By Sue-Ann Wayow
ANY act of vandalism to a religious institution must be condemned says President of the Inter Religious Organisation (IRO) Pundit Lloyd Sirjoo.
He says it takes a hard-hearted person who has no respect for differing beliefs to commit such acts.
Sirjoo speaking with AZP News on Tuesday was commenting on the most recent act of vandalism to a temple in Williamsville.
He said, without knowing the facts of the situation, regardless of what they were, it was wrong.
The Williamsville Hindu Temple was broken into over the weekend but nothing appeared to be stolen.
“It takes a hard-hearted person to do something like that. In cases where temples and churches are robbed, it has to be greed. Seeing the gold perhaps on the murtis or on the things in the churches. Greedy people are the ones who will rob such an institution,” Sirjoo said.
He said people needed to adhere to the watchwords of Trinidad and Tobago which includes tolerance of other people’s beliefs.
The IRO president also mentioned that like in politics, many religious institutions also have power struggles and if that was indeed so at some places, persons should settle their differences internally.
Sirjoo asked of persons committing such acts, “What did bricks and murtis and other things do to you, that you have to damage them?”
Last October, the Carli Bay Kali Mata temple was vandalised and a biblical scripture painted on its walls.
It was amongst several religious institutions either robbed or vandalised in 2022.
In August, 2022, a parish priest was robbed while at the clergy house in San Rafael.
In December, 2022, the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Claxton Bay was broken into and several electronic items stolen.
For the desecration of Hindu temples, devotees have to do prayers to cleanse the place before worship can resume.
