Gugulethu, South Sfrica - The Old Testament saying of an "eye for an eye" was substituted for a rock for a rock when men from two congregations engaged in a bloody battle of stone throwing outside a Gugulethu church at the weekend.
The fighting erupted when a group from the St Joseph Apostolic church from Site C in Khayelitsha allegedly disrupted a church service at the Apostolic Church in NY 82 in Gugulethu, headed by Bishop Caldwell Sineke.
Sineke said he was in the process of obtaining an interdict to prevent any further attacks.
The two groups were once part of the same church, before Sineke broke away to start his own congregation.
Sineke said the Khayelitsha group came to his church with the intention of causing trouble.
"They were all men. There were no women or children. Another thing is that I've broken away from them. They are the St Joseph Apostolic and I'm just the Apostolic Church," said Sineke.
"They are being used by their bishop. In their words, they just want my church to come to an end. If they have a problem they must come to me and not my church and my congregation. Some of them are break-aways from my church and were sent to disrupt. They want my church to be locked, and even wanted to break the windows. It's jealousy basically," said Sineke about the five-year tension between the two groups.
The two groups pelted each other with stones and laid into each other with sticks outside the church while the service continued inside.
There were even gunshots as the battle went on before police were called in to stop the fight.
"The children and women were safe inside. The service continued while there men were fighting outside," said Sineke.
He said the other congregation was headed by Mncedisi Bam.
"We are going to take further legal steps. We want a court interdict to prevent them from coming here again. There will be a lot of danger if they come again because they can come, it's a church and everyone is welcome," said Sineke.
Bam could not be contacted for comment yesterday.
Police spokesman Randall Stoffels said a firearm was confiscated and two people had been arrested and charged with attempted murder and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.