Church of England Expert on Iraq Condemns House of Bishops Terror Report

The recent report on the war on terror by the House of Bishops has been scorned by one of the Church of England’s leading experts on Iraq for its potentially dangerous repercussions for Iraq’s Christian minority.
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Canon Andrew White criticised the report’s author’s saying, “They’ve got to take seriously the Anglican churches in these nations”.

“The situation is dangerous on the ground and what has been said in the UK has a profound effect,” he urged.

In the report entitled ‘Countering Terrorism: Power, Violence and Democracy Post 9/11’, by a group of Church of England Bishops, including Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries, denounced the U.S. and U.K. war on terror as ‘dangerous rhetoric’.

The report called on Christian and Muslim leaders to join in a ‘public act of repentance’ and underlined the role that religious leaders themselves can play in ensuring “that unscrupulous people do not use religion to make conflict worse”.

Bishop Harries defended the comments of the bishops, saying “It is a very substantial report” that looks mainly at “the most effective ways of countering terrorism” the creative role the church might play”.

As for the suggestion of a meeting between Muslim and Christian leaders, Bishop Harries said: “What we had in mind was a long way down the line when the situation was stable to contribute to the healing of the memories.”

Bishop Harries added that any controversies or adverse effects caused by the report had been prevented by the Bishop of Coventry’s presence in the working group and his extensive contacts in the Middle East.

The Bishop of Oxford also stated that he had refused an appearance on Middle East television station al-Jazeera in order to not to stir up any controversy.