Archbishop Of Canterbury Urges Trump To Remove Anti-Muslim Tweets, Reject Hatred
29 November 2017Daily Sabah And
Agencies
England's top religious authority, the archbishop of Canterbury, called on
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday to remove his retweets of three
inflammatory anti-Muslim videos posted by a British far-right group, urging
him to show he rejects racism and religious hatred.
Stating that he found it "deeply disturbing that the President of the United
States has chosen to amplify the voice of far-right extremists," Justin Welby
said that he, along with faith groups and others, expected Trump "to make
clear his opposition to racism and hatred in all forms," and not just un-retweet
the videos.
"Britain First seeks to divide communities and intimidate minorities,
especially our Muslim friends and neighbours. God calls us as Christians to
love our neighbour and seek the flourishing of all in our communities,
societies and nations," he said in a statement he shared on Twitter and
Facebook.
The Church of England leader also retweeted a statement by the Christian
Muslim Forum, an organization that supports public dialogue between Christians
and Muslims, condemning the violence shown in the videos.
"We are extremely concerned to see anti-Muslim propaganda given such publicity
and implied credence," the organization said in statement, calling on Prime
Minister Theresa May to denounce all extremist behavior.
The first video Trump shared shows a man knocking down another man on
crutches. The second shows a man destroying a statue of Virgin Mary. A third
shows a group of men dressed in black, likely Daesh militants, beating a man
and pushing him off a roof.
Britain First was founded by far-right British National Party (BNP) in 2011.
Fransen and the fringe group's head were arrested in September and charged
with causing religiously aggravated harassment over the distribution of
leaflets and posting online videos during the court trial involving the case
of a number of Muslim men accused and later convicted of rape.
The archbishop's call comes not long after he told ITV that he doesn't
understand why so many Christians in the U.S. support Trump.
Welby had told ITV's "Peston on Sunday" program that he "really genuinely"
can't comprehend why fundamentalists have provided such a strong base for
Trump.
"There's two things going through my mind: Do I say what I think, or do I say
what I should say? And I'm going to say what I think," he said on the show,
referring to the support Trump has garnered, especially from so-called
Evangelical Christians. "No, I don't understand it. I really genuinely do not
understand where that is coming from."
However Welby did say he would be willing to attend a state dinner in Trump's
honor if the president came to Britain on an official visit.
He also noted that he's met with worse people than the president of the United
States.
Trump has accepted an invitation for a state visit to Britain, but no date has
been set. Though he said he'd meet Trump, Welby also said, "It'd be unlikely
I'd do more than shake hands with him."
Meanwhile, outraged British opposition politicians have demanded that the
government revoke Trump's invitation to the U.K. after he retweeted the
anti-Muslim videos.
Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump offered anti-Muslim commentary,
saying he would "strongly consider" closing mosques and insisting that "Islam
hates us." As president he has sought to ban travel from majority-Muslim
countries. He said earlier this year that "we have to stop radical Islamic
terrorism."
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