Scottish Catholic Observer

Religious leaders in the United States, Pakistan and the Vatican condemned plans by a small American evangelical church to mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11 terror attacks on the US last weekend by burning copies of the Qur’an.

Following strong criticism, the Rev Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida announced at the eleventh hour that he had called off his plan for the Qur’an burning. However his suggestions had already sparked great controversy around the world, with riots and protests in Pakistan and India after a small group of protesters were filmed tearing apart pages from the Qur’an outside the White House on Saturday.

The US ambassador to the Vatican said the incident has damaged the United States’ reputation worldwide.

Pressure in India, Pakistan

Catholics in Pakistan who feared retribution from Muslims outraged by the plans said the pastor’s decision to put the scheme ‘on hold’ was an answer to prayer, according to Aid to the Church in Need.

Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad told the charity that the proposed Qur’an burning would have had dire consequences for the local Christian community.  “Muslims have huge respect for the Qur’an and there is always the risk that the emotional reaction of people here would be to hit out at the nearest Christian,” Bishop Coutts said. “It is a relief to hear what has now happened. We need to remember the difference between talking about burning the Qur’an and actually carrying it out.

“If he were to burn the Qur’an, we would have to pay the price.”

Noting widespread anti-US feeling in Pakistan, he compared the planned Qur’an burning to a Protestant walking into a Catholic church at the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland and desecrating the Blessed Sacrament.

In spite of the burning being cancelled, an angry mob of protestors torched a missionary school in Indian Kashmir on Monday.

Hundreds of angry Muslims chanting anti-US and pro-Islamic slogans marched through the streets of Tangmarg village, 40km west of the main town Srinagar, before attacking the Tyndale Biscoe School. No one was injured in the torching of the school, which was already shut due to unrest.

US reputation

Miguel H Diaz, the American ambassador to the Vatican, said the recent incidents have damaged the image of the United States.

“The deliberate destruction of any holy book is an abhorrent act,” he  said.  “The US government condemns the on-again, off-again plans [to burn the Qur’an].

“The mere threat by a pastor of a small Florida church has already damaged the image of the US.”

Bishops in America also unequivocally condemned Pastor Jones’s scheme.

In the St Augustine Diocese, Florida, where Pastor Jones’s church is located, Bishop Victor B Galeone wrote in a letter to the editor of the Gainesville Sun that Catholics should consider the plan by Dove centre members ‘reprehensible.’

“The burning of another faith tradition’s sacred texts is diametrically opposed to the Catholic Church’s ongoing commitment to improving interreligious relations,” he said. “Furthermore, it represents a counter-witness to the Gospel message by engendering fear and hatred rather than the commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves.”

Archbishop Thomas G Wenski of Miami said he hoped the Florida church’s ‘isolated and reprehensible threat’ to burn the Qur’an ‘will not derail any possible future engagement between Muslims and Christians.’

Vatican

A statement from the Vatican office responsible for the church’s inter faith relations also branded the move ‘outrageous.’

The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue said in a written statement that ‘it received with great concern the news of the proposed “Qur’an Burning Day.’”

The ‘deplorable acts of violence’ demonstrated on 9/11 ‘cannot be counteracted by an outrageous and grave gesture against a book considered sacred by a religious community,’ it said.