05/21/2026
A Joint Statement from Bishop Budde and Rabbi Shankman on the May 18th Attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego and an Invitation to Every Person of Faith and Goodwill
As the country absorbs the news of three people shot to death at the Islamic Center of San Diego, we offer our prayers and condolences to the grief-stricken. To our Muslim friends, we grieve that such a horror could take place in one of your houses of prayer. That the perpetrators could be motivated to take innocent life before killing themselves raises profound moral questions for us all.
In the past year, there have been at least four acts of violent attacks targeting communities for their faith in our country. Catholic, Latter-day Saint, Jewish, Muslim. Children at Mass. Families at Sunday worship. A congregation gathered in a sanctuary built for prayer. A school day interrupted by gunfire. Each community was targeted because of what its members believe and where they worship.
Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on August 27, 2025
Meetinghouse of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, on September 28, 2025
Temple Israel of West Bloomfield, Michigan, on March 12, 2026
and now, the Islamic Center of San Diego on May 18, 2026.
As interfaith colleagues, we write to affirm our friendship with those across the wide spectrum of religious life. As friends, we share one another’s sorrows and celebrate each other’s joys. Together we work to promote and protect each faith tradition’s rightful place among us. We are partners in civic life for the common good.
An attack on one community’s sanctuary wounds us all. We believe that the bonds of interfaith friendship can bring healing to our land. But friendship is not only felt; it is shown. So today we commit to one another, and we invite every person of faith and goodwill to join us:
-to show up at one another’s houses of worship — not only after violence, but for times of celebration and remembrance.
-to speak publicly and by name when any community is targeted, without waiting to see whether the attacker’s identity makes the cause convenient.
-to refrain from language, online and in our pulpits, that prepares the ground for violence against our neighbors, and
-to keep writing this statement, together, for as long as we must — knowing that each time we do, we are also building the relationships that will outlast the violence.
May God grant comfort to those who mourn, courage to those who protect, and to the rest of us, the resolve to create a world free of hatred.
Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Washington, and
Susan Shankman, Senior Rabbi, Washington Hebrew Congregation
