An open letter to Essex residents from the Leader of Essex County Council, the Chair of the Essex Faith Covenant, the Chair of Chelmsford Jewish Community and the Chair of the Essex Council of Mosques.
The events unfolding in the Middle East demonstrate the fact that war and the threat of war can never be confined. Its reverberations affect and involve individuals and communities around the world. Following the appalling attacks by Hamas, the resulting conflict has engulfed many families and friends, Israeli and Palestinian alike.
Our hearts go out to all those who have been bereaved, and the countless loved ones who have been killed, injured or taken captive. And we join with the people of Essex as they, and the world, anxiously watch and wait how events will unfold, and how our communities will further be impacted by the violence and the impending threat of further bloodshed which will be broadcast into our homes and lives.
Essex is a rich and diverse County with as many faith groups and people of no faith as there are different types of communities. Now more than ever we need to be a strong and united people who can demonstrate that living and working together with tolerance, understanding and compassion gives a powerful message to our various communities and to the world that unity is a message and a way of life that will never be silenced or defeated by race and hate crime.
We of the Essex Faith Covenant hold and stand by these principles. The Covenant brings together over forty faith communities and public services for mutual support, dialogue and partnership working, and recently this was strongly demonstrated in a conference held at Chelmsford Cathedral which brought together different faiths and caring agencies and the police, fire and ambulance services.
Essex County Council stands with the Essex Faith Covenant and all people of goodwill in this vital endeavour. There can be no other way.
Councillor Kevin Bentley, Leader of Essex County Council, Stan Keller, Chair of Chelmsford Jewish Community, Revd Canon Ivor Moody, Chelmsford Cathedral, Chair of the Essex Faith Covenant and Ayman Syed, Chair of the Essex Council of Mosques