On June 3, around 10 p.m. on a warm, summer Saturday night in London, a white van on London Bridge appeared to onlookers like it was being driven by a drunk driver. In a devastating 18 minutes, the three people in the van created a scene that can only be described as raw carnage. The van swerved into pedestrians, the driver clearly trying to take out as many people as he could. Eyewitnesses say the driver was zigzagging along, aiming at groups of people.
The van reached the southern end of London Bridge and the three attackers got out, wearing suicide vests and brandishing large knives. Then, they headed toward Borough Market, a well-known and popular market that has existed for 1,000 years in the city. (The suicide vests were later determined to be fake). The terrorists tore through people, slashing as they moved through the terrified crowd and even holding some victims down while all three repeatedly stabbed them.
Eyewitnesses heard the terrorists shouting “This is for Allah!” People were throwing bottles, cans, and anything they could find to deter the deliberate killing spree. Police flooded into the area. Most of London’s police force is unarmed, but the troops that showed up were toting guns, helmets, body armor and large rifles. It is a big deal for a British police officer to even fire one round, but this night, they unleashed a storm of bullets and firepower to take down the three attackers. The three perpetrators were killed within 8 minutes after police were called. The terrorists ran at police as the policed fired. The bloody rampage left 8 dead and dozens more injured.
As usual, no leaders from the Muslim faith spoke out about the attacks, but the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, certainly did. The Archbishop stated that Islam needs to “take responsibility for atrocities carried out in its name”. Welby also reminded Britains that “the love of Jesus is more powerful than the evil of terror or the profound wickedness of the terrorist.”
Welby said all this in an interview with the BBC, and explained that for hundreds of years, people have provided a religious justification for hatred and violence by twisting and misusing religion and religious writings like the Bible and the Koran. Welby strongly stated that in his opinion, it is foolish for people to believe that Islam is innocent in this whole process and has nothing to do with the ongoing terrorist attacks around the world.
Welby explained: “If something happens within our own faith like this, we have got to say something and we need to take responsibility for countering it.” He went on to say that being politically correct and saying that Islam has nothing to do with these attacks “is not getting us anywhere.”
Terrorist incidents affect everyone. Although the latest attack happened in the U.K., people from France, Canada, New Zealand and Australia are among the dead and wounded.
Welby explained that the goal of the terrorists is “to divide us and to make us hate one another. They particularly want to change our way of life.” But in both Manchester and London, people have been openly responsive, generous, courageous and resilient. During the attacks, a Spanish nurse kept a female stabbing victim alive, and a Romanian baker fought off one of the terrorists with an industrial crate.
Welby gave a hopeful message, reminding Britons that “the strongest power in the world is love, and that it is more powerful than the evil of terror.”
England has had three terror attacks in three months. Many terrorist experts believe that Muslims are targeting Great Britain to retaliate against the imperialism that once ruled several Muslim nations. British intelligence estimates that 23,000 jihadist extremists live in the U.K.
After the bridge attack, British Prime Minister Theresa May echoed the Archbishop, saying that there is “far too much tolerance of extremism in our country.” May says “enough is enough” and vows that Britain will take on extremism and terrorism.
London’s Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, is the son of a Pakistani immigrant. He described the attacks as “barbaric, hideous and sick”, echoing May and Welby: “As a proud and patriotic British Muslim, I say this — you cannot commit these disgusting acts in my name. Your perverse ideology has nothing to do with true values of Islam, and you will never succeed in dividing our city.”
~ Christian Patriot Daily
