DAVID ADAMS reports on the deadliest mass shooting in US history…
Christian leaders across the world have reacted with horror to an attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in which 49 people died and some 53 were injured while Christians of all denominations have joined in prayer vigils for the victims and their families.
The attack – the worst mass shooting in US history – took place at the Pulse nightclub took place early Sunday morning. Police have named the gunman, who was shot dead at the scene, as 29-year-old New York-born Omar Mateen. While the so-called Islamic State terror group, also known as ISIS, has claimed it was behind the attack, Mateen’s links to the group remain unclear as does his motive for the attack.
“My thoughts and prayers go especially to the families, friends and loved ones of the victims, to the injured, and to the whole community affected by this appalling attack – as they do to so many others around the world touched by violence and brutality in recent days, months and years,”– Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches |
President Barack Obama, who will travel to Orlando on Thursday, described the incident as a “deadly attack” on all Americans but noted that authorities were “still looking at all the motivations of the killer”.
“But it’s a reminder that regardless of race, religion, faith or sexual orientation, we’re all Americans, and we need to be looking after each other and protecting each other at all times in the face of this kind of terrible act.”
He said that while the investigation was only in its preliminary stages and “there’s a lot more that we have to learn”, the one thing that can be said is that this is being treated as a “terrorist investigation”.
“It appears that the shooter was inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the internet,” President Obama said. “All these materials are currently being searched, exploited, so we will have a better sense of the pathway that the killer took in making the decision to launch this attack.”
Pope Francis was among the many Christian leaders who reacted with horror to the attacks. In a statement the Holy See Press Office based in the Vatican said in a statement: “The terrible massacre that has taken place in Orlando, with its dreadfully high number of innocent victims, has caused in Pope Francis, and in all of us, the deepest feelings of horror and condemnation, of pain and turmoil before this new manifestation of homicidal folly and senseless hatred.”
The Vatican statement also said that Pope Francis joins the victims’ families in prayer. “We all hope that ways may be found, as soon as possible, to effectively identify and contrast the causes of such terrible and absurd violence which so deeply upsets the desire for peace of the American people and of the whole of humanity,” the statement added.
Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, expressed his “shock, outrage and sadness” over the incident.
“My thoughts and prayers go especially to the families, friends and loved ones of the victims, to the injured, and to the whole community affected by this appalling attack – as they do to so many others around the world touched by violence and brutality in recent days, months and years,” he said in a statement. “I pray for God’s healing and comfort for all whose lives have been altered forever by such destructive and corrosive hatred.”
Rev Dr Tveit called “for all people of faith and goodwill to join in clearly and categorically rejecting violence against people on the basis of their sexual orientation, regardless of differing religious perspectives regarding homosexuality” and also called for a rejection of “any attempt to stigmatize Muslims in general for one troubled individual’s action”.
And, in commenting on the situation with regard to gun laws in the US, Rev Dr Tveit said the incident “must be a turning point in addressing the need to restrict access to weapons in the US, particularly the legality of carrying semi-automatic weapons”.
“I hope and I pray that some more hearts and minds will have been changed by this tragedy, and that they will add to a growing groundswell of support for logical, necessary and long-overdue controls to protect people and communities from such attacks in future.”
Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, issued a joint statement in the UK, saying that, “as Christians we must speak out in support of LGBTI people, who have become the latest group to be so brutally targeted by the forces of evil”. “We must pray, weep with those affected, support the bereaved, and love without qualification”.
“The obligation to object to these acts of persecution, and to support those LGBTI people who are wickedly and cruelly killed and wounded, bereaved and traumatised, whether in Orlando or elsewhere, is an absolute call on our Christian discipleship. It arises from the unshakeable certainty of the gracious love of God for every human being.”
Christian leaders across the US have also spoken out against the attacks while the Christian Emergency Network (CEN), a platform of Christian volunteers, community leaders and emergency Christian professionals, said that “given the strong network of Christian churches and ministries working together and the Florida’s exemplary law enforcement and emergency response capacities already in place, the families of the 50 fatalities and 53 injured are being protected and cared for.”
CEN’s founder and president Mary Marr urged Christians to better prepare for attacks at a time of rising Islamic extremism.
“This incident further underscores the need for the Christian community to identify a security liaison, develop a security plan and work in collaboration with the Christian community at large to provide timely actionable awareness, preparations, and readiness to seize any emergency with the Hope of the Gospel in tangible ways should an incident occur in your community,” she said.
Police have downgraded the number killed to 49, saying the shooter himself had been originally included in the death toll.
– with ASSIST News Service and BosNewsLife.
