Mon, Mar 24, 2003 page6

• Christians pray for war victims

  COMPASSION Christians and Tzu Chi's Master Cheng Yen sent out prayers for the well-being of those who have been or will be hurt in the Iraq war

  • By Jimmy Chuang / STAFF REPORTER
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  A total number of 1,215 Pres-byterian churches in Taiwan with nearly 230,000 Christians yesterday said their prayers for US soldiers as well as innocent Iraqi people and hoped that the war will come to an end as soon as possible.

  The joint service yesterday began at 10am in different churches throughout the country, four days after the US began its military strike against Iraq.

  "We want to show our concerns and best wishes to those who are involved in the war," Reverend William Lo (羅榮光), general-secretary of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, said.

  

  Members of the Presbyterian Church pray for peace during a mass service in Taipei yesterday.

  PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

  At Taipei's Gikong Presbyterian Church (義光教會), nearly 80 people gathered for the chapel yesterday morning. The event was hosted by Reverend Hsu Cheng-dao (許承道) and Presbyter Lee Sheng-hsiung (李勝雄), who is also a defense counsel for Zanadau Development Corp (新瑞都) scandal defendant Su Hui-chen (蘇惠珍).

  "As Christians, we do not encourage wars. However, we do hope that it can be finished soon and democracy can be carried out in Iraq as soon as possible, too," Lee said.

  During the service, Hsu took the advantage of Psalm 85:12-13 to express his sentiment in his prayers. "The Lord will give what is good and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him and will make a path for his steps," he said. "We pray for those innocent people as well as those soldiers," he said.

  In addition to the Presbyterian church's prayers, Master Cheng Yen (證嚴法師), founder of the Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation (慈濟功德會), also wrote a letter to the foundation's members in the world to pray for those people who are involved in the war.

  In her letter, Master Cheng Yen said, "I felt so sad and worried when I saw those young American soldiers were called to join the war and had to say goodbye to their famliies. I sincerely hoped that they can come back in good health."

  In Taiwan's Presbyterian chur-ches, the Gikong Presbyterian Church is one of the famous churches because it used to be the residence of former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄). It was also the location where Lin's mother and twin daughters were murdered 23 years ago.

  When the murder took place, Lin was in jail -- he had been arrested on Dec. 13, 1979, for participating in a human rights rally in Kaohsiung three days earlier. His wife, Fang Su-min (方素敏), was attending the public hearing into what was by then already called the Kaohsiung Incident (美麗島事件).

  Lin's mother was 60 years old and his twin daughters were both seven when they were murdered.

  Lin's eldest daughter, who was then nine years old, was severely injured in the attack but survived. The murderer has never been apprehended.

  However, Lin and many Tai-wanese believe that the killings were politically motivated. The twins and their grandmother were not buried until Lin was released from jail in 1985.

  Lin and his wife then decided to sell the residence to the church and the church was established on Apr. 11, 1982.
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