The Archbishop says the Easter message is a direct challenge to evil

In his Easter Day sermon in York Minster, Dr Hope said the world was an increasingly anxious place.

He added that terrorists wanted to unleash "dark and black forces of disorder and despair, of helplessness and hopelessness".

But he warned: "Life must go on, otherwise we have surely conceded victory to the terrorist."

Dr Hope told the congregation in York that the global village meant everybody was aware of worldwide events.

Iraq prayers

"We all become infected by the anxiety, the fear, the unease, the tension, which such acts generate."

But he said the Easter message itself is a direct challenge to the "evil" which still goes on in the world.

In South Yorkshire, special prayers were said at churches across the county for the situation in Iraq.

The Bishop of Sheffield, the Right Reverend Jack Nicholls, said it was important for people to look to the future.

"God is here in a world torn apart by violence, bitterness and hatred," he told to the congregation at Sheffield Cathedral.