Archbishop Atallah Hanna, the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia in Jerusalem, has vehemently condemned the desecration of the Holy Qur’an in Sweden, stressing that this act cannot be considered a freedom of expression in anyway.
Hanna said in a press statement: “We consider what happened not to be an attack on the Qur’an and Muslims alone, but rather an attack on the human, moral and civilized values that everyone must possess. Religious symbols are sacred, and insulting religions cannot be considered freedom of expression.”
Hanna expressed his condemnation of ‘this unjustified and unacceptable act, which should not affect the fraternal relations that bind members of all religions in our world. Individual acts of this kind should not affect the culture of love and brotherhood, especially since an act of this kind represents only those who committed it and a limited group of people who believe in these ideas, which are a combination of backwardness, extremism, hatred and other manifestations of negativity.’
“This act falls within the framework of inhumane and uncivilized practices aimed at stirring up strife in our world and spreading a culture of hatred among people. Therefore, we must reject actions of this kind, and we must not allow any party to exploit this heinous act to spread a culture of hate and racism in our societies,’ he continued.
‘Our world has different religions and multiple sects, and we demand that there be coexistence and cooperation among all those who belong to these in the service of humanity and in service of just issues, foremost of which is the Palestinian cause.’
Source: Palestine news & Information Agency