- Joined
- Mar 11, 2013
- Messages
- 13,202
- Points
- 113
https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/...epris-d-un-imam-envers-les-chretiens-20220301
The Catholic Church in Senegal on Tuesday, March 1 condemned the “contempt” of an imam for remarks deemed offensive towards the Christian community, inviting him to apologize on the television channel where he had spoken.
Imam Serigne Lamine Sall was invited Thursday onto the set of the local television channel Walf TV, where he notably affirmed that Catholics were “condemned in the same way” as Freemasons and Jews in Islam. According to him, there are only two religions, “Islam and the infidels.” The imam’s remarks are “inadmissible and can only be justified by contempt, indecency and ignorance,” said Philippe Abraham Birane Tine, President the National Council of the Laity, which brings together Catholic associations and movements in the country, on Tuesday during a press briefing at the Archdiocese of Dakar
Strong reactions
These remarks triggered a lively controversy in Senegal, a West African country renowned for its tolerance, with a Muslim population of nearly 95%. Among the reactions, Mame Mactar Guèye, vice-president of Jamra, an Islamic NGO, estimated on radio that “Imam Serigne Lamine Sall could have done without these unfortunate remarks with regard to the Christian community. It is (one) word too many.” The Catholic Church in Senegal on Tuesday demanded an apology from Imam Sall and asked the authorities for a “self referral” to the prosecutor in this type of case. “What we expect is not complicated: there is an adage that says public offense, public reparation. We want the imam to return to the program where he spoke and to apologize,” Father Alphonse Birame Ndour, episcopal vicar of the Catholic Church in Senegal, in charge of interreligious dialogue, told AFP.
In addition, according to him, the prosecution must be undertaken because there is “a flagrant act and national cohesion may be threatened.” “The offense is not only made to the Christian community but to Senegal as a whole,” he added. For Philippe Abraham Birane Tine, who described the imam’s remarks as “discriminatory, outrageous, aggressive,” the latter “confirms our certainty that the foundations of our nation are in danger.” Philippe Abraham Birane Tine called on Senegalese President Macky Sall to do “everything so that, from now on, the culprits of such crimes are identified and punished.”
The Catholic Church in Senegal on Tuesday, March 1 condemned the “contempt” of an imam for remarks deemed offensive towards the Christian community, inviting him to apologize on the television channel where he had spoken.
Imam Serigne Lamine Sall was invited Thursday onto the set of the local television channel Walf TV, where he notably affirmed that Catholics were “condemned in the same way” as Freemasons and Jews in Islam. According to him, there are only two religions, “Islam and the infidels.” The imam’s remarks are “inadmissible and can only be justified by contempt, indecency and ignorance,” said Philippe Abraham Birane Tine, President the National Council of the Laity, which brings together Catholic associations and movements in the country, on Tuesday during a press briefing at the Archdiocese of Dakar
Strong reactions
These remarks triggered a lively controversy in Senegal, a West African country renowned for its tolerance, with a Muslim population of nearly 95%. Among the reactions, Mame Mactar Guèye, vice-president of Jamra, an Islamic NGO, estimated on radio that “Imam Serigne Lamine Sall could have done without these unfortunate remarks with regard to the Christian community. It is (one) word too many.” The Catholic Church in Senegal on Tuesday demanded an apology from Imam Sall and asked the authorities for a “self referral” to the prosecutor in this type of case. “What we expect is not complicated: there is an adage that says public offense, public reparation. We want the imam to return to the program where he spoke and to apologize,” Father Alphonse Birame Ndour, episcopal vicar of the Catholic Church in Senegal, in charge of interreligious dialogue, told AFP.
In addition, according to him, the prosecution must be undertaken because there is “a flagrant act and national cohesion may be threatened.” “The offense is not only made to the Christian community but to Senegal as a whole,” he added. For Philippe Abraham Birane Tine, who described the imam’s remarks as “discriminatory, outrageous, aggressive,” the latter “confirms our certainty that the foundations of our nation are in danger.” Philippe Abraham Birane Tine called on Senegalese President Macky Sall to do “everything so that, from now on, the culprits of such crimes are identified and punished.”
