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Different faiths unite, talk about gun violence

Posted at 1:56 AM, Feb 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-29 03:56:43-05

People of dozens of different congregations joined together under one roof on Sunday, not to talk about religion, but another oftentimes controversial issue: gun violence.

Around 100 people met at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder to hear from a group of panelists including experts on suicide, domestic abuse and mental health.

“Yes it’s controversial,” said, Rev. Thandiwe Dayle-Ferguson, who helped organize the event, “but if we’re holding human dignity at the center of the conversation, it’s not controversial.”

The event was planned by Together Colorado’s Boulder County Interfaith Leaders Caucus and Congregation Bonai Shalom’s Working Group on Gun Violence Prevention.

Attendees varied from churches of the Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Christian and other communities.

The meeting comes following the recent rise of shootings against law enforcement around the state. A Park County deputy was shot and killed in the line of duty just this past week while serving an eviction notice.

RELATED: Park County deputy who died while serving eviction notice was beloved high school coach  

“It felt like a ripe time to kind of speak to that issue as people of faith,” said Dale-Ferguson.

If just for a few hours, people put aside their differences, hoping to learn more about how they can help lower the number of deaths from gun violence.

“We have to make a try at it anyway,” said Francesca Howell, who attended the event. 

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