Religious leaders speaking out against racism and hate

In the wake of the violence in Charlottesville over the weekend, people across the country are looking for ways to mend our country.  A number of religious leaders are speaking out with a potential solution.

Several members of clergy here in Houston say the answer to silence such hate here in our country is to denounce the behavior, come together and unite in peace.   

“I speak as a bishop of a catholic faith where there are 14 to 16 different languages every weekend for mass,” says Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Cardinal Daniel DiNardo.

His voice reaches more than 1.5 million people weekly. And what is Cardinal DiNardo saying about the deadly, race-fueled violence that struck Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend?

“What we saw there, I just have to be blunt about this, we saw a great deal of hate that was being expressed."

In fact, Cardinal DiNardo says he's "horrified" at such evil.

“Our response is opposition against all aspects of hate and violence and particularly an opposition to this white supremacy, the racism here.  This tears a part our nation.  What we're looking for is for us to come together as a nation.  This kind of violence marks us as being separate and apart.” 

Pastor of Houston's Second Baptist Church, Dr. Ed Young says, "There's no place in America today for bigotry and prejudice.  It is beyond belief in America that there's still even a remnant of hatred and racism.  We are above that.  We have to unite and we can't let a small remnant of out of touch people harm our society".

“Pray for what can gather us together and what can unite us.  Our nation needs to be united.  The sin of racism has to be blotted out,” adds Cardinal DiNardo.    

Both the Cardinal and Pastor Young say they are thrilled at the great harmony here in Houston.

Area religious leaders are actually working on a collective statement so they can "together" call for unity in their congregations and all across our country.