Oscar Wilde once said, that “When liberty comes with hands dabbled in blood it is hard to shake hands with her”. The events of July 22^nd in Norway demonstrated how one person’s liberty can impinge on so many others exercising their most fundamental liberty, the right to live. Anders Behring Breivk (32) was responsible for the car bomb in downtown Oslo which killed 8 and the massacre of 69 victims on the nearby island of Utøya.

After such an event, the first question on everyone’s lips is always why? Breivk’s motivation was revealed in a 1500 page manifesto which he published hours before the events of the 22^nd, where he elaborated of a “Muslim invasion” and a “cultural Marxism” which he believed was threatening Norway and the rest of Europe. It has also established through this text that the basis for his beliefs were a form of Christian fundamentalism. When I first head of this at this I cringed and thought how could someone have missed the point of Christ’s ministry so extremely? How could they align themselves in a belief which is supposed to supersede racial, cultural and political boundaries not widen them?


However Henry Thomas Buckle’s statement that “Society prepares the crime, the criminal commits it” puts an interesting spin on the Norway killings. Although it was Breivk who committed these atrocious crimes, it was society’s discontent of Muslims which motivated him to commit them in the first place. Now don’t get me wrong, it was his choice to enact out this bloody solution, but this discontent has been fostered by the negative publicity of Muslims.


The West has adopted an ‘us and them’ approach to Muslims, the challenge for this world and particularly the church is to rethink racial issues and remember that we are not in a religious war. We need to keep in mind what Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rules, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”. I bring this up as some have begun to speculate that the events of Norway were a part of God’s judgement on the country. I think that these people are missing the point that we aren’t in a battle between religions or between cultures, but in a battle against the demonic realm.


If we want to share the good news then public opinion is not going to assist us, if that was the case then Christ had no reason to come 2000 years ago. His insights transcended any life style or frame of mind which humanity had ever come up with. Human understanding can so easily be influenced from ungodly sources. Breivk is a great example of this; he was so devoted to his beliefs that he was willing to put them into practice in the most direct and way possible. There is evidence to show that these operations took years to plan. But it seems such a shame that someone can be so devoted to such a destructive cause and so determined to inflict damage on fellow human beings. What we need to remember is that if one person can achieve so much for a negative cause, then imagine what we can achieve in the name of the 'good news'?

Rose March in Central Oslo