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Let’s deplore, yet be vigilant

The Archbishops have expressed revulsion at the Lahore bombing - and urge that distrust must not take root here.
• Archbishop Philip attends launch of Religious Diversity Centre

Taonga News  |  29 Mar 2016

When attacks such as the bombing in Lahore happen, New Zealanders need not only to deplore the barbarity which has claimed more than 70 lives over there, say the Archbishops.

They need to ensure that suspicion and distrust between “people of peace of all faiths” isn’t allowed to take root here in New Zealand.

In a short statement issued in the wake of the Lahore bombing the Archbishops say the targeting of the innocent – in this case Christians celebrating Easter – “is the hallmark of terrorism, and such cowardice should be condemned.”

At the same time, says Archbishop Philip Richardson, “we, as a nation, have to recommit ourselves to ensuring that we never allow for the climate of suspicion and distrust between people of faiths to develop in New Zealand.

“Rather, we must commit ourselves even more strongly to building dialogue across differences. We must continue to build our community based on understanding, justice and peace.”

Archbishop Richardson says it is important to remember that fear and terror do not have the last word as at the heart of the Easter message is that good will triumph over evil.

“My thoughts and prayers,” he says, “are with the Christian community in Pakistan and particularly with my colleague the head of the Anglican Church in Pakistan Archbishop Samuel Azariah with whom I spent a week recently.”

The full text of the statement can be read here.

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