WCC NEWS: WCC general secretary shocked by unleashing of violence in his homeland

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World Council of Churches - News

WCC GENERAL SECRETARY SHOCKED BY UNLEASHING OF VIOLENCE IN HIS HOMELAND

For immediate release: 22 July 2011

“Norway has today experienced an unprecedented and horrible level of
violence against innocent people,” said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, a
Norwegian Lutheran pastor and general secretary of the World Council of
Churches (WCC).

Tveit, who is currently in Norway, had just left Oslo when he learned of
the bombing of a government building that has left several injured and
seven dead.

Norwegian authorities also say a gunman dressed as a police officer fired
on youth attending a political camp on Utoya Island killing at least
nine.

Late Friday evening Norwegian authorities were quoted as saying the bombing
and shooting may be linked and that they had apprehended the shooter on
the island.

“Attacking the core institutions of a democratic society and innocent
youth gathered for a workshop to discuss political issues, leaves me
shocked,” Tveit said.  “Being close to these events, I am deeply
saddened, realizing that this has happened in my beloved country, with its
people, its leaders, and its institutions.”

“In times like this the Norwegian people and government need the
solidarity of the international society and the prayers of the worldwide
church,” he said.  “Now we know the reality of so many others in the
world were violence pierces the lives of the innocent.”

Tveit has asked the member churches of the WCC for their prayers and
solidarity, saying “we pray that Norway might be able to stand together
as an open, peace-loving country also in the future.”

“Let us all stay together for a world of justice and peace, without hate
and revenge, but with the values of democracy, caring for the dignity and
the human rights of every person,” he said.  “We are all created in
the image of God.”

Tveit said the worldwide fellowship of the WCC offers its prayers and
condolences to the families who have lost loved ones and are victims of
today’s violence, to Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and his
fellow Norwegians.


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.



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