Massacre in Norway

The bombing in Oslo and the mass murder at a Norwegian summer camp shocked Scandinavia and the world. Is nowhere safe from terrorism? When will it end?

Terrorist atrocities always come as a shock, but this one in a way was more shocking. Norway? Norway? That peaceful Scandinavian country, far from the world’s hotspots? The home of the Mideast Oslo Peace Accords? The country that administers the Nobel Peace Prize?

If one had set out to find a country less likely to feel the impact of terrorism, surely Norway would have rated high on the list.

Yet last Friday, July 22, Norway it was. Anders Behring Breivik, 32, planted and set off a bomb at a government building in the capital city of Oslo. Then, disguised as a police officer, he made his way to a summer camp for young people from the ruling Labor Party on the island of Utoeya and began shooting.

With security services distracted by the Oslo bomb, response time for the island was agonizingly slow. It reportedly took about an hour for police to reach the island, but by then the damage was done. Some 68 young people on the island were dead, in addition to eight at the bombed building in Oslo (numbers reflect press reports at the time of writing).

Wrong conclusions

More than one news source began immediately to jump to wrong conclusions: The British Sun newspaper ran the headline “Al Qaeda Massacre: Norway’s 9/11,” while The Wall Street Journal posted an editorial that made reference to Islamic terrorism.

But no, this wasn’t perpetrated by individuals from the Muslim world. Quite the contrary: Breivik, a rather typical, blonde-haired Nordic-looking young man, was shortly apprehended and charged. He didn’t deny the charges, telling his lawyer that the massacre was “atrocious, but necessary.”

Grisly news reports described this apparently “normal” young Norwegian opening fire at point-blank range on innocent, young Norwegians enjoying a summer campout with their friends.

Far from normal

As the facts emerged, the world came to see this young man was far from normal. He had reportedly purchased six tons of agricultural fertilizer, a highly explosive substance, in early May. A rambling, anti-Muslim diatribe was discovered, posted on the Internet. His association with far-right political groups came to light, alongside his hatred of multiculturalism, immigration and Islam.

No imported Muslim terrorism this time! This murderous event was perpetrated by a native-born Norwegian. To make matters worse, he intimated the extreme organization he claimed to represent had “two more cells” in Norway and that there were other such cells around the world.

Breivik’s lawyer, Geir Lippestad, indicated he had taken drugs prior to committing the atrocity to make him “strong, efficient and awake”; and he left open the possibility of a plea of insanity. “This whole case indicated that he is insane,” said Lippestad of his client, now under suicide watch in a Norwegian jail. If convicted, Breivik will face a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison under Norwegian law, which has no death penalty.

Condolences and longing for peace

This type of killing of innocents has become all too common in this 21st century. I was amazed to see a list of bombings and terrorist attacks on the popular Wikipedia website (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorist_attacks). They are too many to list in a short blog. Sadly they have become part of our political landscape, not only in Europe, but in Asia, North America and the Middle East too.

We at the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, extend our condolences to the families and friends of the slain in Norway.

We also look forward to a time of peace and the abolition of terrorism in the near future. We echo the sentiment of the psalmist who declared, “My soul has dwelt too long with one who hates peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war” (Psalm 120:6-7).

We yearn for the time when the Prince of Peace will begin to rule this earth and “of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice, from that time forward, even forever.” Indeed, “the zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:7, italics added).

To learn more about this coming time of peace and of the final elimination of terrorism, we invite you to study our online publication The Mystery of the Kingdom.

Ralph Levy is a minister of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, who grew up in England and now lives in the United States. Dr. Levy enjoys serving the Church, reading, travel and foreign languages. He has a Ph.D. in biblical studies and has worked in foreign language and religious education for much of his professional life.