Sunday, July 24, 2011

On Norway

My heart goes out to Norway at this time. All the people who lost their lives, all the people mourning loved ones, all the people whose world was rocked by this violent atrocity – may peace and comfort be with you all.

It's my prayer that we in the world can look to this horror and learn from it, so that some sliver of good can be forged from the hurt and death.

I hope other countries – particularly the US – will be moved to take seriously the threat of terrorism from fundamentalist Christianity.

I hope Islamophobes will be led to understand that Islam is no more an inherently violent religion than Christianity is, and that religiously-motivated acts of hate and murder are always the work of sick individuals twisting and distorting the name of Love.

I hope moderate and progressive Christians will feel compelled to speak up, condemning unequivocally the brutal distortion of our faith and all the inflammatory rhetoric that paves the way for actions like Breivik's.

I hope Europe will take to heart the terrible cost of far-right extremism, especially those parts of the continent that seem to have forgotten what happened last time it was allowed to gain a foothold in the West.

Come on, humankind. Let's try to do it right this time.

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