Church Of The Nativity
ex-communicates Bush, Blair
uploaded 03 Apr
2003
Spokesman of the Orthodox Church in the
Holy Lands, archimandrite Attallah Hanna declared that U.S.
President George Bush, his Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld,
British Premier Tony Blair, his Foreign Minister Jack Straw have all
been deprived from visiting the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem.
This decision was taken to express the refusal of the
Palestinian Christians of the U.S.-led invasion on Iraq.
In
a special interview with IslamOnline.net, Monday, March 31, Hanna
described both Bush and Blair as excommunicates, as they have turned
a deaf ear to several calls by the Orthodox Church and other
churches before war erupted.
“This indicates that leaders of
the invading states did not listen to the church, and hence, we deem
them excommunicates and perverted.”
“Bush and Blair behave
in an antagonistically to the Semitic Church that calls for stopping
the aggression and hostilities against Iraq,” he added.
The
Church of Nativity decided on Sunday, March 30, 2003, to
excommunicate Bush, Rumsfeld, Blair and Straw due to their military
attacks on Iraq.
The decision was declared Sunday by Father
Banar Teyous, representative of the Orthodox Nativity Church during
a march, organized by Orthodox institutions in front of the Church,
to criticize the U.S. British invasion of Iraq.
Father Banar
Teyous said that U.S.-British invaders are war criminals and
children assassins and hence, the Church decided to excommunicate
them.
No Religious Cover
The attacks undertaken by
the alliance in Iraq is contrary to the instructions and message of
Christianity, Father Attalah said.
“Such a war targets both
Muslims and Christians and is in favor of the world Zionism that
seeks to promote the notion of religious and civilizational
struggle,” he added.
“We condemn the aggression and call for
an immediate stop thereof, as what is happening in Baghdad, capital
of civilization, is extremely painful.”
He expressed the
sympathy of the Christian church with the Iraqi people, underlining
that there is no moral or religious cover for the deeds of invaders
in Iraq.
Hanna said that the excommunication decision is
only a means to express disapproval and strong condemnation of what
is currently going on in Iraq. It is also an _expression of the
Church’s sympathy with the Iraqi people.
The Church also
declared its desire to put an immediate end to the war on Iraq, he
said.
Christian Campaign
Hanna unveiled the efforts
and contacts made by the Oriental Orthodox Church with several
Christian churches the world over to organize a global Christian
campaign in coordination with the Islamic institutions in order to
stop the aggression that targets the Arab nation, the civilization
and human values stipulated under the heavenly scriptures.
Archimandrite Hanna called upon the whole world, Christians
and Muslims, to cooperate in order to defuse the Zionist and
imperialist plans.
He said that there must be an Arab,
Islamic and Christian cooperation with the objective of boosting
historical links among followers of both doctrines in order to
strengthen the values of dialogue and unity in the Arab world.
It is worth noting that the Church of Nativity is the first
church on earth and has a special importance for different Christian
sects, as it was established where Jesus Christ was born.
The Church consists of a huge religious compound that
includes the church building as well as a number of monasteries and
other churches that represent different Christian sects.
The
Church is managed by three sects, namely, Orthodox, Earth and
Franciscans.
Source: IslamOnline
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