As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a profound impact in nearly every country, a diverse group of religious leaders – including RFI President Tom Farr and Kent Hill, Senior Fellow for Eurasia, Middle East and Islam – have issued a statement of sympathy and solidarity with those impacted by it and those working to mitigate its effects. 

The signatories of the New Alliance of Virtue coordinated the statement and drew support from leaders including Rabbi David Rosen, Rabbi M. Bruce Lustig, Canon Andy Thompson, Dr. William F. Vendley, HE Shaykh ‘Abdallah Bin Bayyah, and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson, a member of RFI’s Board of Advisors. 

The New Alliance of Virtue was launched in Abu Dhabi in December 2019, where Kent Hill gave an address reaffirming that “a robust understanding of tolerance must be rooted in human dignity, conscience, and reason.” In a subsequent article he discussed how statements of principle can have a long-term impact for the good when “delivered authoritatively and at the right moment.””

These are perilous days but, as we have seen in RFI’s Hope During COVID-19 campaign, there are rich resources of hope that can be drawn on in times of hardship. They can bring us together based on the fundamental principle that every person possesses human dignity.

The statement of solidarity opens with these words: 

In these perilous days that humanity faces together, the signatories of the New Alliance of Virtue express their sympathy and solidarity with all who are afflicted by the coronavirus pandemic and praise those who are making efforts to mitigate its damage, especially the doctors, nurses, and other medical staff on the front lines. We likewise commend scientists and researchers in laboratories and universities, and we pray for their success in finding appropriate medical treatment and developing a vaccine as soon as possible.

Read the Full Statement: A Statement of Solidarity from the New Alliance of Virtue.