Responding to Terrorism
Posted on 25. May, 2017, in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Conflict, DeathComments Off on Responding to Terrorism
The attack in Manchester shocked the world. Many couldn’t believe that a group of mainly young girls and teens would be the target of a terrorist attack. The victims included an eight-year old girl, Saffie Rose Roussos, who was the youngest British person killed in a terror attack.
Pat Riordan, an Irish Jesuit living and lecturing in philosophy in Heythrop College in London said that we can’t make sense of it. However he also added that it would be a mistake to dismiss it as evil and that unless we engage with the mindset of those who commit these atrocities, we will never be able to help people change their thinking. He further admitted that the vilification and vicious attacking of the “other” is something that existed in our Christian past and that we need to tap into our own history to understand how to get people to move on from this mindset.