21/04/2019
On a day when, across the globe, Christians were celebrating their faith, the ugliness of extremism has once again brought horror and death to hundreds of innocent people.
In Sri Lanka, on Easter Sunday, terrorists deployed bombs at three hotels and three churches almost simultaneously, with at least another two explosions happening within hours.
The death toll from these barbaric attacks has been mounting, and the effect on those injured and those who have lost loved ones is going to be significant.
And why?
This isn't about worshipping a different god, Christianity, Islam and Judaism all stem from the same story and follow the same deity.
This isn't really about religion at all.
These acts of terror, or hate, are fuelled by ignorance and fear. With some of the perpetrators, the violence comes from within; they would be murderous and evil regardless of which religion they were born into or adopted, or even if they hadn't found a religion to abuse. Without religion as an excuse, they would still be evil but they would lack 'reason' to use to blame for their horrific behaviour.
So, we should recognise that religion isn't to blame for these atrocities.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but Sri Lanka’s defence minister, Ruwan Wijewardene, said the culprits had been identified and were religious extremists. He said suicide bombers were responsible for the majority of the morning’s bombings and that the wave of attacks was the work of a single group.
If they were, as is no doubt presumed by most people, Islamic extremists, we must recognise that this has nothing to do with Islam.
Murder doesn't have a religion.
It is just murder.
My sympathies go out to all those affected by these terrible attacks.
I can only hope that we can work to an end for all extremism and intolerance; that we can work towards and inclusive society, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
We are all the same.
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