By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
LONDON, UK (ANS) -- Following the recent riots in several towns and cities in England that shocked the world, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali (former Bishop of Rochester), Pastor Ade Omooba (founder and director of Christian Concern) and other church leaders have had a letter published in the Sunday Telegraph concerning the disturbances.
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Building in London burning during the riots |
Five people died and at least 16 others were injured as a direct result of related violent acts. An estimated £200 million worth of property damage was incurred, and local economic activity was significantly compromised.
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he full text of the letter is reproduced below:
The new barbarism
SIR - We write as senior church leaders whose congregations have been affected by the recent violence on our streets.
What made Britain great was a sense of responsibility, of accountability to one another and, ultimately, to God. It is the loss of this moral framework that has led to the plunge into the new barbarism. We must take steps immediately to strengthen the family as a place for moral and spiritual formation where our children first learn about boundaries.
The churches are also committed to the task of supporting schools in their work of instilling the young with values derived from the timeless life-enhancing principles of the Bible.
What we instill in children today will determine in the future how they govern a nation, influence our policies and ultimately determine the quality of life in our communities.
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Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali |
We each make choices and decisions based on our value systems. Godlessness has only produced selfishness and greed. The well-tried Christian faith has given us hope in the past and can do so again now.
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, Former Bishop of Rochester and President of Oxtrad
Pastor Ade Omooba, Co-Founder, Christian Concern/Christian Legal Centre
Pastor Kofi Banful, Senior Pastor, Praise Chapel, Edgware, Middlesex
Rev Celia Apeagyei-Collins, Rehoboth Foundation, London E16
Rev Wale Hudson-Roberts, Founder African Development Forum, London
Pastor Lanre Sholola, Co-Founder, Christian Victory Group, London SW9
Details of the riots:
Between and August 6-10, 2011, many London districts and some other cities and towns in England suffered widespread rioting, looting and arson.
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Firefighters douse a shop and flats destroyed by arson during the initial rioting in Tottenham, North London |
Following a peaceful march on August 6, 2011 in relation to the police response to the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan by Metropolitan Police Service firearms officers on August 4, 2011, a riot began in Tottenham, North London.
In the following days, rioting spread to several London boroughs and districts and eventually to some other areas of England, with the most severe disturbances outside of London occurring in Bristol and cities in the Midlands and North West of England. Localized events connected to the major riots also took place in many smaller towns and cities in England.
The riots were characterized by rampant looting and arson attacks of unprecedented levels. As a result, British Prime Minister David Cameron returned early from his vacation in Italy and other government and opposition leaders also ended their holidays to attend to the matter. Additionally, all police leave was cancelled and Parliament was recalled on 11 August to debate the situation.
As of August 15th, about 3,100 people have been arrested, of whom more than 1,000 have been charged. Arrests, charges and court proceedings continue, with courts working extended hours.
Police action has been blamed for the initial riot, and the subsequent police reaction has been criticized as being neither appropriate nor sufficiently effective. The riots have generated significant ongoing debate among political, social and academic figures about the causes and context in which they happened.
| Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly "Front Page Radio" show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel "Red Dagger" which is available this link. |
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