200 Attend Interfaith Vigil At Holocaust Museum

June 12, 2009

Author: Staff Writer

Source: JTA

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/06/12/1005839/200-come-to-interfaith-gathering-at-holocaust-museum

Some 200 people attended an interfaith gathering at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to mourn the death of security guard Stephen Johns.

Johns was killed Wednesday when a gunman, 88-year-old white supremacist James Von Brunn, entered the museum and opened fire.

Organized by the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, the gathering Thursday included speeches and prayers by clergy from Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu and Bahai traditions, as well as representatives of the German and Israeli embassies.

Clark Lobenstine, executive director of the InterFaith Conference, told the crowd, some of whom held candles, that the vigil was designed to show that "hate has no place in any of our community's religious traditions."