Sri Lanka Attacks - 300+ Killed As Hotels & Churches Targeted

[MUFC]

Fucking awful.

[Stan]

Just seen some pictures of it. Absolutely terrible

 

[Azeem]

.............  

[MUFC]

[Azeem]

You can truly say that the World is near its end when their are many people who are hoping that a certain group or people should be behind this attack and they will be truly disappointed if it doesn't turns out to be 

[nudge+]

8 blasts as of now. 180+ confirmed dead, approx. 500 injured based on latest reports. This is awful. 

[Fairy In Boots]

it’s almost like there’s a long running genocide against anybody that doesn’t share the collective group think in Asia. 

[Stan]

What irks me the most (obviously aside from those who have lost their lives) about this is that people have gone to church, on Easter Sunday, knowing they'll be in a place of safety while they pray and while they sit in peace. Sadly today it's anything but  

[Fairy In Boots]

57 minutes ago, Stan said:

What irks me the most (obviously aside from those who have lost their lives) about this is that people have gone to church, on Easter Sunday, knowing they'll be in a place of safety while they pray and while they sit in peace. Sadly today it's anything but  

Stan are you really that naive to believe a church is a place of safety outside of the west? Or as was Christendom? 

It’s not even safe in Europe anymore the attacks on French churches alone have been numerous. 

[Stan]

5 minutes ago, Fairy In Boots said:

Stan are you really that naive to believe a church is a place of safety outside of the west? Or as was Christendom? 

It’s not even safe in Europe anymore the attacks on French churches alone have been numerous. 

When you weigh up how many churches there are (even outside of the west) and weigh up how many attacks happen, then most are pretty safe. I know there were troubles in Sri Lanka about 10 years ago (?) but since then, had there been much other religious trouble there? Enough to incite a series of planned attacks on churches and/or hotels?!

It's like saying it's not safe to go on a plane because there was a crash that happened. For the most part, they're safe. 

If they weren't, people would totally avoid them. I know it sounds very simplistic and as such is the analogy. 

[Fairy In Boots]

11 minutes ago, Stan said:

When you weigh up how many churches there are (even outside of the west) and weigh up how many attacks happen, then most are pretty safe. I know there were troubles in Sri Lanka about 10 years ago (?) but since then, had there been much other religious trouble there? Enough to incite a series of planned attacks on churches and/or hotels?!

It's like saying it's not safe to go on a plane because there was a crash that happened. For the most part, they're safe. 

If they weren't, people would totally avoid them. I know it sounds very simplistic and as such is the analogy. 

It’s on virtually every continent at present that in some way shape or form Christians are being persecuted. Nigeria for example still has high turnouts at mass as they believe it’s yhere duty to worship yet Boko Haram threaten. 

In India it’s hindu extremism and resulted in increasing attacks on Christians. In Sri Lanka it’s Buddhist extremists and that’s who I’d pin this on tbh. In China they’re persecuted, in North Korea they’re persecuted. North Africa and the Middle East I’ll let you guess.  Just google Indonesian church attacks. 

The reality it we’re largely ignorant of it in the West because we’ve become secular or don’t want to appear intolerant of other faiths or favouritism of Christians although our system has grown out of Christianity so it’s getting swept under the carpet. 

[Azeem]

17 minutes ago, Stan said:

When you weigh up how many churches there are (even outside of the west) and weigh up how many attacks happen, then most are pretty safe. I know there were troubles in Sri Lanka about 10 years ago (?) but since then, had there been much other religious trouble there? Enough to incite a series of planned attacks on churches and/or hotels?!

It's like saying it's not safe to go on a plane because there was a crash that happened. For the most part, they're safe. 

If they weren't, people would totally avoid them. I know it sounds very simplistic and as such is the analogy. 

The country's two biggest terror groups were(are) secular far-left (JVP) and secular ethno-separatist with strongly anti-Bhuddist and anti-Muslim sentiments(LTTE)

[Azeem]

LTTE has a history of committing atrocities against soft targets. I suspect this is an attempt to revive LTTE after Sri Lanka heroically defeated it 10 years ago

[nudge+]

Quote

The nature of the blasts was not immediately clear and there were no immediate claims of responsibility.

But documents seen by AFP show that Sri Lanka's police chief Pujuth Jayasundara issued an intelligence alert to top officers 10 days ago, warning that suicide bombers planned to hit "prominent churches".

"A foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama'ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo," the alert said.

The NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that was linked last year to the vandalisation of Buddhist statues.

https://www.afp.com/en/news/1272/blasts-sri-lanka-hotels-and-churches-kill-156-doc-1ft48d4

 

 

[nudge+]

Seven suspects arrested.

[Azeem]

It's so hard to make sense of all this 

[IgnisExcubitor]

47 minutes ago, Fairy In Boots said:

In India it’s hindu extremism and resulted in increasing attacks on Christians. 

Don't want to sidetrack this topic, but this bogey was peddled in 2015, by even Guardian, New York times. And never after that. Cause this was the reality.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.firstpost.com/india/crying-wolf-the-narrative-of-the-delhi-church-attacks-flies-in-the-face-of-facts-2101105.html/amp

Almost all incidents turned out to be fake news. But it achieved its purpose and the BJP(right wing party) lost in the Delhi elections. After which we have never heard of Christian attacks. 

New York times even wrote an article of the burning of the church, which was later found out to be an incident of short circuit. Of course, they didn't retract the piece or apologise. 

There are few problems, mostly in South, over missionaries. Something that has existed for decades. But it's convenient to peddle this narrative now because a right wing government is in power. A bit like Jews and minorities under attack in USA under Trump narrative, when most of those turned out to be fake news.

 

@topic

Terrible news this. Ten years of peace and now this. Apparently, the security agencies had warned the police of possible attacks on churches on Easter Sunday. 

[Inverted]

 

1 hour ago, Fairy In Boots said:

It’s on virtually every continent at present that in some way shape or form Christians are being persecuted. Nigeria for example still has high turnouts at mass as they believe it’s yhere duty to worship yet Boko Haram threaten. 

In India it’s hindu extremism and resulted in increasing attacks on Christians. In Sri Lanka it’s Buddhist extremists and that’s who I’d pin this on tbh. In China they’re persecuted, in North Korea they’re persecuted. North Africa and the Middle East I’ll let you guess.  Just google Indonesian church attacks. 

The reality it we’re largely ignorant of it in the West because we’ve become secular or don’t want to appear intolerant of other faiths or favouritism of Christians although our system has grown out of Christianity so it’s getting swept under the carpet. 

There's nothing specific about Christianity.

States like North Korea and China persecute ideologies beyond their control, whatever they are. China might persecute Christians but they also persecute all kinds of spiritual movements like Falun Gong, not to mention their biggest target which is the native Muslim population of Xinjiang. 

Terrorist groups of all faiths attack all other opposing faiths in their target territory. Muslim groups attack Hindus in India and Christians in Northern Nigeria, Hindu groups attack muslims and Christians, Buddhists in India/Burma/Thailand attack Muslims and Christians, 

Churches get attacked in Christian countries too - look at the South in the USA. But they're black churches so nobody gives a shit. 

Trying to piece together a global narrative about a religion as diverse ethnically and theologically as Christianity - or any religion really -  in very different countries just seems like an enormous reach. The situation in a country like Sri Lanka where different terrorist groups struggle for influence in a fairly democratic and pluralistic state is completely different from a situation in China for example in which a secular authoritarian state clamps down on faith groups. 

 

[Bluewolf]

2 hours ago, Azeem said:

It's so hard to make sense of all this 

Politics and Religion are probably responsible for more deaths than any other on the planet in our entire history, you will never make sense of it. The world is a crazy and sadly unsafe place depending on where you are and it will never ever change... 

RIP to all those that lost their lives... 

[Mel81x+]

I called my friend in Sri Lanka this morning around 8AM to wish him Happy Easter. We laughed about how I never seem to make it down to Sri Lanka anymore and then 30 min later I see this shit on the news and he sent me a pic of the Shangri-La hotel where a bomb went off and he lives next to. 

RIP to everyone that lost their lives today. Its just sad that those people went out today thinking it was going to be a good day and it turned into this kind of a cluster-fuck.

[Dr. Gonzo]

17 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

I called my friend in Sri Lanka this morning around 8AM to wish him Happy Easter. We laughed about how I never seem to make it down to Sri Lanka anymore and then 30 min later I see this shit on the news and he sent me a pic of the Shangri-La hotel where a bomb went off and he lives next to. 

RIP to everyone that lost their lives today. Its just sad that those people went out today thinking it was going to be a good day and it turned into this kind of a cluster-fuck.

But he’s alright though? That’s mental living next to that.

Shocking and very sad news. Not sure you can claim this is because of worldwide persecution against Christians when you consider this is Sri Lanka and they’re not the only religion that’s been attacked by terrorists in Sri Lanka. It’s a country where even the government’s been accused of acts of terror.

[Fairy In Boots]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

But he’s alright though? That’s mental living next to that.

Shocking and very sad news. Not sure you can claim this is because of worldwide persecution against Christians when you consider this is Sri Lanka and they’re not the only religion that’s been attacked by terrorists in Sri Lanka. It’s a country where even the government’s been accused of acts of terror.

Yes by bombing churches they were attacking a multitude of faiths. 

4 hours ago, IgnisExcubitor said:

Don't want to sidetrack this topic, but this bogey was peddled in 2015, by even Guardian, New York times. And never after that. Cause this was the reality.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.firstpost.com/india/crying-wolf-the-narrative-of-the-delhi-church-attacks-flies-in-the-face-of-facts-2101105.html/amp

Almost all incidents turned out to be fake news. But it achieved its purpose and the BJP(right wing party) lost in the Delhi elections. After which we have never heard of Christian attacks. 

New York times even wrote an article of the burning of the church, which was later found out to be an incident of short circuit. Of course, they didn't retract the piece or apologise. 

There are few problems, mostly in South, over missionaries. Something that has existed for decades. But it's convenient to peddle this narrative now because a right wing government is in power. A bit like Jews and minorities under attack in USA under Trump narrative, when most of those turned out to be fake news.

 

@topic

Terrible news this. Ten years of peace and now this. Apparently, the security agencies had warned the police of possible attacks on churches on Easter Sunday. 

Not really the basis for my comment, there were 2 incidents last year in the south I was referring to. I do appreciate that India is more of a complex beast than just Hindus hating Christians etc. 

 

4 hours ago, Inverted said:

 

There's nothing specific about Christianity.

States like North Korea and China persecute ideologies beyond their control, whatever they are. China might persecute Christians but they also persecute all kinds of spiritual movements like Falun Gong, not to mention their biggest target which is the native Muslim population of Xinjiang. 

Terrorist groups of all faiths attack all other opposing faiths in their target territory. Muslim groups attack Hindus in India and Christians in Northern Nigeria, Hindu groups attack muslims and Christians, Buddhists in India/Burma/Thailand attack Muslims and Christians, 

Churches get attacked in Christian countries too - look at the South in the USA. But they're black churches so nobody gives a shit. 

Trying to piece together a global narrative about a religion as diverse ethnically and theologically as Christianity - or any religion really -  in very different countries just seems like an enormous reach. The situation in a country like Sri Lanka where different terrorist groups struggle for influence in a fairly democratic and pluralistic state is completely different from a situation in China for example in which a secular authoritarian state clamps down on faith groups. 

 

Granted authoritarian states are biased against all religions. By it’s not a stretch it’s an opinion formed by a pew research paper from last year. 

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/21/key-findings-on-the-global-rise-in-religious-restrictions/

when almost 0 Christian states are currently at war compared to Islam I think there’s merit to my point.

[Mel81x+]

2 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

But he’s alright though? That’s mental living next to that.

Yeah hes fine. We spoke a little later in the day and did a video call too. He said that him and his wife were out on the balcony when they heard the sound from the hotel and then other sounds as well. He initially thought something from a gas line had blown (which is apparently common out there) but then the subsequent noises put that theory to bed. 

I think the most disappointing thing here is that they dont know who is truly responsible even though they've arrested some suspects.

[nudge+]

13 arrested now. A van suspected to have been used to transport bombs used in Colombo explosions taken into Police custody together with the driver. Police also discovered a house used to provide shelter for the attackers.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe in his address to the nation mentioned an international connection to today's incidents. He also urged the media not to publicise names of the attackers, warning that other extremist groups could exploit the situation and create more tension between communities. "Don't give extremists a voice. Don't help to make them martyrs".

[Danny]

4 hours ago, Inverted said:

 

There's nothing specific about Christianity.

States like North Korea and China persecute ideologies beyond their control, whatever they are. China might persecute Christians but they also persecute all kinds of spiritual movements like Falun Gong, not to mention their biggest target which is the native Muslim population of Xinjiang. 

Terrorist groups of all faiths attack all other opposing faiths in their target territory. Muslim groups attack Hindus in India and Christians in Northern Nigeria, Hindu groups attack muslims and Christians, Buddhists in India/Burma/Thailand attack Muslims and Christians, 

Churches get attacked in Christian countries too - look at the South in the USA. But they're black churches so nobody gives a shit. 

Trying to piece together a global narrative about a religion as diverse ethnically and theologically as Christianity - or any religion really -  in very different countries just seems like an enormous reach. The situation in a country like Sri Lanka where different terrorist groups struggle for influence in a fairly democratic and pluralistic state is completely different from a situation in China for example in which a secular authoritarian state clamps down on faith groups. 

 

A lot of protesting and raising awareness for Falun Gong in Sydney and Auckland. People have their organs harvested and then sold onto the rich. Crazy.

On topic this is a pretty horrific event, RIP.