Australian response to terrorism

[tielan]

10am Martin Place, the centre of Sydney. Terrorists take hostages in a well-known cafe.

The day has been stressful for us: our "9/11", if you will.

Best, though, is the response - not just concern for the hostages, but for those who'll be affected by the actions of the hostage-takers: Muslims struggling to live their ordinary lives while others co-opt their voices.

It was passed along that a black flag with Arabic written on it had been put up in the window of the cafe. A flag that has a common Muslim statement of faith on it: "there is no God but God, and Mohammed is his prophet" - and which has been co-opted by various Islamic terrorist groups, most recently ISIS.

Naturally, the frothers and bigots came out in force.

A woman FB'd her experience trying to help another woman who'd removed her headscarf on the way home (presumably to avoid vituperation for being Muslim), telling her to put the headscarf back on, and she'd walk her home. It spawned a Twitter and FB hashtag: #illridewithyou - offering companionship and, if necessary, protection against bigots in the days to come.

There's a lot of bigotry and fear-mongering out there, but people are choosing compassion and an open hand instead. That's important to me as a human being, as a Christian, as an Australian.

I've never wanted to be anything but Australian, and tonight and #illridewithyou is just one more drop in the bucket of why.

--

And something that probably only Christians will appreciate to its fullest: the Common Grace twitter account pointed out that Christ's incarnation is God's #illridewithyou.

:)

It seems fitting.

Comments

[beatrice_otter]

That is awesome.

[tielan]

On the train home I kept an eye out in case anyone needed help. It wasn't likely - my area of Sydney doesn't have a high Muslim population, and the Islamic women there don't always wear hijabs. But just in case.

It was a little terrifying, actually. It's been a confronting year for me on the front of faith and what I believe and whether I'm willing to act on it.

[beatrice_otter]

You know why angels tend to say "don't be afraid" first? Partly because they are awesome in the old sense of the word. But a lot of it is that when God shows up in our lives, anybody who knows their history should be going "ohhh crap." God usually wants us to do something hard and difficult. Think about it--if God wanted something easy and fun, he wouldn't need to send an angel or a vision or even a mental nudge. We would do it on our own.

[tielan]

A very good point!

[catpella]

This is a beautiful message of hope, in the face of such tragedy.