By Gina Ledonne:
On Easter Sunday, April 21 of 2019, a total of six buildings were targeted in a series of suicide bombings: three Christian churches and luxury hotels.
The bombings took place in Sri Lanka’s capital city of Colombo. A total of 253 people were killed, with at least 500 injured in these attacks.
Photo courtesy of 5pillarsuk.com
According to an article posted by CNN, Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena declared the attackers involved in the bombings were linked to ISIS.
This assumption turned out to be true. In an article given by The Independent, the Amaq News Agency, a propaganda outlet for ISL, stated that “…the perpetrators of the attack targeting the citizens of coalition countries and Christians in Sri Lanka were Islamic State fighters.”
The target of the bombings, however, is clear: the Christian community in the country.
The Sri Lanka bombings are not the first time that violence between religions has had this outcome. In fact, religious violence is, unfortunately, becoming a common occurrence in today’s world.
Because of this, I wanted to see the relationship between religion, violence, and our private Catholic campus of Assumption.
Photo courtesy of Flickr.com
I asked Assumption freshman Alexandra Marois for her opinion on the issue:
“It’s scary to think that people use violence in places like that. I go to church to feel safe. But now, the thought of something possibly happening there makes me kind of scared to even go anymore” (Marois)
Like Marois, I often feel uncomfortable now in public places. With violence targeting religious people, even chapels and churches are a threat.
Religious violence is a growing occurrence. Hopefully, in the future, people can feel secure and safe, which was the original intent, in these places of worship.
