Massacre in New Zealand
To hear of scores of innocent people being gunned down at or outside their place of worship would he a horrible atrocity wherever it happened, but of all the shocking places to for such a terrible thing to occur, New Zealand must be at the top of the list.
I have family in New Zealand - a second cousin is a member of Dunedin City Council on South Island - and I've never met a Kiwi who wasn't a nice person.
There is a lot more which will undoubtedly come out about this atrocity. But today thoughts and prayers are with the 49 people who died as a result of the terrorist attack on two Mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, with those who were injured, and with their friends and relatives.
Nothing can possibly justify such a barbarous act of evil as shooting innocent people at and outside their place of worship, whether it is Muslims at a mosque, Jews at a Synagogue, Christians at a church, or the followers of any other religion. I hope the people responsible for this dreadful atrocity are caught, convicted and locked away so that innocent people are protected from them for a very long time.
Racism and prejudice are unacceptable whoever it is aimed at and whoever spreads it. When that prejudice is carried to the point where people are murdered for their beliefs it is not just evil in itself - it is doubly evil because all too often it contributes to a cycle of rage, hate and revenge and is used by extremists of other kinds to justify similar acts of barbarism against other innocent people in the name of retribution.
No true follower of the deity known as Allah by Muslims, God by Christians, and Jehovah by Jews - and by the way, all three religions worship the same god - would ever countenance acts of murder against the others or against the followers of any other religion, or against those who have no religious faith.
What those religions actually teach is to live at peace and put aside hatred for love.
Dean Swift once wrote of the problem of "enough religion to make us hate, not enough to make us love."
That is the issue in a nutshell. Whatever we believe, we must all show more tolerance for the views of others. While being vigilant against those who cannot bring themselves to abandon hate and prejudice, so that we are all protected against them.
I have family in New Zealand - a second cousin is a member of Dunedin City Council on South Island - and I've never met a Kiwi who wasn't a nice person.
There is a lot more which will undoubtedly come out about this atrocity. But today thoughts and prayers are with the 49 people who died as a result of the terrorist attack on two Mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, with those who were injured, and with their friends and relatives.
Nothing can possibly justify such a barbarous act of evil as shooting innocent people at and outside their place of worship, whether it is Muslims at a mosque, Jews at a Synagogue, Christians at a church, or the followers of any other religion. I hope the people responsible for this dreadful atrocity are caught, convicted and locked away so that innocent people are protected from them for a very long time.
Racism and prejudice are unacceptable whoever it is aimed at and whoever spreads it. When that prejudice is carried to the point where people are murdered for their beliefs it is not just evil in itself - it is doubly evil because all too often it contributes to a cycle of rage, hate and revenge and is used by extremists of other kinds to justify similar acts of barbarism against other innocent people in the name of retribution.
Whatever the motives of those behind this dastardly attack, they will be condemned by all decent people.
No true follower of the deity known as Allah by Muslims, God by Christians, and Jehovah by Jews - and by the way, all three religions worship the same god - would ever countenance acts of murder against the others or against the followers of any other religion, or against those who have no religious faith.
What those religions actually teach is to live at peace and put aside hatred for love.
Dean Swift once wrote of the problem of "enough religion to make us hate, not enough to make us love."
That is the issue in a nutshell. Whatever we believe, we must all show more tolerance for the views of others. While being vigilant against those who cannot bring themselves to abandon hate and prejudice, so that we are all protected against them.
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