Islamic State barbarism must end

#1010 for broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 21 Dec 2014.

Whilst Permanent UN Security Council members, Russia and China, and another 129 member States of the UN stand on the sidelines, the remaining 62 UN member States are confronting Islamic State outside United Nations authorisation – prompting Pope Francis and Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew to issue a joint statement calling on:

all those who bear responsibility for the destiny of peoples to deepen their commitment to suffering communities, and to enable them, including the Christian ones, to remain in their native land. We cannot resign ourselves to a Middle East without Christians who have professed the name of Jesus there for two thousand years. Many of our brothers and sisters are being persecuted and have been forced violently from their homes. It even seems that the value of human life has been lost, that the human person no longer matters and may be sacrificed to other interests. And, tragically, all this is met by the indifference of many.

I’m Rod Benson for the NSW Council of Churches.