain is our pain.”
The National Council of Churches also responded through their general secretary, the Rev. Michael Kinnamon who said:
“Christians, Jews and Muslims around the world are united by their outrage and condemnation of this soul-less act.”
"It is simply agonizing to think that many around the world will mistake this horror as the attack of one religious community on another,” he added.
(Image shows a woman mourning during Sunday Mass at the bombed Church of the Two Saints in Alexandria, Egpyt).