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November 29th, 2010
04:06 PM ET
U.S. bishops urge end to Iraqi religious persecutionEditor's Note: The CNN Wires team brings us this report from Washington. Leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops endorsed a congressional resolution Monday condemning attacks on religious minorities in Iraq and urging both Iraqi and U.S. government officials to do more to protect religious groups considered to be at risk there. The resolution was introduced shortly before Thanksgiving by a bipartisan group of seven members of Congress. We welcome "this bipartisan resolution as a way to focus attention on the situation of the vulnerable religious communities in Iraq," the bishops said in a letter to the congressional group. "We support the emphasis on developing a comprehensive plan to improvesecurity for religious minorities and to increase their representation in the Government of Iraq and to include them in all aspects of Iraqi society." The letter was signed by New York Bishop Howard Hubbard, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace, and California Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, chair of the conference's Committee on Migration. The letter cited the October 31 attack on a Catholic church in Baghdad, which resulted in the death of 58 people. Seventy-five others were wounded, according to officials, who noted that most of the casualties were women and children. The attack and "the continuing violence against Christians are horrific reminders of the appalling lack of security that has condemned many in Iraq to live in fear," the bishops wrote. About three dozen survivors of last month's attack have found refuge in France, where they have been given temporary status as asylum seekers. Pope Benedict XVI said after the attack that he was praying "for the victims of this absurd violence - all the more ferocious in that it hit defenseless people gathered in the house of the Lord, which is home to reconciliation and love." Eight suspects were arrested in the wake of the attack. Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qader Obeidi has said the "incident carries the fingerprints of al Qaeda."
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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there are a lot of very obvious signs that the vatican needs to pay attention to what God is trying to tell them that they need to change and teach and show what God really wants them to do and not what they want.
i like turtles
even though the bishops are only speaking up for political pull, we can all agree religious views should never be front runner for hateful speech and actions. of course we should like to think ourselves caring for "christian brothers" in iraq, we should be supportive of making sure their lives can be free and without persecution while iving in a strange land. THIS IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT WAR AND KILLING/LOOTING. the only issue is the iraq(stricter than you think) religious political views are not going to accept praying to God through Jesus Christ. We must then allow them to live the way they want without ushering ourselves around in fear. We should not just consider the wrath of God on others. We should instead have a conversation with God and make sure we have no hate in our hearts, because humility is the foundation of pure love.
Me,
you said, ‘we should be supportive of making sure their lives can be free and without persecution while iving in a strange land.’
All were foreigners?
Nice try but this will be as effective as a UN resolution. Good luck. Hope someone there is paying attention to this but I bet not....
No minorities should persecuted, so I'd be much more impressed if the bishops more specifically called for increased protection for all minorities such as the various muslim factions and the Kurds.
what is protection to a religious group? isnt it God? the bishops have a great idea to infuse their need to have a safe place for worship for catholics with a great political statement of safety for muslims alike. if they are doing Gods work, it will work out. selfish reasons will have no good fruit and will be visible from Mars.
@me
When you said:–"what is protection to a religious group? isnt it God? If they are doing Gods work, it will work out."
Your comment sounds a bit like the 'inquisitions,' in a way... don't you think...?
Your 'logic' looks and sounds 'structurally' a lot like:
If they are 'not' possessed by Satan, then they will be able to survive being burned at the stake. (Inquisition thinking)
If they are truly Christians and doing God's work then they will survive any means of horrific torture.(Inquisition thinking)
And in this case, related to the article at hand.... "If they are doing God's work, it will work out." And that means... what...? Should they 'not' be doing God's work, then if they are 'butchered' to death, then we will know it...(that they weren't doing God's work)...?
Because... as you said..."what is protection to a religious group? isn't it God?" So, we should just a-ssume that the all-loving God was not pleased and did 'not' protect the people as they were not doing is 'work' or his 'will'...? In other words, doing God's work(whatever that work is)=protection.
Just curious as to your thoughts...
Peace...
@ HotAirAce
Let me provide you some quotes from the article:
We welcome "this bipartisan resolution as a way to focus attention on the situation of the vulnerable religious communities in Iraq,"
I believe the bishops correctly addressed ALL religious minorities in Iraq, as did the resolution. The bishops obviously progressed from there to discuss specifics to their co-religionists in the letter as well. The bishops did not focus as intently on other religious minorities to the same extent as they focused on their own religion for an obvious reason: they are shepherds of their flock, and while all shepherds are concerned with the welfare of sheep belonging to other shepherds, when wolves attack, the shepherd will defend his own flock more vigorously.
Pray for peace n Iraq.
"We support the emphasis on developing a comprehensive plan to improvesecurity for religious minorities and to increase their representation in the Government of Iraq and to include them in all aspects of Iraqi society."
well read,
Good comprehension! Well said.....
@well read
Not sure why you are nit-picking what I said...
I believe that "bishops more specifically called for increased protection for all minorities" indicates that I acknowledged the bishops were speaking about all minorities.
It's obvious that a leader is going to focus on their group. I think they would have had a more poweful statement if they had provided more specific examples of the other minorities that have been attacked.