A University of Otago, Christchurch study found more than 60 percent of participants from the Christchurch Muslim community suffered from mental health conditions such as PTSD and depression in the wake of the attacks.

At least 250 survivors were present in the mosques, 51 people were killed and another 40 sustained non-fatal gunshot injuries, when a white supremacist gunman opened fire during Friday juma'a (congregational) prayers on March 15, 2019. Read more

A United Arab Emirates foundation, known for funding multimillion-dollar buildings across the world, enlisted an Australian architect to design a new mosque and events centre commemorating the 51 people killed. The new mosque will replace the Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch.

Linwood imam Abdul Lateef says he shed tears "of joy" when dignitaries flew him to Abu Dhabi and promised to rebuild the dilapidated mosque after the March 15, 2019, attack. Read more

Muslim Association of Canterbury general secretary Feroze Ditta, who still carried fragments of the shooter's bullets in his leg, said this help was increasingly not on offer. Read more

Lyons sent a link to the songs to the prime minister with a note saying: "We think these songs could play a part in this current time of remembering. Here is the link that will enable you to hear them: chrisskinner.org.nz/we-are-you."

He received a reply from the prime minister's office thanking them on behalf of the prime minister and telling them a copy of the email had been sent to the Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Hon Megan Woods, for her information.

One song is inspired by the words used by Adern at the time of the tragedy that "You are us"; it has the title, We are you

Lyons said You are us was a phrase that sprang up almost immediately after the tragedy, directed at the Muslim community, reassuring them that the rest of Aotearoa-New Zealand stood with them.

"I wanted to place the phrase in the mind of the killer and others who think the same way: 'You are us - and we are you.'"

​Lyons said Chris Skinner's music reflected the theme very well, giving energy to his words, and also emphasising their urgency.

Skinner has written a second song inspired by the outpouring of public support with flowers, resulting in the "Garden in the street".

"For me, the floral tributes provided a beautiful display to show the Muslim community that they were not alone in their grief and trauma. We were standing with them," he said.

"My hope is that the song will support and comfort the Muslim Community and that it touches into the hearts of all New Zealanders who stand for peace and believe and uphold the gift of our common humanity."

Source

• Suppled: Fr Chris Skinner
• chrisskinner.org.nz
• Image: screenshot chrisskinner.org

They returned to Christchurch this month after spending three months in Kabul and Jalalabad equipping 51 people with the means to earn a living through their own micro-enterprises. Read more

But it will go ahead with their reluctant blessing. Continue reading

Muslims don't want March 15 memorial service]]> 124632 https://cathnews.co.nz/2019/11/11/anti-muslim-violence/ Mon, 11 Nov 2019 06:55:25 +0000 https://cathnews.co.nz/?p=122855 A new report by watchdog groups claims that major technology platforms, Wall Street businesses and right-wing media corporations are complicit in enabling white supremacist and anti-Muslim bigotry across the world. The paper, "Fanning the Flames," was published Thursday (Oct. 31) by the Action Center on Race and the Economy's Crescendo Project in partnership with the Read more

There is no evidence in the results of local anti-Semitism or Islamophobia in the form of a trust deficit displayed towards Jews or Muslims compared to mainstream Christian denominations.

But there is some evidence of moderate disproportional social prejudice towards non-mainstream Evangelical Christians, with nearly four in ten of the population distrusting them.

The conclusion does not demonstrate that hate towards minority religious groups does not exist in New Zealand.

Media reporting both before and after the Christchurch shootings clearly indicates that it does.

The Institute for Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria Business School conducted the survey.

Colmar Brunton collected data for the survey from 1000 people aged 18 and over and interviewed them online.

The survey was designed to provide a representative picture of the New Zealand population aged 18 and over.

Quotas were applied at the sampling and selection stage for this online survey.

Results were also weighted to be representative of New Zealand by age, gender, ethnicity and region.

They emphasised "living in New Zealand" as the survey was not interested in identifying New Zealanders' trust in, for example, worldwide Catholicism or Islam.

While the survey is by no means a classical random survey, those who conducted it believe that the results provide a good picture of the relative trust of the population.

Participants were asked to rate their level of trust in 8 different "religious groups".

One of the groups was "atheistic/agnostic."

A "mean trust score" was obtained from this data.

The variance between the highest score of 3.2 (Buddhists) and the lowest score of 2.7 (Evangelicals) was 0.5.

In terms of the mean trust score, that difference is of a size that statisticians describe as medium.

The remaining scores ranged from 3.1. for Jews, Hindus, Atheists/Agnostics and 3.0 for Protestants, Muslims and Catholics.

This range does not create a statistically distinguishable difference between them.

Headlines such as "Buddhism most trusted religion in New Zealand", while attracting attention, are rather hard to give any meaningful explanation to.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: newsweek.com

Farid Ahmed, who lost his wife in the shootings, was among 27 survivors of religious persecution from all over the world who met president Trump last Wednesday.

He thanked the president for the leadership and support he had shown "by standing up for humanity, standing up for religious groups and their rights."

"Thank you for supporting us during the 15 March tragedy in Christchurch," he said.

"God bless you and God bless the United States."

Prime minister not surprised

New Zealand's prime minister, Jacinda Ardern said Ahmed's warm comments to the US president did not surprise her.

"I don't think I have ever heard or indeed met an individual who has had so little reason to be forgiving and yet is so incredibly forgiving," she said.

"He is a man full of love and compassion, and he exudes that in every interaction he has.

It doesn't surprise me at all he's doing that abroad and continuing to be a person that just promotes love and humanity."

During the Christchurch National Remembrance Service on March 29, Ahmed thanked "New Zealanders for coming together to show the world that New Zealand is a peaceful country".

"I have chosen peace, I have chosen love, and I have forgiven," he said.

Source

• christianpost.com
• tvnz.co.nz
• Image: White House

He emotionally recalled having to go home after the March 15 mass shooting and tell his daughter that her mother would no longer be there with them. But he said he nevertheless forgave the killer.

"To remove hatred, it is a responsibility of you, me and everybody," said Ahmed. "It's a responsibility of government, a responsibility of religious leaders, religious people and each and every ordinary person. Read more

Former Methodist leader Keith Rowe says church groups haven't gone far enough in accepting Islam.

Overall, Rowe says, the Christian response was a hospitable one.

"Many embraced their Muslim neighbours in a way they hadn't before," he says.

"I think a lot of people in the church and the wider community crossed over the line from suspicion to embrace, and that was a pretty big step for them - given the bad press the Islamic faith in general gets."

But he says the response has not gone far enough.

"It fell short of ... celebrating and welcoming the Muslim presence in New Zealand.

"It didn't acknowledge any Christian complicity in the perpetuation of Islamaphobic attitudes across the centuries.

"And it didn't look forward to working together with the Muslim community for the common good."

Rowe believes Christian churches of all types need to get over their view that they alone have access to truth.

Some of the more fundamentalist branches of Christianity have reacted angrily to the outpouring of support for Islam after the Christchurch mosque attack.

They are concerned that acceptance is the first step on the way to the "deletion" of the Christian God, the rise of Islamic radicals and eventually the implementation of Sharia law in New Zealand.

Rowe's story demonstrates how fear and suspicion can be overcome by personal contact.

In Sydney he became involved in Christian-Muslim relations while working at a parish next to Al Faisal College in Auburn.

"I developed a deep friendship with the director there."

Over the next few years, he developed Christian theology and practice for inter-faith engagement.

He wrote a book called Living With the Neighbour Who is Different, organised a gathering of imams and church ministers from across Sydney and visited Saudi Arabia with a Muslim group.

Source

stuff.co.nz

stuff.co.nz

William Connolly, nicknamed "Eggboy", made international headlines when he cracked an egg over controversial then-senator Fraser Anning's head at a press conference after the massacre of 51 Muslim worshippers. Read more

The inaugural Interfaith Memorial Bike Ride was organised on Sunday to bring people together after the tragic mosque shootings on March 15 and there was an air of excitement as we waited in the autumn sunshine. Read more

Statistics provided to the UK Home Affairs Select Committee show that only 25,000 of nearly 15 million videos that were flagged as hateful or abusive between July and December last year have been removed.

Proportionately, the videos removed equate to just 0.17 percent.

The statistics were requested from YouTube as part of the parliamentary committee's inquiry into hate crimes.

The revelation prompted accusations from the committee's chair, Yvette Cooper, that YouTube and its parent company Google weren't "taking any of this seriously enough".

"We have raised the issue of hateful and extremist content with YouTube time and time again, yet they've repeatedly failed to act. Even worse than just hosting these channels, YouTube's money-making algorithms are actually promoting them, pushing more and more extremist content at people with every click.

"We know what can happen when hateful content is allowed to proliferate online and yet YouTube and other companies continue to profit from pushing this poison.

"It's just not good enough. Other social media companies are at least trying to tackle the problem but YouTube and Google aren't taking any of this seriously enough. They should be accountable for the damage they are doing and the hatred and extremism they are helping to spread."

YouTube says most of the videos were flagged by artificial intelligence rather than humans and computer programmes struggled with the "complex" area of hate speech.

The technology giant says the flags are often found to be inaccurate when reviewed by human moderators.

The UK select committee asked to see the statistics after Marco Pancini, YouTube's Director of Public Policy Europe, the Middle East and Africa, appeared before MPs last month.

The committee is now waiting for answers from Google on a number of other questions posed in the hearing.

Among these are why videos of the March 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings are still appearing on YouTube.

Google was criticised strongly after copies of the live stream posted by the shooter on Facebook was uploaded to YouTube thousands of times on the day of the terror attack.

A letter from the committee says one of the Christchurch videos had received more than 720,000 views.

UK Members of Parliament also want Google executives to explain why YouTube recommends videos of far-right figures such as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (also known as Tommy Robinson) even to viewers who have never watched such content.

Source

• The Telegraph
• The Times
• Image: Loop Vanuatu

Police are delivering safety tips and going through emergency plans with religious organisations to ensure people are - and feel - safe when they pray.

Last week anti-Muslim leaflets were placed on cars while people attended church services in Palmerston North.

All Saints Church and the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit both had leaflets left on cars during their services on Sunday.

The leaflet made claims Muslims had been deceived and included hateful remarks about Allah and the prophet Muhammad.

Andy Hickman, a minister at All Saints thought the leaflets might be connected to the churches holding services in solidarity with the Muslim community the weekend of the Christchurch Mosque shootings.

Police visited on Friday, to let them know that the person responsible had been caught and spoken to.

At Wellington's Kilbirnie mosque, police have also provided guidance.

"Police will still provide us with some security once the month of Ramadan will start, while also we discussed how we can have our own systems ready as well," says Tahir Nawaz, from the International Muslim Association of New Zealand.

This focus on safety is being viewed positively by an expert in the field of religion and security.

"That's a really healthy thing for New Zealand police to do," says Dr Wil Hoverd of Massey University.

"I think there are broader community concerns about what happened in Christchurch - and being able to reassure other religious communities of how they can be safe is really important."

The news item about this topic on TVNZ's Facebook page provoked a large number and a great variety of comments.

Source

• tvnz.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: screenshot tvnz.co.nz

The photo above shows Destiny Church Christchurch senior pastor Derek Marina Tait reaching out to a member of the Muslim community during the call to prayer and peace vigil at Hagley Park on March 22.

But on April 25, in the same place, about 100 men from Man Up and Legacy, groups affiliated to Destiny Church, proclaimed New Zealand and Christchurch belonged to Jesus.

Tait said the purpose of the meeting was to stand out in the open and to declare that Christchurch and New Zealand belongs to Jesus Christ who is the one true god.

Social media users were not happy with Destiny's move.

"It is Christians like Destiny Church who give God a bad name," said blogger Martyn Bradbury.

"How insecure do you need to be in your faith if you have to turn up at the site of an atrocity against another religion to proclaim your God rules this land?"

"Leave the Muslim community alone/show some respect. PS their religion and yours come from same place, difference is ok," wrote former Green MP Catherine Delahunty on Twitter.

More than 384 people liked her tweet.

Darryl Ward, an Anglican lay preacher from Paraparaumu, urged Christians to instead show love and care "for our Muslim brothers and sisters".

Ward said Christianity had never been the "sole faith tradition" in New Zealand.

"Maori spiritual beliefs preceded the arrival of Europeans and Christianity, and other faith traditions from overseas soon followed," he said.

"While Christianity has been the dominant faith tradition since colonial days, its position has been eroding."

Source

• newshub.co.nz
• thedailyblog.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

The attack on Father Claude Grou at Saint Joseph's Oratory was captured on a livestream and television broadcast of the mass.

Footage shows a man in jeans, a parka and a white baseball cap run up the sanctuary steps towards the priest.

Grou attempted to run away as the attacker knocked over a candle, but was quickly caught, pushed to the ground and stabbed.

The assailant slashed Grou in his stomach. The knife broke during the attack.

The 26-year old suspect - since identified by Montreal police as Vlad Christian Eremia - then dropped the knife and stood as members of the congregation ran towards him.

Three men restrained Eremia while other people went to help Grou.

When police arrived, Eremia was being detained by church security.

Grou, who was slightly injured on his upper body, was taken to hospital and released later that same day.

He thanked everyone who expressed concern for his health and said he plans to return to work after a short rest.

"There are so many people who helped me to pass through this moment and now my health is fine," he said.

"My health is good and I'm recovering from my emotions."

A member of the congregation who saw the attack said when Eremia started walking towards the sanctuary she thought he was going to kneel to say a prayer in front of a statue of Saint Joseph.

When she saw him going up the sanctuary steps and remove a knife from his clothing, the woman said she realised what his intentions were and ran out of the church screaming to alert the security.

Another witness said he saw police arrive and take the man away in handcuffs.

"I find this incident very unfortunate, in a place so peaceful that attracts millions of visitors," he said.

"With what happened in Christchurch, it seems that all places of worship are being targeted," he added.

Montreal Police say the attack was an isolated incident.

Eremia appeared briefly via video conference at the Montreal courthouse on Saturday afternoon.

He was expected back in court yesterday following a psycho-social evaluation.

Source

• NBC News
• CTV News
• NDTV
• ABC
• Global News
• Image: ABC News
  

Irish Bishop Kevin Doran says he has come across people - some of whom classify themselves as traditional Catholics and faith-filled people - who say "oh well, these Muslims are putting our civilisation at risk and they pose a threat to us".

He said there's an "implication" that because people are Muslim they are more likely to be terrorists.

Doran's comments were made in the wake of what he described as a "savage attack" on the two mosques in Christchurch on 15 March, that left 50 people dead.

"All of us, of whatever religious tradition, can identify with what that might mean for a congregation gathered to worship," he said.

Doran said it was wrong of people to demonise Muslims for the actions of terrorism that claims to be inspired by Islam.

"To define a whole category of people, or a whole nation, or a whole religious group as being in some way more prone to terrorism than any other group is irresponsible," he said.

Doran said in his experience, Muslim people living in Irish society do so "peacefully and participate fully".

"We have large numbers of Muslim children in our Catholic schools, and they contribute to the ethos in many ways.

"One of the interesting things about Muslims is that, while they are of a different faith, they tend to have a level of commitment to faith that in many ways we might well sit up and pay attention to," he noted.

In February, Doran spoke out after a disused hotel that had been going to house refugees was damaged. The house had been burned in an apparent arson attack.

Not only had the alleged arson caused "significant upset to parishioners," Doran said it was "all the more disturbing since it is suggested that the fires are a response to the proposed use of the hotel to house refugees."

"Militant opposition, expressed in the destruction of property, is simply not consistent with the Gospel," he said.

Source

• Catholic News Service
• The Irish Catholic
• Image: Crux Now