Monday, January 25, 1999
East-side churches take a stand against prejudice
BY MIRIAM SMITH
The Cincinnati Enquirer
East-side church leaders used their signatures and voices to denounce bigotry Sunday.
Priscilla Minkin used her hand.
After 20 church leaders signed a declaration condemning intolerance at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Anderson Township, Ms. Minkin weaved through the crowd to shake a man's hand.
During the service, the man suggested the dialogue between Christians and Jews be strengthened.
Ms. Minkin, a Presbyterian from Anderson Township who considers herself a spiritual Jew, had to thank him.
Her husband is Jewish, and they are raising their two children in the Jewish faith. She understands the need to bridge the religious gap.
“I think their unity statement was a very strong statement,” Ms. Minkin said. “To see the churches stand together and say we're not going to tolerate any kind of hate and prejudice is really important.”
Several Christian and nondenominational church leaders representing more than 11,000 families in the Anderson-Mount Washington-Newtown area signed the proclamation before about 100 people, said the Rev. Henry Zorn, pastor of Lutheran Church of the Resurrection. The service featured song, prayer and the reading of the declaration.
The Rev. Mr. Zorn said he was inspired to hold the service after a Jewish resident, Cathy Rodner of Anderson Township, wrote to local church leaders.
In her letter, Mrs. Rodner asked them to preach tolerance in light of a Nov. 15 incident when swastikas and other graffiti were spray-painted on the Yarger Drive home of the Dana Krug family. (A family illness prevented the Krugs from attending.)
The declaration states Christian leaders of Anderson Township felt “great sadness and remorse” over the incident.Four people have been charged in the vandalism at the Krug home.
“God always finds a way to bring something good out of something bad,” the Rev. Mr. Zorn said.
The declaration
Twenty east-side church leaders signed a declaration which reads in part:
“As a pledge of our commitment to love our neighbor, each of our churches has addressed these issues through preaching, teaching or in our congregational literature. We have encouraged our members not to react to acts of intolerance with silent disagreement, but rather, to transform silence and lethargy into visible acceptance of others by actively confronting intolerance and replacing it with acts of love.”
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