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Following the shooting at the Grand Mosque in the Quebec City suburb of Ste-Foy on 29 January, resulting in the deaths of five people, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit extended sympathies for those bereaved or wounded, offering prayers for Canadians who, he said, “confront the need to challenge extremist violence whatever its source or origin”.
Tveit made these comments on 30 January from the WCC headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
Tveit commented, “In the face of this brutality, the human family, all people of faith and of good will, must stand together to recommit to respecting and caring for one another, to protecting one another, and to preventing such violence.”
“There is a particular evil in any attack on people at a place of worship. My sympathies go to those who have been bereaved or wounded in this shocking attack,” he added.
Tveit underlined that “The principle of freedom of religion and belief for all people must be affirmed and protected in Canada, and throughout the world, as a fundamental ethical and legal responsibility of government.”
Tveit concluded, “In our world today, any resort to violence in the name of religion or motivated by religion is particularly unacceptable and dangerous.”
