Newark, USA - After months of acrimony and failed attempts to bring both communities together following the slaying of an Egyptian Christian family, leaders of the Muslim and Christian communities in northern New Jersey plan to sign a pledge renouncing hate and committing themselves to greater interfaith harmony.
Wednesday's event at City Hall in Jersey City would be the first small step forward in healing a rift that polarized many Coptic Christians and Muslims following the January slaying of the Armanious family in their Jersey City home.
"We realize it's a small gesture, but we think the significance and importance is people from various faiths coming together to affirm that this is the basis for agreement," said the Rev. Eugene Squeo of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Jersey City, a member of the Hudson County Brotherhood/Sisterhood Association. The group includes leaders from Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Baha'i communities.
"It's important to show that we're standing in solidarity with each other," he said.
Hossam Armanious, 47; his wife, Amal Garas, 37; and their children, Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8, were stabbed to death on Jan. 11.
Immediately after the bodies were discovered, friends of the family speculated that they might have been killed by Muslims angered over postings Hossam Armanious made in an Internet chat room under the user name "I Love Jesus." The chat room is frequented by both Muslims and Christians.
Even after two non-Muslims were charged with the killings, with robbery listed as the likely motive, many in the Coptic community continued to assert religious antagonism was behind the slayings.
The statement the leaders plan to sign reads in part, "We oppose hate and expressions of hate in all forms. ... We will continue to work together to educate the community about our various faith traditions and we will support, encourage and affirm all efforts to build bridges rather than walls."
Since the killings, various efforts to bring the two sides together have failed. Muslim leaders held an interfaith event shortly afterward that was designed to have Muslim and Coptic Christian leaders appear together, renouncing hatred. But the Copts did not attend, saying the meeting was called on too short notice and coincided with a major Coptic religious holiday.
And both sides skipped a meeting that had been planned with a bias crimes task force of the state Attorney General's Office earlier this month, doubting its potential usefulness.
"If we as religious leaders can work together and discuss our most difficult issues, then the community has to do likewise and follow our lead," said Ahmed Shedeed, director of The Islamic Center of Jersey City. "We're not going there to convert each other; we want to promote love instead of hate."
Maged Riad, the U.S. spokesman for the Coptic Church and its leader, Pope Shenouda, said the meeting needs to be followed by more concrete actions to bring the communities closer.
"We should have social activities like a soccer league where all our children _ Muslim, Christian, Jewish _ can play together and talk to each other and get to know each other as human beings," he said.