Like many people, we were shocked and saddened to hear about the shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Sunday that killed six people and wounded three more. In this blog post, Rev. Danny Fisher says the shooting, like other mass shootings in the recent past, calls attention to the need for changes to gun laws and mental health care.
“We know what happens next: more tragedies like the one today. They’re inevitable with relatively unfettered access to deadly weapons and a rapidly deteriorating safety net for those who need treatment for mental illnesses.”
Danny, who was instrumental in putting together this open letter from the Buddhist community condemning Islamophobia last week, also points out that the shooting has exposed many Americans’ lack of awareness of the Sikh faith. Sikhs are often mistaken for Muslims, who of course shouldn’t be targets for violence, either. “At best, our lack of knowledge about religion is embarrassing us on a global stage; at worst, it is putting us all in danger,” he writes. Read his full blog post here.
