Human beings are not being able to give up war, which is shameful, Right Reverend Paritosh Canning, bishop of the Kolkata diocese of the Church of North India and president of Bengal Christian Council, said on Wednesday.
The council is a religious body affiliated to the National Council of Churches in India.
“We have travelled to the moon... but we have not yet been able to give up war, which is shameful,” the bishop said.
The Bengal Christian Council organised a peace prayer off the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road in central Kolkata on Wednesday for peace in Ukraine and the world.
The principals of some schools joined the prayer meeting to call for peace.
“...all Gods speak about peace, none speak about trouble or war.… We will all pray that peace be restored there (Ukraine),” the bishop said.
In a press release, the bishop prayed for global peace.
“We pray that peace be restored as early as possible so that global peace and stability, as a whole, are not jeopardised... We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine in the hour of immense suffering, horror, grief and crisis,” he said.
“The Bengal Christian Council... under the aegis of the National Council of Churches in India, is deeply pained by the fact that the war on Ukraine is still on. We have been praying for the cessation of hostilities in the region and that Russia will announce a ceasefire and take up non-violent ways in dealing with whatever issues it may have with Ukraine. We hope that the peace-making process will ensure healing, building trust, rebuilding the land, its infrastructure and people affected... It (a war) injures, destroys and kills in an often indiscriminate, ruthless and uncontrollable manner.”
The participants were urged to say they did not support violence.
“We do not want to kill each other. If we see someone die, we cry. But where is all of that today?” the bishop said.
In Ukraine, those who are alive do not know how long they would be alive. Those who are getting food now do not know how long they will get food.
Human beings have acquired knowledge over the ages but all that learning has come to naught with the war, a participant said.
The meeting was held with the support of the United Interfaith Foundation, an all-faith forum, and the Catholic Association of Bengal.