Pope decries Norway attacks, urges all to renounce hatred, expresses sorrow for deaths

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy — Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday called on people to renounce hatred in the face of the “deep sorrow” felt over the terror attacks in Norway.

The pope urged people to pray for the dead, the wounded and their loved ones as he spoke to pilgrims and tourists from the balcony of his summer palace in Castel Gandolfo near Rome.

“Unfortunately, yet again comes news of death and violence,” Benedict said at the start of his greetings to the faithful. “We all feel deep sorrow for the grave terrorist acts.”

“I want to again repeat my grief-stricken appeal to all to abandon forever the way of hatred and to run away from the logic of evil,” Benedict said in his remarks, speaking in Italian.

A day earlier, the pope sent a condolence message to Norway’s king in which he denounced the “senseless violence.”

His envoy in Norway decried the terror attacks as “madness” and said in an interview with Vatican Radio on Saturday the victims would be remembered at Sunday Mass.

Probably a good opportunity to follow the Pope's lead. It shouldn't be necessary, but we live in a diffierent world now. Whenever there is an Islamic attack, we rarely hear condemnation from so-called moderate Islam. While the American right has little in common with the European right, and even less in common with this mad man, it is still the right thing to do to underscore our opposition, as conservatives, to anything like this kind of insane butchery. I denounce it, and encourage other FReepers to follow.

I agree. That said, I don’t think I’ve seen anybody here who has supported the attacker, even people I was afraid might, mostly the anti-immigration crowd.

But Christians must come out and say this guy had nothing to do with us and there is no way you could be a Christian and do this, because it conflicts with everything in Christianity.

He was obviously a racial purity loony. He was perfectly willing to have the Muslims build their caliphate, but he wanted them to do it in the ME, and he said he encouraged it because it would make Europe more defensive. He also wanted the Jews to have their own space (in other words, not to be in “his” space).

But Christians must come out and say this guy had nothing to do with us and there is no way you could be a Christian and do this, because it conflicts with everything in Christianity.

Again, this brings up to mind one of the discourses of Jesus Christ, from Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”(NIV). Simply put, God knows who sincerely does his will, versus whomever pulls his name as a personal justification out of the hat. Sadly enough, this man has made his business personal with God through the vain and selfish use of God’s name, and he has serious reckoning in committing something that God would not condone, such as breaking the laws of the land, and murdering people whom we would otherwise try to reason with, and try to share the light of Christ with (Muslims).
“He was obviously a racial purity loony. He was perfectly willing to have the Muslims build their caliphate, but he wanted them to do it in the ME, and he said he encouraged it because it would make Europe more defensive. He also wanted the Jews to have their own space (in other words, not to be in “his” space).”

Yes he was, and we can keep going onward after who knows how many people keep trying to slander our faith, let’s keep being the good, serviceable people whom we always were.

The man acted in a decidedly un-Christian manner. He committed numerous acts of murder, a grievous sin, and he merits capital punishment for his crime. So much the worse if he did so in the name of Christianity and/or Western Civilization and so stained the name of Christ in the eyes of His enemies.

That said, we would do well to reflect a bit on the victims, on the effect that this terrible crime had.

Nearly all of the victims were young people deeply committed to Socialist (center-left) ideals, most likely at the proddings of their parents, and were targeted as such. Most of them would in all likelihood have spent their careers promoting abhorrent policies and cultural trends. And if you have spent any time around breeding leftists with youngsters, especially in Europe, you know just how anathema their mentality is to traditional society (particularly as regards things such as norms of the sexes).

That is not to say their deaths were any less tragic. But my instinct to feel for their parents is counterbalanced by my anger at their parents, for while these youth were the victims of a vicious killer on Friday, they were, first, the victims of a terrible mentality and mindset in their upbringing—one which is all the more heinous for preaching sweetness and kindness while leading its followers to hell.

I am not saying the parents are to be held responsible for provoking the killer. NOT AT ALL. THAT IS NOT THE CASE AND IT IS MORALLY EMPTY TO SUGGEST AS MUCH. But I can only hope that these parents will see in this tragedy an opportunity to reflect on how they had raised their children and how they might be raising the remaining ones.

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