Hard-hitting Archbishop lashes out at terrorists

7:22am Thursday 14th September 2006

MORE than 700 people packed York Minster to hear the Archbishop of York deliver a hard-hitting lecture in which he attacked Islamic terrorists and urged political parties to be more Christian.

Dr John Sentamu, pictured, was delivering the first of several Ebor Lectures on theology and public life and touched on a range of issues, including the Israel-Lebanon conflict, poverty and the family.

He condemned suicide bombers for "denying the faith they appear to profess".

He said those who commit acts of terror "both usurp and pervert the fundamental tenets of faith in the most basic denial of the faith possible, by killing others in God's very name".

Dr Sentamu also said British Christians should see Muslims as allies in the struggle against secularism.

He said: "It is both my view and my experience that most British Muslims are not offended or insulted by the Christian faith and, given the choice between the two, prefer a faith environment, even one which they do not share, to that of a secularist state."

Keep the faith THE Archbishop of York has condemned Islamic terrorists and suicide bombers for "denying the faith they appear to profess".

In a hard-hitting speech at York Minster, Dr John Sentamu said those who commit acts of terror "both usurp and pervert the fundamental tenets of faith in the most basic denial of the faith possible, by killing others in God's very name".

Speaking to more than 700 people at the launch of the Ebor Lectures, he also said British Christians should see Muslims as allies in the struggle against secularism.

"It is both my view and my experience that most British Muslims are not offended or insulted by the Christian faith, and, given the choice between the two, prefer a faith environment, even one which they do not share, to that of a secularist state," he said.

He said Britain had been damaged by the downgrading of religion, and urged political parties to adopt Christian values.

"As a society, we are in danger of suffering from collective amnesia when it comes to considering the work of those who have uncovered the purposes of God in our history, and in particular seem to have airbrushed from history the motivation of these social pioneers who have been inspired to act by a passionate and vivid faith in God," he said.

In a wide-ranging speech, he also spoke of the recent conflict between Israel and Lebanon.

He said it had been characterised by "the cheapening of human life", now taken for granted by those in power.

He criticised a situation "where the deaths of innocents are regretted in the same breath as the next volley of rockets are launched or air sorties scrambled".

Referring to his recent peace vigil in York Minster, where he slept in a tent and fasted for a week, Dr Sentamu said he was visited by a five-year-old boy.

He said: "The lad was visibly upset and came up to me with his mother and said, "Thank you for what you are doing. I am very upset with all the killings, Why didn't they get it sorted by talking?""

In his speech, the primate also urged the Government to do more to support families.

He said: "The well-being of the whole community requires that children, so far as possible, be brought up by their own parents as members of one family, with all the give and take that family life demands.

"For it is within the family that we first learn what it means to love, to trust and to care for one another. We learn how to forgive, how to overcome and how to grow.

"These lessons are not optional and, for the fabric of society to remain strong, the state and the laws of the land need to support and encourage families."