GENEVA, Switzerland (ABP) — Global Christian and Muslim leaders meeting Nov. 1-4 in Switzerland condemned the deadly Oct. 31 attack on a church in Iraq and called for formation of a working group to be mobilized whenever a crisis involving conflict between Muslims and Christians arises.
The meeting — convened at the World Council of Churches headquarters in Geneva to seek concrete ways for Muslims and Christians to build a common future in pluralistic societies — came while the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for the Sunday attack on the Our Lady of Salvation Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad. It killed 58 and injured many more.
CNN reported that al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq had declared Christian organizations in the country "legitimate targets" for holy war.
Participants at the meeting in Switzerland said they were "shocked" by the attack. They expressed "condemnation of all acts of violence that target places of worship and other sacred places, defile them, or threaten the safety and security of worshipers."
They condemned the attack in Baghdad as an "inhumane act that contradicts all religious teachings" and further denounced "any criminal act that goes against the right to live in dignity and freedom of worship and of religion."
In addition to the World Council of Churches, sponsors of the international consultation included Libyan-based World Islamic Call Society and the Jordanian-based Royal Aal al Bayt Institute. The remaining sponsor was a consortium that in 2007 produced a groundbreaking statement signed by 138 senior Muslim scholars titled "A Common Word" outlining the shared Muslim and Christian principle of defending the oppressed regardless of religion.
Themes of the four-day Christian-Muslim dialogue centered on moving beyond categories of majority and minority, from conflict toward compassionate justice and forward in education as a path to understanding, cooperation and shared citizenship.
In the closing session Nov. 4, participants called for "formation of a joint working group which can be mobilized whenever a crisis threatens to arise in which Christians and Muslims find themselves in conflict."
Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, told Ecumenical News International that ideally the group would be able to intervene to prevent a serious crisis from occurring but pointed to the joint statement passed the day before as an example of how followers of the two faiths can work together.
In addition to the attack on Christians in Iraq, the consultation addressed other concerns affecting Muslim/Christian relations, including a Swiss referendum that led to a ban on the construction of mosque minarets in the country.
The closing document recommended that organizers consider establishing a joint project to share experiences of living together in pluralistic societies, collect and disseminate best practices in interfaith dialogue and cooperation, focus on social and economic problems that intensify conflicts involving ethnicity and religion and focus on environmental issues and climate change as challenges to human security.
In the Baghdad attack, nine suicide bombers stormed the church Oct. 31, demanding the release of women rumored to be held captive in Coptic churches in Egypt after converting to Islam for the purpose of persuading or compelling them to revert back to Christianity. Most of the deaths occurred after security officers stormed the building to rescue dozens of worshipers gathered for evening Mass.
It was Baghdad's worst attack targeting Christians to date but is merely the latest and largest example of growing hostility toward Iraq's Christians since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, who offered protection to Iraq's various ethnic Christian minorities, the number of Christians in Iraq has been reduced by an estimated half, and the most recent attack is expected to expedite the exodus.
The al-Qaeda group believed behind the attack, which includes several Sunni extremist factions, also claimed responsibility for a series of coordinated car bombings, mostly in Shiite areas of the capital, that have resulted in more than 60 deaths.
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.