Clerics warn U.S. against retaliation

Clerics warn U.S. against retaliation

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi: Leaders of five religions called on
the U.S. on Wednesday to refrain from taking excessive
retaliatory measures against states it suspected of backing last
week's terrorist attacks on America.

Local Muslim, Protestant, Catholic, Hindu and Buddhist leaders
grouped in the South Sulawesi Religious Believers Forum warned
that a hasty decision could lead to "a clash of civilizations"
that could be more disastrous than the first and second world
wars combined.

They advised the U.S. to focus on the perpetrators and not
attribute the crime to a particular religion or nation.

"We don't want to see indiscriminate U.S. attacks with
unwanted side effects in other parts of the world, like
Makassar," said priest Willibrodus Welle Pr. from Makassar
diocese.

There are fears that a U.S. attack on a Middle East country
would be viewed by Muslim hard-liners as an assault against
Islam, and in turn lead to Muslim hard-liners venting their anger
on Christians.

Hamka Haq of the South Sulawesi chapter of the Indonesian
Ulemas Council (MUI) appealed to local Muslims not to be provoked
by the U.S. threat to bomb certain Middle East countries.

"We sincerely hope that America drops its plan (to attack any
Muslim country) so that there will be no unwanted tension here or
elsewhere," he said. (27)