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The
TERRIBLE TRAGEDY
of
TERRORISM
by
The Plain Truth staff
Terrorist bombs left eight dead and scores badly injured in London's two
best-known parks. In less than 15 years, more than 2,500
civilians, soldiers and policemen have been killed by terrorist acts in
the anguish over Northern Ireland. When will it end?
' 'MAKE
A
CHAIN,"
wrote
the prophet Ezekiel,
"for the land is full of
bloody crimes, and the city is
full of violence."
Those words- written more
than 2,500 years ago- are truer
today than they were then.
Conditions, the prophet saw,
would get so bad that one brutal
crime would follow another just
like links in a chain.
The Latest Mayhem and Murder
At this writing the great city of
London is seething with righteous
anger. The gentility of British
pageantry has been disrupted by a
double atrocity in Hyde Park and
Regent' s Park. There was death
and mutilation of the worst kind
among both men and horses of the
Queen' s Household Cavalry.
If
terrorism is anything, it is
inherently cruel and utterly unmer–
ciful. Terrorism- via bombing- is
one of the ugliest forms of criminal
behavior known to man.
It
is terri–
bly impersonal and usually irrevers–
ible. More often than not it
removes the human element alto–
gether. More than one would-be
murderer has refrained from
squeezing the trigger at the last
November/ December 1982
possible second- suffering from
pangs of conscience.
Not so with a deadly bombing
device.
It
has been timed to blow
up under certain stimuli with the
responsible party probably miles
away.
The bomb usually goes off! The
natural restraints of human con–
scíence have been removed.
Terrorísm is also impersonal
because it doesn't always just
destroy its intended víctim. rndeed
who were the íntended victims of
this monstrous massacre? Surely
soldiers on ceremonial and enter–
tainment duties are ínnoce)\t by–
standers. Sorne of these musicían
soldíers were not even traíned for
fighting.
Not even the horses were spared.
Stated
Daily Express
feature writ–
er Peter McKay: "Somehow the
sight of seven horses blasted so
grievously that they had to be shot
on the spot was almost as bad as
seeing dead soldiers."
These are just two basic reasons
why terrorísm is
unacceptable
to
the truly civílízed mind as a means
of making política) statements. Yet
historically there have always been
individuals and groups who have
used acts of terror for politícal
objectives.
How do terrorists then justify
violence? Mainly through certain
teachings of godless modern philos–
ophers. Wrote Franz Fanon: "Vio–
lence is a cleansing force: it frees
the oppressed from their despair."
Thus violence is neatly rationalized
by nihilistic philosophy . "One
man 's terrorist," say some, " is
another man's freedom fighter. "
The terrorist rejects morality. As
Lord Chalfont said in an address to
the European-Atlantic Group
about one year ago, "You simply
cannot do the things that terrorists
do if you adhere to the normal mor–
al principies of the human race."
Lord Chalfont went on to
explain that the terrorist "rejects
the political process" as well , being
"totally divorced from, and hostile
to the whole concept of the political
process."
Politicians of every persuasion
from all over the United Kingdom
and Eire categorically condemned
the cowardly killing of eight inno–
cent people, not to mention those
suffering horrible injuries. And it
goes without saying that such terror–
ist acts are in complete contradiction
to the Christian principies embodied
in the Sermon on the Mount.
Terrorism in Ancient Days
The court history of King David of
ancient rsrael teems with política)
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