WCC NEWS: Christian-Muslim conference condemns attack on church in Iraq

From WCC media <[email protected]>
Date Wed, 3 Nov 2010 19:24:15 +0100

World Council of Churches - News

CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM CONFERENCE CONDEMNS ATTACK ON CHURCH IN IRAQ

For immediate release: 03 November 2010

Christian and Muslim leaders and scholars meeting at the Ecumenical
Centre in Geneva, site of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central
offices today issued a joint statement of condemnation for the 
criminal
attack on the Church of Our Lady of Najat (Sayidat al-Nejat) in 
Baghdad
this past Sunday, 31 October.

Fifty-eight people were killed after gunman seized hostages in the 
churches
and government security services later stormed the church to end the
siege.
The group is participating in a 4-day international consultation on
“Transforming Communities: Christians and Muslims Building a Common
Future.”

In the statement the group expressed “condemnation of all acts of
violence that target places of worship and other sacred places, defile
them, or threaten the safety and security of worshippers.”

The group called on “the United Nations and its Security Council and 
all
groups that call for just peace, and especially Iraqi officials, to
intervene for the purpose of putting an end to all terrorist attacks 
aimed
at degrading the Iraqi people, irrespective of their religious
affiliation, and defiling Christian and Islamic sacred places.”

A press conference (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=5d798c84749219d795b9 )
will be held at the Ecumenical Centre on Thursday, 4 November at 4:30 
pm.

Download the statement (pdf) (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=a592bb36d47d2366d438
)

More information on the consultation (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=945936eaad3922562c0d )


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.



You receive this information as a subscriber of our media list. You 
are 
registered as Worldwide Faith News with the address 
[email protected].
Click here to unsubscribe or change your distribution settings 
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=e2ceeaeb1b10cc312254 ).