wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Iraqi church leaders call for end to violence

[WCC media <noreply@wcc-coe.org>]

>World Council of Churches - News

>IRAQI CHURCH LEADERS CALL FOR END TO VIOLENCE

>For immediate release: 12 May 2010

Recent violence in Iraq has led Iraqi church leaders to issue a
statement calling on “all government officials and political  parties in
order to give priority to the public interest and the security of
citizens.”

The statement, released Thursday 6 May, by the Council of the Christian
Church Leaders of Iraq (CCCLI), came after an emergency meeting  of the
council in Qaraqosh. At the time the church leaders were responding  to a 2
May attack in the northern city of Mosul, where buses carrying Christian
university students travelling from the center of the district of
Hamdaniya to the University of Mosul were bombed. One person was  killed
and some 188 men and women were injured, some seriously.

Since then more attacks have taken place throughout Iraq according  to news
reports, although not all were against Christians. Attacks during  the past
few days have killed more than 100 people and injured hundreds of  others.

The wave of violence comes after contentious national elections  and at a
time when the country is struggling to form a new government.

“As we express our solidarity with the people of Iraq, and  convey our
condolences to the families of the victims, we are very concerned  about
the new escalation of violence against Christians in Mosul,”  Rev. Dr
Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches  said
Wednesday.

“We urge all parties and members of the Iraqi administration  to take up
their responsibility in bringing security and stability to the country  and
insuring the safety of Iraqi citizens,” he said.

The church leaders of Iraq closed their statement saying, “We  pray to God
to give comfort to the martyrs and a quick recovery to the wounded  and to
protect our country from all harm, and to restore to us the gift  of peace
and stability.”

The church council was formed in February of this year (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=6a75158e60b4e5f197e0
) and includes all patriarchs, archbishops, bishops and heads of  churches
in Iraq from the 14 Christian communities registered in Iraq since  1982.
Their churches belong to the Catholic, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox  as
well as Protestant traditions.

The aim of the new council is to unite the opinion, position and  decision
of the churches in Iraq on issues related to the churches and the  state.

The council intends to do so by upholding and strengthening the  Christian
presence, promoting cooperation and joint action without interfering  in
private matters of the churches or their related entities.

CCCLI statement (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=351f6b581607f21f76b4 )  (English and 
Arabic)

WCC programme “Accompanying churches in situations of conflict� ��
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=20502337cf59ccac3caa  )

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,  witness and 
service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship  of churches 
founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560  million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the  Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse  Tveit, from 
the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.