Ecumenical Patriarchate decries violence in the name of religion
CWN - August 16, 2012
Lamenting the “resurgence of violence currently spreading throughout the world,” the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople--the Eastern Orthodox see that holds the primacy of honor--issued a statement on August 14 denounced “barbaric acts” such as “ethnic cleansing, anti-Semitism, [and] destruction of places of worship,” particularly when these acts “are masked with the veil of religion in an effort to justify them.”
Citing conflicts in Nigeria, Sudan, and Syria, the Patriarchate stated that
religious leaders should be working together, through dialogue, to affirm God's peace in the world. We, as religious leaders, have a moral obligation to resist war and promote peace as a vital and fundamental necessity for all humanity. Religion cannot and should never be a basis for war and conflict, nor should it be used as an instrument of fundamentalism and fanaticism for purely political motives and ends. With great resolve, we have repeatedly emphasized that any crime in the name of religion is a crime against religion.
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Posted by: Justin8110 -
Aug. 16, 2012 2:50 PM ET USA
Certainly the Ecumenical Patriarch is correct about violence done in the name of the Trinitarian God that we Catholics and Orthodox worship but he is wrong that violence done in the name of God is condemnable in all religions. Islam for instance, sanctions violence as a means of spreading itself and terrorizing others. This is written into the Koran and has been a part od Islam since Mohammed first came out of the Arabian peninsula swinging his scimitar.
