Milwaukee Archbishop Condemns Religious Violence, Calls On Muslim Leaders To Speak Out

Milwaukee’s archbishop is urging leaders of Islam to more often condemn violence committed in the name of religion.

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki said beheadings, burnings and other acts of violence committed by Islamic extremists are simple acts of evil. Speaking Monday at Marquette University, Listecki urged more Islamic leaders to condemn those acts.

“And the reason that I would hope the Islamic community would do that is I don’t want governments to do it. I don’t want a government to come forth and say Catholicism or Christianity,” said Listecki.

Listecki said if extremism happened in the Catholic Church, he would condemn it. President Barack Obama recently said that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Jesus Christ, and that in the U.S., slavery and Jim Crow laws were all too often justified in Christ’s name.

Listecki said it’s the duty of the faith leader to establish the parameters of the religion. He said it’s the only way to treat what he calls “false religion.”