| Churches Deplore Cartoons |
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| Written by Christian Roar Pedersen | ||||
| Saturday, 25 February 2006 | ||||
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Porto Alegre, Brazil, Feb 24 – The World Council of Churches have adopted a minute where they deplore the Danish Newspaper Jyllandsposten’s publication of the cartoons depicting Mohammed . “Faced with the publication of the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed of Islam, starting in Denmark in September last year, we recognize it is crucial to strengthen dialogue and co-operation between Christians and Muslims,” the minutes read and it continues: “The publications have caused worldwide controversies. Further publication and the violent reactions to them increase the tension. As people of faith we understand the pain caused by the disregard of something considered precious to faith. . We deplore the publications of the cartoons. We also join with the voices of many Muslim leaders in deploring the violent reactions to the publications.” The churches are worried about the increasing use of religion in politics which have led many conflicts to carry the imprint of religion. The WCC encourages the churches dialogue with other faiths and religions should be able to be able to address civil society in matters of common interest. Freedom of expression is a fundamental right, but it must not be used to ridicule religions “By the publication of the cartoons, freedom of speech has been used to cause pain by ridiculing peoples' religion, values and dignity. Doing so, the foundation of this right is being devalued.” At the same time the churches makes clear that even though people feel violated, violence is not a legitimate response. The crisis which has followed the publication of the cartoons does not have only religious roots and in the minutes the churches connect the crisis to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the lacking solution to the Arab-Israel conflict. ”The real tension in our world is not between religions and beliefs, but between aggressive, intolerant and manipulative secular and religious ideologies.” "The recent crisis points to the need for secular states and societies to better understand and respect the role and significance of religion in a multicultural and globalised world, in particular as an essential dimension in human identity. This can help religion and people of faith to be instruments for bridging divisions between cultures and nations and to contribute to solving underlying problems." The minutes have been adopted Thursday 23th by the assembly of the WCC which met in Porto Alegre, Brazil, February13-23. The WCC consists of 348 member churches with 550 million people. Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto:             
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 25 February 2006 ) | ||||
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