Prayers and thoughts for victims of the Quebec City shooting

[chansen]

At the service yesterday, one of our retired ministers solemnly intoned to me "This feels like the end of innocence to me", to which I replied, "G____, I rather think that Marc Lepine's actions of murdering14 female engineering students in 1989, [2 weeks after I had given birth to a baby girl and the same day that my sister gave birth to another baby girl], was the end of my innocence. How is this not just a slaughter on the same grim continuum?"

People are forever becoming convinced that women or people with the wrong colour skin or the wrong religion are coming to take their white women/jobs/way of life. And they think they can stop them.

And they can always find sources of inspiration who agree with and stoke their fears. Some media promote this fear. Religious leaders can trade on this fear.

We need to fight this fearmongering where we find it. f*** prayer. Say something.

 

[BetteTheRed]

The difference, possibly, Jae, is whether a particular congregation might have reached out to the local mosque before this time. In the UCCan, the answer is often 'yes'; otherwise, also in my experience, not so likely.

 

[Jae]

The difference, possibly, Jae, is whether a particular congregation might have reached out to the local mosque before this time. In the UCCan, the answer is often 'yes'; otherwise, also in my experience, not so likely.

Yes Bette, that's certainly fair commentary.

 

[Luce NDs]

I have people on projects and in work and in church use same excuse " not invited".

If you care, then odds are you are seeking information, waving your hand, saying how can i help.

Church does seem to have a certain respect for volunteerism ... then some still try to take over!

In understanding be subtle ... put it to writ ... tis a' bit Moor quiet ...

 

[revsdd]

Have to say that I was very proud that our congregation had its annual meeting this afternoon and voted unanimously to take a special collection next Sunday to forward, along with a message of condolence and support, to the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec. We are also going to be signing a message of support and solidarity to give to our neighbours at the local mosques in our area.

 

[Dave Henderson]

Hi Everybody, thank you for your prayers, thoughts and statements as we work through our grief regarding the heartbreaking shootings in Quebec City. By and large, your thoughtful posts reflect the fact the primary purpose of this thread is prayer, reflection and joining as a community in mourning, wherever we are in our faith and life journeys.

 

[Jae]

Have to say that I was very proud that our congregation had its annual meeting this afternoon and voted unanimously to take a special collection next Sunday to forward, along with a message of condolence and support, to the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec. We are also going to be signing a message of support and solidarity to give to our neighbours at the local mosques in our area.

That's great Steven. I wish my church had the funds to do the same.

 

[Jae]

Messages don't cost anything much.

Perhaps we could email something. We can't afford to send anything hard copy.

 

[Jae]

... I'm going to propose to the leadership of my church that we send out email(s).

 

[chansen]

...

I've made my points about the terrorist attack and the reluctance of many religious leaders to face this problem head-on. Some of you won't agree with my choice of words and that's fine. I still say we need Christian leadership to step up and announce that Islam is no more dangerous than Christianity. And here's one more example why. Everybody deserves the chance to live their lives with the beliefs they find compelling, or without those they do not. The suspicions and the hatred have to be met with resistance, whether that's kindness and love or cold rebuttals, because they're all valid reasons not to hate innocent people who mostly want the same things you do.

 

[BetteTheRed]

You must admit, though, that (perhaps unlike the violence at Charlie Hebdo, where atheists were specifically targeted) in this particular case, prayers from our moderator and our congregations are most appropriate. Most of us are pretty sure that (assuming we worship, but I digress) we worship the same god, different cultural lens. I have been tasked with getting a Sympathy card for our Tuesday night group to sign and send.

 

[revsdd]

Folks, this thread has become ridiculous and I've had it. I'm fed up. I'm going through it and deleting every single post that isn't in some way offering support to the victims of Quebec City or describing an event in support of the victims of Quebec City or at least offering fair reflection on the incident. Or I'm editing some comments out and leaving partial posts in. If you don't like me doing that - that's tough. Report me. I'll happily quit as a moderator if you think I crossed a line. But this was not a thread that needed to devolve into personal attacks and name-calling and vulgarities. If there are other comments of support or solidarity to the victims or to CCIQ or offering fair reflection on the Quebec City attacks, feel free to add them. Anything else I will delete.