Churches and governments throughout South Asia and Southeast Asia are becoming increasingly concerned with the continued threats from Isis-inspired groups and persons, given the growing number of church bombings.
Terrorism
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Sri Lanka president asks for resignations of top security officials
Sri Lanka’s president has asked for the resignations of the defense secretary and national police chief, a dramatic internal shake-up after security forces shrugged off intelligence reports warning of possible attacks before Easter bombings that killed over 350 people, the president’s office said Wednesday.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Sri Lankan cardinal demands answers about security lapses after Easter bombings
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed he and other top government officials were not told about a possible threat and told local media “we must look into why adequate precautions were not taken.”
Posted inFaith, News
Explainer: Who are Sri Lanka’s Christians?
Sri Lanka’s Christians have a long history that reflects the dynamics of colonialism as well as present-day ethnic and religious tensions.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
U.S.C.C.B. president decries terrorist bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter
The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops termed as “a great evil” the Easter terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka targeting the country’s minority Christian community as worshippers packed three churches.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Explosions kill at least 207 in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday
Since the end of the nation’s 26-year civil war, in which the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group from the ethnic Tamil minority, sought independence from ethnic Sinhala Buddhist majority Sri Lanka, the country has seen sporadic ethnic and religious violence, but the scale of Sunday’s bloodshed recalled the worst days of the war,
Posted inFaith, The Good Word
Why do we unleash evil even when we pursue the good?
Unless we remove all of the people, we will never produce a sinless church, one that pursues the good without also perpetrating some evil.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
New Zealand bans ‘military-style’ guns after mosque attacks
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday announced a ban of “military-style” semi-automatic firearms and high-capacity magazines like those used in the shootings at Christchurch mosques last week.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
What you can do to help after the terrorist attack on New Zealand mosques
First, reach out to your neighbors and local mosque to show concern and compassion. Then call out those in your life who dehumanize others.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
New Zealand Mosque shooter: a white nationalist seeking revenge
That rampage killed at least 41 people, while an attack on a second mosque in the city not long after killed several more.