PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Archbishop of Port of Spain Joseph Harris says Trinidad and Tobago has other things to worry about and “what we are doing to ourselves” instead of the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Middle East.
Asked what he thought about the attacks on Paris and other places around the world by ISIS, Harris told the media at the Archbishop Residence here that it was horrible and inhuman and the response is to pray for the perpetrators of the heinous acts.
“You wonder if it is an anti- Christian thing,” he said.
Stating that the blood of martyrs was the foundation of Christianity, the response to the attacks, he said, “has to be a Christian response. We have to pray for people.”
According to the history of the church, he said the early Christian community were persecuted by Saul who was converted to Paul and was made a saint, St. Paul, by the church after he committed atrocities against the early Christians.
He supposed that the prayers of the Christians “touched St. Paul and changed him from being a persecutor to becoming an apostle.” Part of prayers, he said has to call for change of heart.
“People change from being persecutors to apostles. It takes time, but it is not inconceivable. It has happened before,” he said.
In terms of worrying about ISIS, he said, “I think (TT) has to worry about other things. I think we have to be worried about what we are doing to ourselves.” One has only to read the dailies to see all the ills in society including murders, abuse, and corruption that were affecting people on a regular basis, he said.
“You have to ask yourselves, ‘What are we doing to ourselves?”