San Bernardino Religious Leaders United in Faith, Grief

Inside the cavernous, darkened interior of Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Cathedral in San Bernardino  on Monday night, 14 lit candles are carefully placed on the altar -- one for each of those killed in last week’s mass shooting at Inland Regional Center.

A 15^th candle is lit for all of those wounded in the attack.

The Rev. Manuel Cardoza then calls on the hundreds of people filling the pews and standing in the side aisles to show one another a sign of peace.

“We respect where each person is in their pain, in their anger, in their sorrow, in their confusion,” said Bishop Gerald Barnes, flanked by visiting local clergy from a host of other churches, temples and mosques.

“We want what is good for our community. We do not want evil to win over our hearts or pain to paralyze our future,” said Barnes.

The victims of last week’s assault in San Bernardino represent the region’s diverse population. Most of those killed had commuted to San Bernardino on that day from their homes in other nearby cities: Rialto, Yucaipa, Fontana, Riverside, Lake Arrowhead.

“They were white and black; Latino and Asian; immigrants and American-born; moms and dads; daughters and sons,” said President Obama in his address to the nation on Sunday

They also came from a region of diverse income levels, political beliefs and overlapping faiths.

Several mosques are just a short drive from the site of last week’s shooting. Near them are Catholic, Baptist and Methodist churches, Jewish and Mormon temples, and a score of smaller storefront Christian worship spaces.

“When we let someone who speaks with an accent different than ours arouse our suspicions, we let the terrorists win,” said Rabbi Jay Sherwood of Congregation Emanu El in Redlands, the same city where San Bernardino shooters Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, lived.

Without singling out anyone by name, Sherwood condemned what he sees as mounting anti-Muslim rhetoric in the U.S. and abroad in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.

“When we speak of closing our borders to refugees who are fleeing from war and famine and security, we let the terrorists win," he said.

Imam Aslam Abdullah, a Muslim scholar from Southern California, spoke directly to the San Bernardino shooters and what he called their nefarious, nihilistic ideology.

If only you could see the smiling faces of those gathered here, he said.

“You forgot that it is only in America that in a church, a Catholic church, in the presence of a bishop, a rabbi, in the presence of people of different faiths and different nationalities, we can rededicate ourselves,” said Abdullah.

“And recommit ourselves to the ideas of peace and the oneness of humanity, and that’s why we are here today.”

The San Bernardino Roman Catholic Diocese is home to some 1.5 million Catholics, many of them Latino. Marta Khadija used to be one of those Catholics until she converted to Islam.

Authorities say the killers had adopted a radical form of Islam abhorred by the majority of Muslims. Speaking at the back of the cathedral before Wednesday's vigil, Khadija said Muslims should not feel like they have to apologize for or defend their faith in the aftermath of such horrific events.

But they should try to do more to engage with their communities.

“Because then (non-Muslims) are going to know you personally. It should be more actively done by all the mosques, have their civic engagement, be involved with your neighbors,” said Khadija.

“Come out and show who you are,” she said.

“Because it’s beautiful.”

The killers want us to be angry with one another, said Imam Aslam Abdullah.

“But we are at peace,” he said -- united in faith and in grief.