DENVER — Hundreds of people from multiple faiths came together Saturday night at the Colorado Muslim Society in east Denver after the Christchurch terrorist attack in New Zealand.
The entrance hall is overflowing with hundreds of pairs of shoes belonging to people from all religious backgrounds and faith practices coming together to pay respects for the people who died in New Zealand.
Many of the attendees of Saturday’s solidarity gathering have never set foot in a mosque, now they are willing to step in and embrace their neighbors.
“We have had far too many mass shootings and large incidents of violence in our community from Aurora to Columbine and across the nation,” said Congressman Jason Crow. “It has to stop.”
The Denver ceremony echoes one held at Temple Emmanuel nearly five months ago after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Mile High City leaders pointing out how religious communities and their leaders lifted up their members, brothers and sisters then and continue to do so now.
“In Colorado, we recognize that an attack on any one of us, is an attack on all of us,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said.
A message of unity, and a call for action, as the Denver reflects on another tragedy that took away so many lives in a place of worship.
“We got to do more,” Mayor Michael Hancock said. “We’ve got to go to work. We’ve got to be willing to reach out to other faiths and communities when there’s not a terrorist attack.”
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The Colorado Muslim Society registered with the State of Colorado in 1964 as a religious, nonprofit, cultural educational and humanitarian organization. The gathering was organized to welcome all community members to stand in solidarity with Christchurch Mosques’ victims.