Monday 7th July 2003

“The apparently racist attack on the home of a mixed race Muslim family in Craigavon should be a cause of great concern to all right thinking people. I condemn unequivocally all such acts of hatred and violence (of which this is but the latest and among the most blatant) and I offer my sympathy and prayers for the victims. Let no one portray such actions as in any way representative of Christianity or to be employed in defence of the Christian religion. God in Christ rejected violence and reached out across ethnic and religious boundaries to come alongside a Samaritan woman and a Roman centurion among others. Those who are Christ’s followers can do no other.

“It is evident that society in Ireland, north and south, is no more immune than any other from racially motivated attitudes and actions. The challenge to live peaceably and respectfully with people whose language, culture, religion or ethnic origin is different from one’s own is a challenge faced by all humanity. We know only too well in Northern Ireland, as people who have suffered from decades of sectarian (or some would prefer to say ‘factional’) conflict, how dangerous, damaging and socially divisive such attitudes and actions can become and how engrained and embedded in society and therefore how difficult to address and remove. It therefore seems appropriate, with the experience of our sectarian (or factional) history in mind, to encourage the authorities to take urgent steps now to address the issue of racism and living with difference, and to develop strategies and programmes to promote tolerance and harmony. Well considered, early action will pay long term dividends, for it seems inevitable that increasing ethnic and cultural diversity will come to characterise society in Ireland in the future.”