Pray for the Hostages

Nothing has been heard of the four hostages held by the Iraqi group the Swords of Righteousness since the deadline for their execution passed on Saturday. The four men Norman Kember, Tom Fox, James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden were working Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq when they were captured. By all accounts they were working for peace not spying as they are accused of by the Iraqi group. CPT is a group of Quakers, Brethren, Menonite and other Christian groups that supports non-violence and so has always opposed the war.

Tom Fox, anticipating being kidnapped said not to pay ransom for his return. He also said to reject the use of violence in trying to win his freedom and not to speak ill his abductors, but instead to try to understand the motives of their actions. We don’t know if they are still alive or not. But if they had been executed then I would have thought that a video of this would have been released by now. I hope they are trying to find a way to release them without losing face and can think of one quickly.

In the meantime all we can do is pray.