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The baptismal covenant in Mosiah 18 is why I call myself a “Mormon.” There, by the Waters of Mormon, a beggarded group of refugees promised to “preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord” and to “knit their hearts together in unity and in love one towards another.”

These original members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Prior-day Saints expressed their desires to “bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;” to “mourn with those that mourn;” to “comfort those that stand in need of comfort;” and “to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things.”

I’ve spent the last day reflecting on how I, and my Mormon community, can live up to those same covenants in order to demonstrate love and unity towards our Muslim brothers and sisters in the wake of the white nationalist terrorist attack on Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.

(The same principles apply in the wake of any hate-induced violence, including against our Jewish friends at Tree of Life synagogue, our African Methodist Episcopal friends at Mother Emanuel Church, and our Sikh friends at the Oak Creek Gurdwara.)

Mourn

Don’t ignore or dismiss tragic news. Mourning with those that mourn requires us to listen to vulnerability, to cultivate empathy, and to weep alongside our neighbors’ pain.

Publicly express your solidarity and support on social media.

Look up any candlelight vigils or prayer services being hosted in your community, and then attend.

Read the names and honor the stories of the innocent who were slaughtered.

Comfort

Reach out to your Muslim friends. Express love. Offer to listen. Offer a shoulder to cry on. Offer a warm meal, or to babysit their kids, or to fold their laundry, or to mow their lawn, or any one of dozens of practical things to alleviate the daily stresses of life that becomes overwhelming when you need time and space to mourn. Think of the same things Mormons provide for each other in times of crisis — and then offer it here.

Every gesture of support helps. I’m not sure my Mormon or white communities realize how much hate spews out as a byproduct of tragedy. For every 100 hugs of solidarity Muslims receive today, they probably also hear one death threat. For every 100 likes and hearts on a mourning social media post, there’s probably three angry blustery screeds barraging our Muslim friends’ personal inboxes. Due to my position at CAIR, I see them. Yesterday alone, hate-sympathizers spray-painted crude graffiti on a mosque and attacked worshipers with a hammer.

Take steps to build bridges in your community. Look up your local mosque or masjid and show up for services. Set aside any semblance of awkwardness and pray with your brothers and sisters.

Look up your local interfaith group and sign up for or volunteer to support events. Start making friends so the next time hate surfaces, your community is already united.

Donate to funds supporting burial costs for the victims, support for their families, and training and security for marginalized communications or at-risk buildings in your area.

If you have military, security, or police training, offer to provide security training and services for free. (Please be aware, however, that the Muslim community is wary of law enforcement using tragedy to infiltrate the community, recruit informants, launch baseless terrorism investigations, or report immigrants to ICE.)

If you have any other specialized training — for example, if you’re an electrician who could improve exterior lighting to a mosque — offer those services as well.

My organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, publishes a “Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety” guidebook. In response to New Zealand’s tragedy, we’re distributing copies to every mosque in America. You can proactively look through these recommendations and see what specific support and services you may be able to contribute in your communities.

Stand as a Witness

Condemn white nationalism and hate-induced violence, and join in calls to action. Share Mormon Women for Ethical Government’s statement. Contact your state and federal representatives and ask them to support Muslim communities, condemn hate in all its forms, and pass specific legislation to combat bigotry.

Legislative examples that may resonate with you: repealing the Muslim Ban, improving legal immigration, supporting refugees, restricting ICE’s powers, establishing sanctuary cities, providing grant money for community security services, requiring background checks for gun purchases, and banning assault rifles.

Call out and shut down any rhetoric from anyone you know which glorifies violence, traffics in racist or anti-immigrant sentiments, or otherwise blames Muslims for their own deaths. The Australian politician’s horrifying statement is prototypical of sentiments I’ve seen expressed, including by Mormons and Christians I know, all over Facebook and Twitter during the last 36 hours. Shut it down.

Lead like Jacinda Ardern

I want to take a moment to praise New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her pitch-perfect response to this mass tragedy. If you’re not aware, Jacinda Ardern was raised a devout Mormon, but left the Church when she felt that her commitment to stand up for the marginalized and oppressed no longer aligned with the Church’s doctrinal and political stances, particularly surrounding LGBT rights. As she once told a reporter: “How could I subscribe to a religion that just didn’t account for [my gay friends]?”

I personally believe it’s possible to stand as a witness for Christ by supporting the marginalized and oppressed while remaining in the Church. But I can’t help but respect Ardern’s decision to put love of her neighbors first when she felt it conflicted with the tenets of an organized faith. That resonates with me in exactly the same way as Mosiah’s story of persecuted followers of Abinadi fleeing the corrupt church under King Noah, and then establishing new covenants at the Waters of Mormon to center a faith around Christ and loving fellowship.

Jacinda Ardern became New Zealand’s Prime Minister in 2017, and delivered her first child while in office. Her baby is now almost 1.

Ardern has spent the past 36 hours fiercely calm and utterly compassionate while leading New Zealand through the greatest tragedy her peaceful nation has seen in decades.

Ardern donned a hijab to mourn and pray with victims’ families, and to thank first responders.

Ardern has already shepherded her government through concrete steps towards banning semi-automatic rifles.

Ardern personally told President Donald Trump yesterday that all she and New Zealand needs from him and the United States is a condemnation of white nationalism and a show of robust sympathy to Muslim communities around the world.

Mormons? Let’s follow our Waters of Mormon baptismal covenants. Let’s lead like Sister Jacinda Ardern.

*Photo by Ali Arif Soydaş on Unsplash