Church official: People must be aware of potential abuse of religion

Published: 2006-03-20

ROCCA DI PAPA, ITALY (CNS) -- Christian churches should help alert people to the potential abuse of religion as a way to reach certain political goals, said a European Catholic official. In some countries where people are living in poverty or have little or no voice in government, people "want a way out" said Msgr. Peter Fleetwood, deputy general secretary of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences and organizer of a mid-March conference dedicated to religion and violence. "Why should people be able to pirate the name of religion and get away with it?" he asked. "World leaders say God told them to do things" like wage a violent campaign against others, which represents "an abuse of religion," he said. In an effort to inform European church leaders about what Islam and Christianity teach about licit or moral forms of violence, the Council of European Bishops' Conferences and the Conference of European Churches' joint committee for relations with Muslims met in mid-March at the English College retreat and conference center in Rocca di Papa.

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