Pakistan School Attackers Blow Themselves Up

Suspects in Murree Christian School attack reportedly confess, then commit suicide when trapped “This is just a beginning of revenge [for] atrocities U.S. (is) committing in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, and Palestine, and we will continue attacking,” said a note left by the men who attacked Murree Christian School Monday, killing six Pakistanis.

If it happens, it won’t come from the three men who carried out the attack—they killed themselves on the bank of Jhelum River, near the town of Khapadar, about 25 miles from the school.

“Alarmed in the wake of Monday’s terrorist attack in their neighboring area, residents of the village asked the suspects to identify themselves,” reports the Pakistan newspaper Dawn. “But, they added, instead of doing so, the suspects ran towards the river and went several feet inside the water where they positioned themselves on a rock. … The suspects, speaking Urdu, had earlier been asking the villagers to let them go towards Muzaffarabad. But as the police arrived, they got panicky and suddenly took out hand-grenades from their pockets and blew themselves up.”

Other news outlets offer more details. The New York Times quotes deputy police inspector Tariq Qayuum. According to the inspector, as one of the suspects took out the grenade, he said, “If you don’t let us go, not only we will die but we will take your lives as well.”

The Associated Press, meanwhile, quotes regional police commander Moravet Shah, who suggests the suspects were somewhat less threatening—and says they confessed to the attack on the school. “We have no enmity with Muslims,” Shah quotes them as saying. “Our targets are only Americans and nonbelievers.” (One wonders if anyone told them that among the six dead after the attack, four were Muslims.)

The attackers, who called themselves Al-Intiqami Al-Pakistani (Revenge of the People of Pakistan—though The New York Times says “it was unclear whether the reference was the proper name of a previously unknown group, or simply a statement about revenge on behalf of Pakistanis”), said “there are other groups who plan to carry out similar attacks on Americans and you will soon hear about it,” according to Shah.

Some time apparently passed between the arrival of the police and the suicides. The suspects, said to be in their 20s or 30s, had time to huddle together on the rock, then place the grenades under their feet. It was a shrewd move: the grenades sent the three men flying into the air—two men disappeared into the Jhelum and weren’t seen again despite a major search. A third landed on the riverbank, and police used his body to identify him as one of the school attackers.

Meanwhile, Murree Christian School principal Russell Morton says the school will reopen in two weeks with new security measures. (At least that’s what he apparently told his hometown paper, The Mercury of Tasmania. A school press release says they’re still deciding.) “A permanent closure would drastically affect many missionary families from around the country who would have few alternatives for their children’s education, perhaps none,” he told the paper, also noting that the school is critical for the local economy.

Morton also explains the latest thinking on why the attack happened: “The given wisdom is that it was politically motivated, an attempt to further embarrass the Government by encouraging Westerners to leave.”

Since the school is for missionary children from around the world, papers everywhere are offering interviews and details. The New Zealand Herald, for example, reports that many children were scheduled to be outside at the time of the attack, but were not because of rain.

There haven’t been many opinion pieces on this yet. The only one Weblog has seen so far is in the New York Post. “As usual, the silence is deafening” from Saudi Arabia and other Muslims. “The plain fact is that fundamentalist Muslim intolerance of other faiths is the deadliest, most destabilizing force in the world today,” the paper says.

Bishop Atallah Hana:

In the name of the fathers, and of the fired | An interview with Atallah Hana (Ha’aretz)
Earlier: Greeks Gag Pro-Terrorism Priest (Weblog, July 15, 2002)
Earlier: We Support Suicide Bombing, Says Greek Orthodox ‘Spokesman’ (Weblog, June 21, 2002)

Education:

Pennsylvania eyes reducing home-school filings | State lawmakers will soon decide whether to loosen the state’s 14-year-old home-schooling law, which critics say requires “countless hours” of tallying at-home instruction (The Washington Times)
School’s out | Christian leaders who once told parents to send their children to public schools to be “witnesses” to “the salt of the earth” now warn that those schools are unsafe and are agents of moral decay (The Washington Times)

End to Islamic book lawsuit sought | University asks judge to dismiss suit that seeks to block the school from assigning students to read a book on Islam (Associated Press)
Also: Understanding, not indoctrination | The author of Approaching the Qur’an speaks out on the controversy at UNC (The Washington Post)
Also: A timely subject—and a sore one | UNC draws fire, lawsuit for assigning book on Islam (The Washington Post)
Also: Lawmakers oppose UNC reading plan | A committee votes to bar funding for an assignment involving a book on the Quran (The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C)

Interfaith relations:

Feel-good interfaith events may paper over deep differences | But members of different religious traditions shouldn’t resort to demonizing others, either, as we remember Sept. 11 (Charles Haynes, Freedom Forum)
Franklin Graham speaks out on Islam | “I have many Muslim friends, but I want the people of this country to know that the god of Islam is not the Christian God.” (The Washington Times)
Also: CAIR: ‘Franklin Graham smears Islam again’ | Says Koran teaches violence (Press release)

Witchcraft:

For spellbinding soccer, the Juju Man’s on the ball | Across Africa, juju men do a brisk business in the soccer season trying to influence the action on the field (The New York Times)
Earlier: It’s Soccer, Not Quidditch | Witch doctors and red devils populate the game of soccer (Christianity Today, May 17, 2002)
Also: Supernatural suspicions on rise | Hundreds of women, men and children in the Central African Republic are charged every year with practicing witchcraft, a crime punishable by execution or imprisonment (The Washington Times)

Crime and violence:

Pastor tells why abducted girls went on TV | The two girls kidnapped last week in California agreed to give a television interview on Monday out of a conviction that their story could help other young women (The New York Times)
Three Yemenis sentences over blowing off Anglican church | Fourth man found not guilty in 2001 attack (ArabicNews.com)
Priest shot dead in South Africa | Suspected robber escaped. (SAPA)
Court overturns death penalty in ’80 murder | Killer’s rights were violated when prosecutor told the jury to ignore his religious conversion, panel rules (Los Angeles Times)

Persecution:

Belarus: Church destruction sparks outrage | The church’s supporters claim its destruction amounts to religious persecution (Radio Free Europe)
Cuba travel advisory | Castro beckons tourists, even as he tortures a blind, Christian human rights activist (Editorial, The Wall Street Journal)
A deadly place for blasphemy | In Pakistan, those accused of sacrilege against Islam face life in prison or execution, if mobs or inmates don’t kill them first (Los Angeles Times)

Church and state:

Mother wants ‘God’ kept in pledge | On Monday, the girl’s mother, Sandra Banning, filed a court motion seeking to intervene in the case. If the court will not allow that, she asks that references to her daughter be taken off the lawsuit (Associated Press)
Also: Mom wants girl out of dad’s pledge lawsuit | She says daughter does believe in ‘one nation under God’ (San Francisco Chronicle)
Disputes over Ten Commandments grow more intense | More and more lawsuits challenge the posting of the biblical code at schools, city halls and other public sites (Religion News Service)
City renames controversial park | ACLU says it’s not enough (The Washington Post)
Church, state ‘wall’ not idea of Jefferson | American University professor Daniel Dreisbach and University of Chicago law professor Philip Hamburger both say founders never intended wall to become iron curtain (The Washington Times)
Court rules in favor of Commack Kosher Deli New York’s kosher laws are again found unconstitutional and in violation of the separation of church and state. (Newsday)

Politics and law:

Welfare plan links religious, government aid | Initiative is designed to encourage faith-based groups to win state funding (The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.)
Faith-based groups benefit from new federal grants | Labor and HHS departments have announced plans to distribute nearly $50 million to encourage religious organizations to assist the government in helping the needy (The Washington Post)
The case for “discrimination” | As a Democrat, I have been deeply dismayed by how out of touch with the American mainstream the party has proven to be on the issue of faith-based initiatives, particularly on the issue of the so-called hiring exemption (Ronald J. Sider, First Things)
Experts fear debate over shari`ah a political ploy | Discussion more to do with seeking support from Muslim fundamentalists rather than cleansing the country of its moral decay (The Jakarta Post, Indonesia)
Clergy group’s endorsement drawing fire | Black ministers back only 1, and snub 2 incumbents, in 13th District House race; ‘It’s clearly a slap in the face’; They note votes for bill; council hopeful supported (The Baltimore Sun)
Latin America’s indigenous saint stirs anger, pride | Official portrait outrages many (Los Angeles Times)
Son of a preacher man | How John Ashcroft’s religion shapes his public service (San Francisco Chronicle)
A real stumper | Candidates’ campaigning at houses of worship raises questions over separation of church and state, tax-free status (The Ledger-Enquirer, Columbus, Ohio)
Odd bedfellows | Evangelicals support Israel, but some Jews are skeptical (U.S. News & World Report)

Prayer and spirituality:

Daily doses | Many make Bible study a part of their day (The Brunswick [Ga.] News)
Poetry conveys message of faith | A priest helps troubled souls in rough neighborhoods experience God through spiritual meditation (Los Angeles Times)
The Lord’s Prayer: A fresh look at the familiar | Anita Schell-Lambert says it’s as a “pattern prayer” in which “we are not so much being told what we should pray as how to pray.” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Islam blooms in genocide’s wake | Rwandans jump to faith they view as tolerant (Chicago Tribune)

Missions and Ministry:

Power in the purse strings | Perry Mallory has an unusual vision: transforming the church into an economic force to be reckoned with. (North Jersey News)
Preacher seeks spiritual shoppers | Anthony Trufant does not take summer vacations from preaching (Charles W. Bell, New York Daily News)
As church mourns Mexican bus crash victims, survivors describe vehicle failing throughout (Associated Press)
Calvin Center offers taste of Third World to potential missionaries | Creator says said he hopes the Global Village experience and training will help soften the shock of being thrust into a strange new land (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Homeless havens | When good works offend good neighbors (Editorial, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Ministries find fit in hockey arena | Packed Promise Keepers, Lotz productions seen as successes (The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.)
Weather no obstacle to Croagh Patrick pilgrims | Patrician Pilgrimage, which is staged on the final Sunday in July each year, marks the time in the year 441, when St Patrick reputedly spent the 40 days of Lent fasting on the mountainside (The Irish Examiner)

Church architecture:

Sacred creations | Making art for a church can mean technical and bureaucratic challenges. Just ask 9 artists at work on L.A.’s new cathedral (Los Angeles Times)
Also: Lending history to a new cathedral | In Los Angeles, an exhibit of artifacts from the Baltimore basilica is seen as chance to publicize its restoration (The Baltimore Sun)
God and Gotham | Manhattan may be famous for its temples to Mammon, but its churches and cathedrals are more impressive (The Daily Telegraph, London)

Church life:

Miners honored at church service | Family, friends and neighbors filled the Christ Casebeer Lutheran Church, just 100 yards away from where the men were trapped for 77 hours in a cramped shaft at Quecreek Mine in western Pennsylvania (Associated Press)
Also: Rescued miners give thanks | Bush to meet with miners, salute ‘spirit of America’ (CNN)
Nation’s churches take a vacation from routine | The expectation that good Christians will attend their home church year-round may be loosening its hold. Growing instead is a sense that habits can change with the seasons – and congregations can benefit from the variety (The Christian Science Monitor)
Church is prepared to put up with a stink | Woodward Baptist Church builds next to a pig farm (Advance Newspapers, Michigan)

World Youth Day:

Cuban bishop denounces those who pressured youths to stay in Canada | Of 200 people who traveled to Canada with the Cuban church delegation for World Youth Day, 23 stayed behind (Associated Press)
Pope’s event a success, but loses $25M | Canadian bishops are underwriting the July event, (The National Post)
This atheist and World Youth Day | As a secular fundamentalist, before the Pope’s recent visit to Toronto, I wasn’t looking forward to his arrival. Yet I must confess, looking back, I can’t quite bring myself to denounce it, or at least not too loudly (Andy Lamey, National Post, Canada)
Awaiting a change within the church | On his recent visit to Toronto, Pope John Paul II sent mixed messages on abuse scandal (Mary McGrory, The Washington Post)

Catholicism:

Vatican comments on excommunications | Women attacked the fundamental structure of the Catholic Church, says archbishop (Associated Press)
Earlier: Vatican excommunicates seven women | The women — from Austria, Germany and the United States — claimed to be priests (Associated Press)
Catholic hierarchy in Germany rejects criticism on abuse | Cardinal resists comparison to U.S. (The Boston Globe)
Catholic protest group leader stirs up controversy | From contraception to gay rights to the death penalty, Catholics for Free Choice takes a position contrary to the church (Fox News)
Mexican leader’s devotions fuel a church-state debate | Vicente Fox’s openly Roman Catholic displays last week might seem unremarkable in a country where nearly 90 percent of the population is Catholic. But it was unprecedented in Mexico, where the Constitution bans elected officials from displaying religious preferences (The Boston Globe)
Pope to visit family tomb in sentimental pilgrimage this month to Polish homeland (Associated Press)
A real journey of faith | Pope’s visit seen as a step on the road to a spiritual resurgence for young Catholics (Montreal Gazette)

Clergy abuse scandals:

Law & disorder in Boston | Catholics in Boston, angry over scandal, say cardinal should go (The Dallas Morning News)
Religious orders may keep abusive priests | Group to discuss plan for restricted roles; bishops back proposal (The Dallas Morning News)
I’ll say it again, abortion is a worse evil: Pell | An animated George Pell defied his critics yesterday, standing by his earlier controversial comparisons on abortion and sex abuse (The Sydney Morning Herald)
A fall from grace | When Ray Mouton took on a pedophile priest as a client, he had no idea how much was at stake (The Washington Post)
Number of priests on the rise despite scandal (Chicago Sun-Times)
Phony cases a danger in abuse battle | Investigators use care, but can’t always be sure (The Boston Globe)
Pointing to ‘greater’ guilt is a diversionary tactic in church’s defensive war | Instead of staring at accusatory fingers, Pell and others like him could take a much harder look at the root cause of the problems in their own church (Chris McGillion, The Sydney Morning Herald)
The bishops forgive themselves | Bishops who can’t easily be ousted certainly can be called upon to resign immediately (Editorial, Chicago Tribune)