All over the country fl owers were laid down and candles lit in memory of July 22nd Baptists in Solidarity with Norway after Tragedy Norway T

he Baptist World Alliance sent a letter of solidarity to Baptists in Norway following the mass killings in that country that claimed at least 76 civilian lives.

On July 22, a right wing extremist bombed a government

building in Oslo, Norway’s capital, killing at least eight persons, and shot to death at least 68 young people at a summer camp on an island. Many others were injured in both attacks. BWA General Secretary Neville Callam expressed sadness at

“the senseless loss of life” in a country that has “provided a model of peaceful co-existence.” The BWA, he said, was shocked at the tragedy. The hearts of Baptists, Callam said, go out to those who mourn. “We are grateful for your letter of solidarity, condolence and

prayer for the Norwegian people,” Terje Aadne, general secretary of the Baptist Union of Norway, wrote to Callam. Aadne said the country had “experienced a most horrible attack on human life, on our government, and our nation,” and told Callam that “your greetings to us as fellow believers and to our nation warms our hearts and truly refl ects God’s fellowship and love to us in a time such as this.” “This has been an unbelievable tragedy for all of us,” wrote Billy Taranger, a Norwegian and former vice president of the BWA.

He informed Callam that Utøya, the island where the youth camp shooting occurred, is located “close to the city and the government buildings are located one block away from our (Baptist union) offi ces in Oslo.” Taranger’s nephew was at the youth summer camp. Taranger

said the youth “was shot at while he was running away from the house and once more while he was swimming away, but he managed to get away unhurt.” Taranger, a former president of the European Baptist Federation, expressed thanks to Callam and the BWA. “Thank you for your comforting mail, thoughts and prayers. It is good to have friends who think about us. God bless you and your family and the BWA.” “As a former general secretary of the Baptist Union in Norway

I would like to thank you for your prayers and sympathy as the people of Norway mourn after the tragic incident on Friday, July 22,” wrote Per Midteide, who served on the Baptist World Aid Committee and the BWA 21st

Century Committee. “Something like

this has not happened in Norway since World War Two, and we are thankful to God that this tragic event seems to have brought people together like nothing before in recent history. People are gathering in great numbers, hugging each other and greeting people from other cultures with love and understanding.”

OCTOBER/DECEMBER 2011

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Photo by Roger Dahl