Religious groups to public: Don't blame religion for Tel Aviv murders

On Saturday night a gunman entered a community center for gay teenagers in Tel Aviv.

The gunman murdered two people and wounded at least 10 others.

“Someone walked in and began firing left and right,” said Tel Aviv Police Chief Shahar Ayalon.

“The shooter escaped and we are making every effort to find him.”

As the perpetrator hasn’t be captured, police don’t know what was the gunman’s motive.

Many in the community, however, are speculating that it was a hate crime against homosexuals, calling the shooting spree “Israel’s worst crime against homosexuals.”

“This is undoubtedly the worst incident aimed at the gay community in Israel,” said Nitzan Horowitz, the only openly gay member of Israel’s Knesset.

“This act was a blind attack against innocent youths, and I expect the authorities to exercise all means in apprehending the shooter,” he said.

Because religious leaders in Israel, such as those from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party have made statements in the past about homosexuality’s sinfulness, some are already beginning to link religion and the violent crime.

"It is not surprising that such a crime can be committed given the incitement of hatred against the homosexual community,"  Mai Pelem, a prominent member of Tel Aviv's gay and lesbian community, told AFP reporters.

According to AFP, "Pelem was referring to verbal attacks against gays from the religious community."

This assumption to which some already are jumping is something religious leaders are trying to quell.

The Shas party released a statement recently denouncing the killings.

In the United States, religious groups are speaking out to denounce such an act of hatred and quiet any murmurs about Christian intolerance.

Dr. Michael Brown, leader of the Charlotte-based Coalition of Conscience and a Jewish follower of Jesus, said he was “shocked and saddened” to hear the news of the killings.

“We don’t have the details yet, but this has all the markings of an act of raw hatred, and as such it must be utterly renounced,” he said.

“True moral and cultural revolution does not come about through hatred or intimidation or violence. It comes about through prayer and service, through influencing people’s hearts and minds, overcoming wrong ideologies with right ideologies; but violence only begets violence.”

Even Mission America, a Christian organization that has worked “to expose the harmful gay agenda directed at youth, and maintains that homosexuality is not an inborn condition” also denounced the murders.

Mission America president Linda Harvey said, “We are deeply saddened by this violent act and the deaths of these young people, and pray for the perpetrator to be found and brought to justice. Our greatest hope for all youth is that they live long and healthy lives. These kids’ chance to do that has been stolen from them. Our prayers are with their families in this time of loss.”

“At the same time, it is deplorable this incident is already being used by the homosexual community to blame this act on those holding a traditional moral viewpoint. Israelis, just as anyone else on earth, should still have the right to oppose homosexuality for religious or other reasons without being called accessories to murder. The motive is still unknown; why engage in slanderous speculation,” she said.

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Also posted here: http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2009/08/dont-blame-religion-for-tel-aviv-murders/