Mumbai: The Christian community in India and the world over has condemned the proposed action of the Dove World Outreach Centre, Florida, USA, to burn the Holy Quran and wants the Obama government to take tough action against this fringe group.
“While the proposal of a mosque on Ground Zero in New York is symbolically positive, purposeful action from the Obama government on such acts of hatred to protest the 9/11 attack will go much farther in soothing the sentiments of the Muslim world at large and bringing in an environment of inclusion,” said Dr Abraham Mathai, Chairman, State Minorities Commission, and general secretary of the All India Christian Council.
He has made an urgent appeal to the US government to prevent this from happening since “a blasphemous act of this kind will have disastrous and wide ranging implications for universal peace and cordial inter-faith relations. 9/11 stands as a gruesome reminder of terror the world over and the need to strive for peace. Burning of religious books can never be justified as an appropriate response.”
Mathai says, “The Christian mandate has always been one of love in the face of hatred, and such actions by a fringe sectarian group seeking to stir the volatile pot of hatred is despicable and clearly against the tenets of the very Christianity they portend to represent."
