04349
August 4, 2004

Iraq bombings draw condemnation from Christian leaders

by Stephen Brown
Ecumenical News International

GENEVA — Christian leaders have condemned the series of attacks that targeted worshippers at Sunday evening prayers at churches in Baghdad and in the northern city of Mosul, and which left at least 11 people dead and dozens more injured.

      “This action further undermines efforts to rebuild Iraq as a democratic society where all religious communities and peoples can live in harmony,” the Rev. Sam Kobia, general secretary of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches, said on Monday. “We strongly condemn all forms of violence which target religious communities or any group of people, and which seek to introduce religious enmity into this conflict.”

      The first blast was reported in Baghdad as dusk was falling, and three other churches in or near the capital were hit soon after. Another blast came in the northern city of Mosul at about the same time.

      The WCC said that according to reports, the blasts in Baghdad also damaged offices and property of the WCC-related humanitarian organization Action by Churches Together (ACT), as well as of the Middle East Council of Churches.

      “This is the first time Christian churches have been targeted. We condemn this attack and we are very concerned about it,” said Bishop Nareg Alemezian of the Armenian Apostolic Church’s Catholicosate of Cilicia (Lebanon).

      “We have a conflict, and we have to solve it — the US, the UN, all parties involved in the creation of this situation, but also local people and faith communities,” Bishop Alemezian said from Kuala Lumpur where he was attending a WCC meeting.

      In Rome, the Vatican deputy spokesperson, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said: “It is terrible and worrying because it is the first time that Christian churches are being targeted in Iraq. There seems to be an attempt to heighten tensions by trying to affect all social groups, including churches.”

      Christians make up less than 3 per cent of Iraq’s 25 million people, almost all of the others being Muslims.

        Syrian church leader, Metropolitan Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch, urged Christians and Muslims to work together for peace.

      “I address my appeal to the Arab world, which can support any plan for peace, and also to the Iraqi people themselves — if they are not in solidarity, how then can they solve these problems?” he said. “Solidarity is very important, both inside and outside the region, both among Christians and between Christians and Muslims.”