Date: July 19, 2019
Forn Sidr of America is a Heathen denomination in which we acknowledge the inherent value of each individual within our global community as sacred. The celebration of what makes us all unique as individuals and what that diversity brings to community and society reflects the core values held by our Ancestors, Powers, and Deities.
As Heathens, it is our duty to speak out against injustice when we see it and give no quarter to abominable crimes against our fellows. As such, the faith community and its leaders at Forn Sidr of America vehemently denounce the detainment facilities being used to cage people seeking refuge from violence and extreme poverty. Our faith is one of hospitality and of providing necessities and refuge to those in need. We are called to extend Frith and safety to those requiring it. As a faith denomination based in the United States, these are also echoed in our values of Americans:
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The atrocities that are being visited upon these people is a violation of the values of our Faith, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; a document created in the wake of the German Holocaust. We now see these same atrocities being repeated and perpetuated by the Trump Administration and its supporters. These detainment facilities fit the definition of Concentration Camps, the lack of due process, and the rhetoric displayed by Donald Trump and US I.C.E. agents are identifiable operations of orchestrated genocide.
With this statement, Forn Sidr of America advocates for the protection of children, elderly, victims of violence, and for the right to safety for all people. We demonstrate this in the spirit of our tenets, in the conviction of our beliefs, and by the integrity of our actions. We will denounce any and all actions taken by the Trump Administration that violate these values and misuses its power to commit atrocities upon our fellow human beings.
We grieve with the families of the missing and we stand in solidarity with everyone being affected by these dark times.
The Council of Directors
Forn Sidr of America