Pakistan's Church and the Christians condemn the desecration of Quran in strongest terms

Lahore, Pakistan: March 23, 2011, (PCTV Newsdesk)

The Archbishop of Lahore and head of the Catholic Church in Pakistan Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha has expressed his anger and dismay on the incident of desecration of Quran yesterday in USA. In his statement he said, “On behalf of the Catholic Bishop and Christians of Pakistan, I condemn this act of sheer madness that does not represent the Christian values or the teachings of the Church. We regret to note that someone who calls himself a Pastor is ignorant of his religion and normal decency.” 

“By the very message of their faith, the Christians are obliged to respect the other faiths and the people. Therefore the Christians of Pakistan who are law abiding and themselves marginalized community, condemns this incident in strongest terms. We demand that the Government of United States of America should deal with this provocative act as in accordance with law.” 

“The fundamentalism or extremism in any religion is deplorable and a threat to peace and harmony between believers of different faith. The religions have coexisted for centuries, people of various faiths learnt from one another, moreover there are more commonalities than the differences among various faiths and scriptures” said the statement.  

The Archbishop also urged the fellow citizens to offer a convincing and civilized response to this extremely sad incident rather than a sporadic reaction. “Let us work to win heart in peaceful rather than adding oil to the fire. The Christian community will stand together with Muslim community in this civil response” the statement said.