Icon (Close Menu)

Bishops Condemn Attack

The Archbishop of Canterbury has responded to an attack outside the Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park on June 18:

The freedom to worship without fear is a right we cherish as a nation and was won at great human cost over many years.

The appalling attack on Muslims in Finsbury Park is an attack on us all and on the culture and values of our country.

At a time when we are all grieving the loss of so many precious people in London and Manchester, this brutal attack can only compound the trauma. Violence only begets more violence — it serves only the interests of those who would terrorize others.

This wanton and cruel act can produce no good and cannot be justified or excused. In exactly the same way as previous recent attacks it is a crime against God and against humanity.

The Rt. Rev. Adrian Newman, Bishop of Stepney, visited the scene and met with members of the mosque, the local Muslim community, other faith leaders, and politicians, including the Prime Minister Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition.

In a statement issued early on June 19, Bishop Newman said:

An attack on any faith is an attack on us all. As a church, we stand together with Finsbury Park Mosque, in the wake of this morning’s appalling news. It sadly comes after a weekend, in memory of Jo Cox MP, that celebrated all that brings us together, and I know that the Mosque, hand-in-hand with other local faith and community groups, was at the heart of events in the Finsbury Park area.

We will offer up our churches to help our friends at the Mosque in any way we can. We will not be cowed by those who seek to terrorize our communities.

Matthew Townsend is the former news editor of The Living Church and former editor of the Anglican Journal. He lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Top headlines. Every Friday.

MOST READ

CLASSIFIEDS

Most Recent

Kenyan Primate Backs USAID Shutdown

Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit: “Let us be disrupted so that we think properly and manage our resources properly.”

Church Leaders Respond to Deportation Threats

While bishops warn of racial profiling and share legal advice, one Maryland priest has become legal guardian of 15 children from his congregation whose parents are in danger of deportation.

Bishop William Cox Dies at 103

A champion of elder care and rural ministry, Cox was controversially deposed at 87 for “abandoning the communion of this church” when he asked to transfer his episcopal ministry to an Anglican province in South America.

Diocese of Cape Town Mishandled Smyth Allegations

A Panel of Inquiry faulted the church’s failure to pass on allegations about the serial abuser to an evangelical congregation he joined in 2014, and said that failures in implementing its safeguarding system leaves congregants at risk.