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OPEN
LETTER TO BRENTON TARRAN.
Dear Brenton ( if I may call you by the
Christian name ) 24 March 2019
I am a long standing Presbyterian
Minister of Religion who has served the city of Liverpool and
the Liverpool Welsh community for nearly 51 years from my
base in the Penny Lane area. On Sunday morning I read to the
congregation a letter to you in Welsh - I am sure you would
shoot everyone who speaks a language other than English.! >
My congregation suggested that I should translate the
gist into English so that you and your fellow hard right
wingers can understand my plea for sanity. It all happened in
Christchurch in two mosques . I believe with the hymnwriter
‘that the voice of prayer is never silent’ You BT cannot do so
.If you thought you could silence the prayers of the
faithful in a mosque, temple, synagogue/ chapel or church
then you were greatly mistaken. But you did succeed in
killing 50 and injuring many more precious souls. BT –
you made New Zealand suffer like Afghanistan or Syria You
killed young and old , fathers and mothers Many more would
have been killed if the police and disciples of Mohammed had
not taken action I do not know anything about you, except that
your grandmother spoke wisely the other night > She like us
could not fathom your motives or your egocentric madness. To
me anyone who kills worshippers have gone into the hands of
Satan , or better still, ‘the kingdom of darkness ‘.
I speak Welsh as well as English and I
welcome people to our fellowship who speak other
languages. Life gets richer when we read each other’s
literature. I have read a large portion of the Koran.
It is a sacred book that we should read side by side with
other Scriptures like the Holy Bible. You would have not
committed your deed if you knew what our friends stand for. Were
you not taught at home and in school as a young boy to
appreciate the efforts of those who do good in this world
and who respect other folk’s culture and who are bound
together in tangnefedd/ Peace as we say in the Fellowship
of Reconciliation.
New Zealand has a wonderful female
Prime Minister who is an example to the leaders of the Free
World, to the leaders of the Muslim countries, and the
European Union She showed us an example of how to sympathise.
But I do not agree with her reasonable plea.. Do not
speak the words BT. Most will not. It is a name that you
shudder when you hear it. The world will mention Martin Luther
King and Nelson Mandela before they will mention the despised
name. like the one on top of this letter…But you are still a
human being who need to plead for forgiveness. I really
mean it. Let the leaders of religion and the politicians of
the countries of Asia visit you and speak to you in truth
the words that you need to hear. Let the prison authorities
surround you in your cell with posters of all those you have
killed and injured . I hope you will start showing remorse
at last for you are a big stain on the world’s memory of
mankind.
Yours in humanity,
Reverend Professor David Ben Rees,
Minister in Liverpool since 1968.
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