This story is part of RNS’ Love Thy Neighbor series. You can read all the stories here.
(RNS) — In the months after Oct. 7, 2023, Shariq Ghani, the 44-year-old Muslim executive director of the Houston-based civic multifaith nonprofit Bridges, began hosting regular, emergency meetings with Jewish and Muslim community partners in the city.
Interfaith relations in Texas — like the rest of the country — were tense. As the war in Gaza progressed, reported incidents of anti-Muslim and anti-Jewishhate crimes, discrimination and harassmentskyrocketed across the state and the U.S…