Bishop Calls For Religious Tolerance

Bishop of Iceland Agnes M. Sigurðardóttir spent part of her Easter mass calling for greater tolerance towards refugees, and those of other faiths.

Vísir reports that the Bishop delivered her Easter mass at the Reykjavík Cathedral yesterday morning, wherein she touched upon last week’s terrorist attacks in Brussels.

“‘We Bruxelloises will not let hate win,’ said a young woman in an interview after the recent terrorist attacks,” the Bishop said. “Hatred creates tragedy. We will not let hatred win, said the woman. Hatred led to violence where innocent people died, where some were crippled, still others were injured and everyone was horrified.”

The Bishop also flatly rejected the idea that many of those coming to settle in Iceland practice faiths that are in direct opposition to Christianity.

“No, they are not incompatible with the Christian religion because the Christian faith professes helping other people, wherever they are and whatever beliefs they may hold,” she said. “As it says in the story of the Good Samaritan, we help everyone. When a person is lying in blood in the street, we don’t ask them what religion they practice. We help them. That’s what we ought to do, and it doesn’t matter whether the person is Christian, Muslim, or something else entirely.”