MANILA: Leaders of the Philippine Roman Catholic Church, Asia’s largest, vowed on Thursday to counter extremist religions such as that espoused by militants of the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham (ISIS).

Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who heads the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, also asked the country’s bishops to collect donations for Christians who have been displaced by the militants and whose places of worship have been razed “by a godless rage with which no genuine religion can ever identify.”

Citing brutal actions by the Islamic State group, including the beheading of American journalist James Foley, Villegas said the Philippine Catholic church will “do our part ... to counter the defacement of religion.” “Those who kill and slaughter, wound and maim, destroy and burn in the name of God send the world the awful message that religion divides, that faith is oppressive, that belief can engender so much unkindness,” he said in a statement.

Militants belonging to the Abu Sayyaf and another violent Muslim group in the southern Philippines have expressed support for the Islamic State group.

The military has said it knows of no Filipinos who have joined the fighting in Syria and Iraq, but Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said that he has nevertheless asked security officials to check unconfirmed reports that up to 100 Filipinos may have entered the two countries to fight alongside Islamic militants there.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2014