U.N. nuncio urges religions to be 'loud and clear' against violence

Published: 2007-11-26

NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) -- Religious leaders must speak out "loud and clear" against those who try to use sacred texts such as the Quran or the Bible to justify violence or human rights violations, the Vatican's nuncio to the United Nations said in a lecture at the University of Notre Dame. Archbishop Celestino Migliore spoke Nov. 15 on "Catholicism and Islam: Points of Convergence and Divergence, Encounter and Cooperation." He said the spread of terrorism has "triggered a renewed interest in Christian-Islamic dialogue. It's not enough for any religion to say: We have nothing to do with extremists, with fundamentalists; or, extremists do not speak for our respective religions," Archbishop Migliore said. "Indeed extremists and fundamentalists do make reference to the same sacred texts; they even dare to portray themselves as the faithful interpreters and keepers of those sacred texts. "Rather, we have to engage those who try to justify their unjustifiable acts of violence and multiform violations of human rights using those same texts and proclaim it loud and clear that those texts do not lend themselves to a reading which leads to violence," he added.

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