Government opposes church plan for London bombings memorial
-04/09/05
Government officials are opposing a plan to invite the families of the July 7 suicide bombers to a national memorial service, reports the Sunday Times.
The service of commemoration is to be held at St Paulís Cathedral on November 1 and will be attended by the Queen and Tony Blair.
However church leaders want to invite the families of the July 7 suicide bombers to the service.
Two senior Church of England bishops believe that extending the invitation to the bombersí families would acknowledge their own loss and send a powerful message of reconciliation to the Muslim community. ìIt will acknowledge the wickedness of the act and the grief and devastation it has caused,î said Martin Wharton, the Bishop of Newcastle. ìI believe this has to be an inclusive invitation.î
Jack Nicholls, Bishop of Sheffield, said: ìWe have to look forward, not back, forward to a society in which Muslims and Christians live together amicably in an integrated community.” While Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, declined to comment, senior church sources told the Sunday Times that he would ìsee the valueî of inviting the bombersí families.
The uncle of Shehzad Tanweer, one of the bombers, said his family would be prepared to attend if invited. Asked if some of the victimsí relatives might take offence, Bashir Ahmed said: ìIf the objection is raised I will be happy to go and apologise for any pain a member of my family may have caused.î
Government officials oppose the plan because of the ‘sensitivities involved’ and will take the final decision about the guest list. The proposal has also outraged some families of the dead.
The Church however has not infrequently found itself at odds with government and others over its inclusive and reconciliatory message, which many find hard to understand and sometimes offensive.
It the early 1980s the Church found itself in trouble with the Thatcher government when it wanted to remember the Argentine dead as well as British soldiers who had died during the Falklands conflict.
A senior Church of England figure was also said to have intervened to prevent a service of remembrance for the Iraq war at St Paul’s Cathedral being billed as a thanksgiving for victory.
The dean of St Paul’s, John Moses, said he had raised concerns after Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told Parliament in July that the service would “give thanks for the role UK forces played in ending tyranny in Iraq”.
Government opposes church plan for London bombings memorial
-04/09/05
Government officials are opposing a plan to invite the families of the July 7 suicide bombers to a national memorial service, reports the Sunday Times.
The service of commemoration is to be held at St Paul’s Cathedral on November 1 and will be attended by the Queen and Tony Blair.
However church leaders want to invite the families of the July 7 suicide bombers to the service.
Two senior Church of England bishops believe that extending the invitation to the bombers’ families would acknowledge their own loss and send a powerful message of reconciliation to the Muslim community. ‘It will acknowledge the wickedness of the act and the grief and devastation it has caused,’ said Martin Wharton, the Bishop of Newcastle. ‘I believe this has to be an inclusive invitation.’
Jack Nicholls, Bishop of Sheffield, said: ‘We have to look forward, not back, forward to a society in which Muslims and Christians live together amicably in an integrated community.” While Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, declined to comment, senior church sources told the Sunday Times that he would ‘see the value’ of inviting the bombers’ families.
The uncle of Shehzad Tanweer, one of the bombers, said his family would be prepared to attend if invited. Asked if some of the victims’ relatives might take offence, Bashir Ahmed said: ‘If the objection is raised I will be happy to go and apologise for any pain a member of my family may have caused.’
Government officials oppose the plan because of the ‘sensitivities involved’ and will take the final decision about the guest list. The proposal has also outraged some families of the dead.
The Church however has not infrequently found itself at odds with government and others over its inclusive and reconciliatory message, which many find hard to understand and sometimes offensive.
It the early 1980s the Church found itself in trouble with the Thatcher government when it wanted to remember the Argentine dead as well as British soldiers who had died during the Falklands conflict.
A senior Church of England figure was also said to have intervened to prevent a service of remembrance for the Iraq war at St Paul’s Cathedral being billed as a thanksgiving for victory.
The dean of St Paul’s, John Moses, said he had raised concerns after Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told Parliament in July that the service would “give thanks for the role UK forces played in ending tyranny in Iraq”.