Cda Service Celebrates Diversity
State Sen. Gordon Crow called on worshipers at a prayer service Sunday to love and forgive “that section of our community that has chosen to hate.”
About 100 people gathered in City Park to celebrate diversity at the service, which was sponsored by Diakonia, an interfaith fellowship group founded about 18 months ago.
“I would like to share with that community my love and my forgiveness for your hate,” Crow said of groups like the Aryan Nations. “We love you and we forgive you and we ask you to come and join us.”
The concept of the service itself, though, touched off controversy among some in Coeur d’Alene’s religious community who said it was too diverse.
Despite the absence of several area churches, representatives from the Community United Methodist Church, Lutheran Church of the Master, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and First Presbyterian Church, among others, attended the service.
“We can pray with each other,” said Mike Bullard, pastor of First Presbyterian Church. “I wish people just had a little more understanding that we could be together as human beings and as friends.”
Marshall Mend, a member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, said the community must work to change the perception that Idaho is a haven for racists.
He urged residents to place signs in their windows expressing their commitment to human rights. And he called on community leaders to put similar signs along the highways.
“We need to start marketing Idaho for what it really is,” Mend said. “A great place for all people. The repetition of people seeing that message over and over again may help change that image.”
As the Aryan Nations prepare for a march through downtown Coeur d’Alene July 18, others are wrestling with how best to respond to that action.
Do nothing, Crow said, and be branded apathetic. Confront the marchers and face possible violence, he said.
Crow said he won’t attend the parade, but may spend the time at church.
“I would encourage the community of believers to get on their knees and pray at some point in the parade,” he said.