06086
Feb. 14, 2006

Church leaders denounce rude cartoons
but condemn Muslims’ violent reaction

by Peter Kenny
Ecumenical News International

GENEVA — While denouncing the harm that some Western media have done by publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that incensed Muslims and sparked angry protests, Christian leaders worldwide have condemned the resulting violence.

        The general secretary of the Geneva-based Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the Rev. Ishmael Noko, said the cartoons were deeply offensive to Muslim sentiments, but warned that the furor they around should not be presented as a conflict between secular rights and religious values.

        Noko said the caricatures at the heart of the controversy are “genuinely and deeply offensive to Muslim sentiments and religious values,” and Muslims are “entitled to protest loudly and vigorously.”

        “Muslims around the world are understandably outraged by this provocation and insult to their religion,” Noko said in a statement issued on Jan. 10, adding: “It is very regrettable that the Danish authorities did not respond in a timely and appropriate manner to the complaints first conveyed by Danish Muslims. A response at that time may have done much to forestall
the chain reaction of rage that we now see.”

        Zimbabwe-born Noko said coexistence and dialogue “in addressing the problems that confront us all, regardless of faith affiliation, remain the only path towards peace in our fractured
and troubled world.”

        In New York, the National Council of Churches said on Feb. 13 that it strongly supports North American Islamic organizations that “exercised disciplined restraint and advocated
diplomacy and education” in response to the provocative cartoons.

        The Rev. Shanta Premawardhana, the NCC’s associate general secretary for interfaith relations, echoed Noko’s sentiments, calling for a “dialogue of civilizations” involving religious, political, academic, media and business leaders.

        In London, Britain’s United Reformed Church (URC) said it shared the pain felt by British Muslims. In a statement, it said it is committed to freedom of speech but noted that, with that freedom comes “a responsibility to consider whether publication of offensive material is in the wider public interest.”

        “Equally, freedom of speech does not include freedom to incite people to break the law,” the URC added. “We support the right of Muslims to mount peaceful protest, to make clear their hurt. However, we condemn the use of violence, threats of violence and civil unrest. These would, in any case, only serve further to inflame a dangerous situation, and provide easy ammunition for those who seek to denigrate Islam.”