C of E challenged to forgive suicide bombers
-16/11/05
The Church of England was challe
C of E challenged to forgive suicide bombers
-16/11/05
The Church of England was challenged yesterday to consider how to love and forgive suicide bombers.
Dr David Tweedie, from Warwick, told the General Synod in London that Christian duty “obliges us to love everybody”.
He said: “Someone has to ask how, as Christians, we address suicide bombers, suicide bombers who survive, and those who send suicide bombers out.
“We must forgive them. It is extremely difficult. Yet we are called to forgive.”
His call came during a debate instigated by a motion from the Bishop of Southwark addressing responses to terrorism.
The bishop is the chair of the Mission and Public Affairs Division of the Archbishop’s Council which has produced a report that supports a shoot-to-kill policy against suspected suicide bombers as a last resort.
The report has disturbed some Christians committed to peace-making and solutions to conflict which do not perpetuate spirals of violence.
The report states: ìWhere many lives may be threatened by terrorist acts, the police need to be able to employ lethal force as a last resort ó particularly in the case of a suspected suicide bomber, where shooting to kill may be the only effective means of preventing a greater tragedyî.
Some Christians have however questioned the messages that a shoot-to-kill policy sends, as well as its effectiveness, particularly when it goes wrong as in the case of the young Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes who was killed by mistake at Stockwell underground station in July.
The Christian thinktank Ekklesia has proposed approaches that do not perpetuate the cycle of violence and do not create more terror than they prevent.
After a two-hour debate, the Synod warned the Government not to erode basic human rights as it urged greater understanding of the underlying causes of terrorism. The Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Rev Tom Butler, said there were “anxieties” about certain aspects of the Terrorism Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament.
“Depriving people of their liberty on mere suspicion, even with judicial safeguards, is a very serious matter,” he said.
C of E challenged to forgive suicide bombers
-16/11/05
The Church of England was challenged yesterday to consider how to love and forgive suicide bombers.
Dr David Tweedie, from Warwick, told the General Synod in London that Christian duty “obliges us to love everybody”.
He said: “Someone has to ask how, as Christians, we address suicide bombers, suicide bombers who survive, and those who send suicide bombers out.
“We must forgive them. It is extremely difficult. Yet we are called to forgive.”
His call came during a debate instigated by a motion from the Bishop of Southwark addressing responses to terrorism.
The bishop is the chair of the Mission and Public Affairs Division of the Archbishop’s Council which has produced a report that supports a shoot-to-kill policy against suspected suicide bombers as a last resort.
The report has disturbed some Christians committed to peace-making and solutions to conflict which do not perpetuate spirals of violence.
The report states: ‘Where many lives may be threatened by terrorist acts, the police need to be able to employ lethal force as a last resort ó particularly in the case of a suspected suicide bomber, where shooting to kill may be the only effective means of preventing a greater tragedy’.
Some Christians have however questioned the messages that a shoot-to-kill policy sends, as well as its effectiveness, particularly when it goes wrong as in the case of the young Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes who was killed by mistake at Stockwell underground station in July.
The Christian thinktank Ekklesia has proposed approaches that do not perpetuate the cycle of violence and do not create more terror than they prevent.
After a two-hour debate, the Synod warned the Government not to erode basic human rights as it urged greater understanding of the underlying causes of terrorism. The Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Rev Tom Butler, said there were “anxieties” about certain aspects of the Terrorism Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament.
“Depriving people of their liberty on mere suspicion, even with judicial safeguards, is a very serious matter,” he said.