Evangelical chief calls for equal concern for all faiths

As the US marks the anniversary of 9/11 and a pastor who threatened to burn copies of the Koran seeks the relocation of an Islamic centre near Ground Zero, the head of the World Evangelical Alliance is calling on the world to show equal concern when acts of aggression are committed against any faith.

Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe said it was right of political and religious leaders, and the world’s media, to “strongly” condemn the Koran burning planned by the Dove World Outreach Center, in Gainesville, Florida, but stressed that the international community should demonstrate the same outrage when Christians or members of other faiths come under attack.

He pointed to a string of recent violent acts committed against Christians, including the murder of around 70 Christians in Orissa, India, by Hindu extremists and the burning of New Testaments by Jewish students in a central Israeli town.

“Speaking out strongly against the proposed burning of Korans was the right thing to do and we warmly welcome the unanimous condemnation from politicians, religious leaders and the global media in this case,” he said.

“As we consider the outcry against this one small, obscure group, we now plead that the world’s leaders and media demonstrate the same kind of outspoken condemnation when radical actions on an equal or larger scale are committed against Christians.

“It will be interesting to see how the world responds to such scenarios in the future. Will leaders react with the same kind of justifiable outrage as they have against the proposed burning of the Qur’an?

"If so, will they have the courage to speak up, not only out of some concern for reciprocity or a fear of repercussions, but simply because it is the right thing to do?”

The Dove World Outreach Center’s pastor, Rev Terry Jones, agreed on Thursday to cancel the bonfire on the grounds that a deal had been struck with Cordoba House to relocate the Islamic centre and mosque it is planning to build just blocks away from Ground Zero, where al-Qaeda crashed two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center nine years ago today.

Not long after the pastor’s announcement, the Islamic centre’s organisers made clear that they had made no such deal.

Rev Jones has flown to New York in the hope of meeting Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the chief organiser of the Islamic centre, although the imam has indicated that he will not be making any deal with the pastor.

The planned ‘International Burn-a-Koran Day’ has been condemned by religious and political leaders the world over.

Dr Tunnicliffe said he was “grateful” for the church’s decision to cancel the act, but also criticised it for doing so on the grounds of a supposed deal from Islamic leaders, rather than out of any sense that the act was “fundamentally wrong”.

“The reason Pastor Jones made this decision must give us pause,” he said. “Pastor Jones made the decision based upon his understanding that he had a deal to move the proposed mosque near Ground Zero. This kind of deal would cause a dangerous precedent. Religious Liberty and tolerance between faiths cannot be bartered.”

Dr Tunnicliffe said that the WEA had spoken out strongly against the Koran burning because it was “the right thing to do” and because “Pastor Jones and his tiny congregation simply do not reflect the values and beliefs of the Christian Church”.

Arriving at New York’s LaGuardia airport, Rev Jones admitted that the week had been “very, very stressy”.

Although he set a two-hour deadline for Imam Abdul Rauf to contact him, the deadline passed without any contact from Islamic leader. Cordoba House said it had no plans to meet the fundamentalist preacher, who assured that the bonfire was still cancelled.