Added: Pastor of the Dove Center says he has cancelled plans to burn copies of the Koran.
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In his greeting to Muslim communities for the festival of Eid Al-Fitr, the Archbishop of Canterbury signals his concern about the plans of a Florida pastor to burn the Koran:
At the present time our religious communities face many challenges and many provocations. In this country there are those who speak maliciously about religion in general and often against Islam in particular; demonstrations in many of our cities are intended to provoke; and in other parts of the world the threat to desecrate scriptures is deeply deplorable and to be strongly condemned by all people. These are challenges that we must respond to with a consistent message: that we oppose collectively all such provocations and insist that there is no place in our traditions for violent response. In solidarity with each other we will resist all attempts to induce violence by a constant message of peacefulness and reconciliation.
He also sent greetings to the Jewish community celebrating the start of their new year:
I am conscious of the many challenges that face Jewish communities at present, many of which are at the same time challenges to Christians to understand, to empathise with and to respond creatively to, not just as fellow citizens but as siblings in faith. Amongst the challenges is the reappearance of anti-semitism in new and old guises and sometimes associated with a questioning of the legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel. I was glad to be invited earlier this year by the Board of Deputies of British Jews to a wide ranging discussion and to make clear again my view that the State of Israel is a legitimate, democratic and law governed state that exists by consent of the United Nations and has its place in the councils of states in the world. In the light of twentieth century history, it is crucial that there is a state in the world where it is unequivocally safe to be Jewish. I wish that in this country it would not be considered necessary for every synagogue and Jewish school to be protected by security measures that no other religion here has in place.