The Church of Pakistan adopted a strong statement decrying the violence against Christians earlier this year in Gojra. It lays the blame specifically at the feet of those who are using religion for political ends and calls for six concrete steps to be taken in response.
“It is very sad to say that the motivation and the impetus for such actions come from the exploitation of faith and thus religion is used as a ‘red rag’ to incite the masses. These incidents have almost become a continuum and sadly almost all such cases are decided by the ‘lynch mobs’ which results in the burning of properties and public killing of victims. Unfortunately, it seems that the ‘genie’ is out of the bottle and the bull is on the rampage. The challenge before us is as to how do we contain this situation and lead it towards its healing and restoration”
Read the full statement here. It includes six specific calls to action. Four of which involve the secular authorities in Pakistan and two of which call for loving responses to the violence on behalf of the Church of Pakistan and its allies.