Assassinated yesterday morning at the altar of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray's Catholic church, Father Jacques Hamel was eighty five years old. The cowardly assassins made him kneel before slitting his throat. A witness said they were callously recording the event on a mobile phone as she slipped out of the church. to raise the alarm.
The contrast between his selfless life of service and the cruel ignorance and wickedness of his killers is very sharp indeed. He was an old man, peacefully serving the community in a place of worship, while they were self-obsessed young thugs whose heads were filled with tidbits of a warped theology that has nothing to do with any proper religion. In his life he had done so much good but in their lives they had done nothing of note or value.
But let us also not forget those who were killed in north eastern Syria just a few hours later. in the Kurdish town of Qamishli. A truck bomb exploded killing at least forty people and injuring countless others in a terrible act that was down to the so-called Islamic State - just like the murder of poor Jacques Hamel in the suburbs of Rouen.
Where is all this horror leading us and how will it end? I am sick to the stomach of hearing news item upon news item about fatal atrocities. You wonder what's next. Both of my grown up children live and work in London and it is surely just a question of time before our capital city is hit once more by these mad nobodies. I hope my kids are not nearby when it happens.
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| Qamishli this morning |
It is truly frightening. The slaughter of Father Jacques in a traditional place of sanctuary shows that nowhere is safe.
ReplyDeleteTo me his murder was more shocking than what happened in Nice. To have his throat cut by the altar - such an act of godlessness and wanton evil.
DeleteIsn't that exactly what they are - godless and wantonly evil?
DeleteI hear the french media is now refusing to give the terrorists air by showing thier photos ... Perhaps a media blackout is one way forward?
ReplyDeleteThese I.S. "soldiers" are glory hunters so depriving them of publicity could help... a little.
DeleteI constantly am sickened to my stomach; angry; sad - so many emotions...they're never at rest.
ReplyDeleteSo much hate; so much violence - too much hate; too much violence. For what? It's getting worse by the day. When will it ever end? Unfortunately, I believe the answer is "Never"....
I repeat here what I once thought I would never say...I'm glad I'm in my twilight years.
They say that ignorance is bliss. Perhaps we should make a pact to blank out the news.
DeleteI think so, Yorkie...it's getting more distressing and disturbing by the day.
DeleteEvery morning , when I wake up I wonder what awful thing has happened somewhere.
ReplyDeleteThank heavens, no further major atrocities this morning.
DeleteWell said, YP. These murder sprees are terrible wherever they occur but this act of executing a representative of the Christian faith in a church seems to be pushing the boundary yet further and delivering an ever more defiant message.
ReplyDeleteAs a committed atheist even I find the killing of Father Jacques at his altar especially abhorrent. This is a very different kind of enemy from those our country fought in past times. They do not play by the usual rules of war.
DeleteThe lady living next door to our cottage and I were talking about this yesterday afternoon. I had not been hearing or watching the news since Tuesday morning and my state of being informed was at best fragmentary. She told me about this particularly evil murder and then pointed to the small Catholic church on the other side of the road, saying "It'll be armed guards at the service there next," and wondering aloud where the next atrocities committed by I.S. "soldiers" will happen. "We'll be next," she seemed to be sure of that.
ReplyDeleteI too am deeply saddened by the hatred and brutality that seems so prevelant in our society lately. I have stopped watching the news because I am sick of supporting the promotion of these murderers that seem to be thrust into the limelight repeatedly.
ReplyDeleteIt's completely abhorrent. As were the Crusades and as are just about every other form of war and terrorism. The difference in our minds is probably that this could have been any church anywhere and we could have been the witnesses or the victims.
ReplyDeleteit is supposed to be the 21st century..we are supposed to be growing to enlightenment... we are far from that place for sure...
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