War in God's name is blasphemy, inter-religious conference affirms
September 11, 2014
An inter-religious meeting sponsored by the Sant’Egidio community has concluded with a statement that “there is no holy war; the elimination of the other in the name of God is always blasphemous.”
The meeting, held in Antwerp, included prominent leaders of all the world’s leading faiths. The concluding statement lamented that 100 years after the outbreak of World War I, the world is still troubled by war. The religious leaders were especially emphatic in condemning war waged in the name of faith. ''We have heard the voice of different religious traditions: war cannot be holy,” observed Andrea Riccardi, the founder of the Sant’Egidio community, as the conference ended.” Only peace is holy, because it is God's name, because it is the life of women and men.”
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Posted by: -
Sep. 13, 2014 11:18 AM ET USA
Defeating an enemy like islam can be holy, but eliminating them completely could never be accepted by the Church. Might be nice, though, if the Church's understanding of "give to Caesar what is Caesar's" could accept the elimination of islam as a perfectly legitimate aim of Caesar, which the rest of us would be required to support.
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Posted by: Defender -
Sep. 12, 2014 6:56 PM ET USA
What of the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire? On September 12, 1683, a coalition of Christian forces, a Holy League blessed by Bl. Pope Innocent XI, arrived with Jan III Sobieski, King of Poland, who lifted the siege of Vienna. Thank heaven and thank Bl. Pope Innocent XI for blessing this effort for Christianity.
