WCC condemns desecration of Jerusalem Protestant cemetery
Geneva (epd). The World Council of Churches (WCC) has condemned the desecration of the historic Protestant cemetery in Jerusalem. The World Council of Churches is joining all Christian churches in the Holy Land in its protest, WCC general secretary Jerry Pillay said in Geneva on Wednesday. According to media reports, considerable damage was done at Zion’s cemetery on New Year’s Day. Headstones were said to have been damaged and crosses broken. So far there are only guesses about the perpetrators.
The lack of respect for the dead and the provocation of the Christian community are unacceptable, Pillay added. According to the WCC, the attack was recorded by surveillance cameras and “perpetrated by vandals who appeared to be motivated by religious bigotry and hatred”. The incident was observed on January 1st.
The crime confirms that the concerns of church leaders in Jerusalem about increasing attacks and threats against the Christian community are not unjustified, said South African theologian Pillay. The World Council of Churches is demanding that perpetrators be held accountable. Effective measures would have to increase to prevent further attacks. The Christians in Jerusalem must be protected.
The cemetery was established in the middle of the 19th century as part of a joint diocese of the Anglican and Prussian churches. The diocese was dissolved after just a few years, but the cemetery continued to be used jointly. The World Council of Churches, also known as the World Council of Churches, is a fellowship of 352 churches from more than 120 countries, representing over 580 million Christians worldwide. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member of the WCC.