Father Frans van der Lugt was yesterday murdered in cold blood in the rebel-held area of Homs, Syria. When the UN brokered ceasefire began in February this year Father Frans van der Lugt refused to be evacuated. He wanted to remain with the 23 Christians who were the last of a community which used to consist of 60,000. Father van der Lugt spent nearly five decades in Syria and considered the country to be his home. "The Syrian people have given me so much, so much kindness, inspiration and everything they have. If the Syrian people are suffering now, I want to share their pain and their difficulties," he told AFP in February. Furthermore he did not want the Christian heritage to disappear from Homs. Some Christians had to remain behind to project this heritage he believed. 

Father van der Lugt did not believe in differences between Muslims and Christians who are, for him, all humans. "I don't see people as Muslims or Christian, I see a human being first and foremost."  He has experienced great interreligious encounters in the years since he first came to Syria in 1966. Muslim-Christian tensions rarely happen because of religious convictions but because of political convictions which certainly includes those who mix religion with politics.

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Cornelis Hulsman,

Editor-in-Chief,  Arab-West Report