Thursday, August 6, 2009

Archbishop to Pakistan: Protect Vulnerable Christians


From The Living Church-

Responding to deadly attacks last week by Muslims against Christians in the Diocese of Faisalabad in the Anglican Church of Pakistan, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has called on the government of Pakistan to assure citizens’ protection and see that justice is done.

Muslim extremists are blamed for fires set in Christian neighborhoods in two villages July 30 and August 1, resulting in at least seven deaths and the destruction of more than 175 homes and two churches.

In his August 4 statement, Archbishop Williams called the attacks “an abuse of real faith and an injury to its reputation as well as an outrage against common humanity. The whole country is injured and diminished by the violence that has occurred.”

The archbishop asserted that the small and vulnerable Christian minority in Pakistan is “disproportionately affected by the draconian laws against blasphemy, which in recent years have frequently been abused in order to settle local and personal grievances.

“I appeal to the government of Pakistan to spare no efforts, not only in seeing that justice is done in the wake of these terrible events, but also in continuing to build a society in which all faiths are honored and in which the most vulnerable can be assured of the protection of the law and the respect of their fellow citizens.”

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/8/5/archbishop-to-pakistan-protect-vulnerable-christians

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