The high-level Christian and Muslim leaders meeting in Geneva that was reported on yesterday by ‘So What’, have issued a joint statement condemning the deadly attack against the Catholic church in downtown Baghdad.
The leaders are currently attending the consultation on “Transforming Communities: Christians and Muslim Building a Common Future” said they “condemn this inhumane act that contradicts all religious teachings, and Middle Eastern culture that enabled people to coexist peacefully for many centuries.”
The World Council of Churches (which is hosting this event), Pope Benedict XVI, and Muslims in Egypt have all separately denounced the attack already, while this joint statement represents the collective voice of all participants at the consultation, including: His Royal Highness, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan; Dr. Muhammad Ahmed Al-Sharif, general secretary of the World Islamic Call Society; the World Council of Churches; and representatives of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant Evangelical and Pentecostal traditions.
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 to put an end to all terrorist attacks aimed at degrading Iraqi people, irrespective of their religious affiliation, and defiling Christian and Islamic sacred places.”
The Islamic State of Iraq has claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday at the Our Lady of Najat church that killed 58 people, including three priests.
While violence is raging in Iraq between Christians and Muslims, leaders of the two religious groups are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, at the Ecumenical Center to work on how to live and work harmoniously together.
(Image is of participants in the Christian-Muslim consultation, taken from the WCC site).