After Bombings, Faith Leaders Stand Together with Joint Statements, Joint Services

July 10, 2005

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4668835.stm

On July 10, 2005 BBC News reported, "UK religious leaders have issued a rare joint statement condemning Thursday's 'evil terrorist' attacks in London. Leaders of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish faiths each read out parts of the statement...

Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks said the leaders had come together to commemorate the end of World War II and the 'courage, commitment and sacrifice by which the evil of Nazism was resisted and ultimately overcome 60 years ago.'

'We stand together now for a further purpose: to express our shared commitment to resisting and overcoming the evil of terrorism,' said Sheikh Dr [Zaki] Badawi, [of the Council of Mosques and Imams]. 'It is an evil that cannot be justified and that we utterly condemn and reject.'

They were joined by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, and the Free Churches Moderator Dr David Coffey at Lambeth Palace in London.

It is the third time the religious leaders have shown such a united front. They condemned the 11 September 2001 attacks and in 2003, they expressed their shared concerns over the war in Iraq."