Faith leaders from religious communities across St Albans have joined together in support of ‘St Albans for Black Lives Matter’, following a demonstration in Verulamium Park last month.

Ongoing conversations between Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffet from St Albans Masorti Synangogue, Fr Richard Watson of St Saviour’s C of E Church, Akhtar Zaman from St Albans Islamic Centre led to a desire to bring together the different religious traditions in response to the current protests.

Their joint statement acknowledges that faith groups, like any other, can be oblivious to systemic and institutional racism, and that religious leaders have too often remained silent in the face of injustice.

“The circumstances around the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis have been a wake-up call to so many people across the world” said Fr Richard.

“The groundswell of anger and offence in the face of such injustice cannot be ignored. Because at its root, BLM is about respect for our common humanity it seemed right that our different faith groups spoke with one voice.

“We have such a breadth of religious and cultural tradition in St Albans that we rightly celebrate and enjoy, but if we are to build ‘a strong, just and fair community’ then we need to also to find the ground which brings us all together.”

The joint statement is currently being shared with other local faith leaders, inviting them to add their names in support of St Albans for BLM.

In addition to Rabbi Adam, Fr Richard and Akhtar, another 11 names have been added, and others are welcome to sign up at http://tiny.cc/saclergy4blm.