Washington: Church leaders have united to condemn protesters who stormed the US Capitol Building attempting to block the confirmation of Joe Biden’s election victory.
The violence occurred hours before the US Congress formally certified Joe Biden as the next US president, dealing a hammer blow to Donald Trump and his supporters. The violence on January 7 led to unprecedented scenes of mayhem in the seat of American democracy.
The US Catholic bishops unanimously condemned the violence that left four people dead and many injured.
“I join people of good will in condemning the violence today at the United States Capitol,” said the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in a statement, following the violence.
“This is not who we are as Americans. I am praying for members of Congress and Capitol staff and for the police and all those working to restore order and public safety,” he continued.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, head of the Church of England, tweeted: “There will be many lessons to be learned from the scenes in Washington. For the moment let us pray for the USA, the world’s greatest defender of democracy until now, as it faces this huge shock. May God bless America with peace and reconciliation.”
Richard Duane Warren, founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention in Lake Forest, California tweeted: “Here’s what God says: “When the leader is concerned with justice, the nation will be strong, but when he is only concerned with money, he will ruin his country.”
Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public-policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, said the mob attack on “our Capitol and our Constitution is immoral, unjust, dangerous, and inexcusable. What has happened to our country is tragic, and could have been avoided.”
Richard Albert Mohler Junior, an American historical theologian and the ninth president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, tweeted: “What we are seeing in Washington now is the refutation of our American commitment, a form of unleashed anarchy which is the enemy of ordered liberty, and President Trump is responsible now for unleashing mayhem. Pray that God will rescue is from this.”
James David Greear, 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention, in a tweet points out that “peaceable transitions of power have marked our Republic since the beginning. It is part of honoring and submitting to God’s ordained leaders whether they were our choice or not. We need you, @POTUS to condemn this mob. Let’s move forward together. Praying for safety.”
Pastor John Hagee, founder of John Hagee Ministries and founder chairman of the Christian-Zionist organization Christians United for Israel, said the events witnessed at the Capitol on January 7 “are an un-American abomination and a disgrace to our democracy. There is absolutely no justification for the violence that is transpiring. There is nothing patriotic about storming our Capitol. There is nothing honorable about.”
Earlier lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives successfully beat back Republican efforts to deny Biden the electoral votes needed to win.
The affirmation of Biden’s 306-232 victory over Trump in November essentially closes the door on the unparalleled and deeply controversial effort by Trump and his loyalists to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The president immediately released a statement pledging an “orderly transition” but suggesting he would remain in frontline politics, amid speculation that he may run again in 2024.
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” he said.
“I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
Egged on in an extraordinary rally across town by an aggrieved Trump, a flag-waving mob had broken down barricades outside the Capitol and swarmed inside, rampaging through offices and onto the usually solemn legislative floors.
Security forces fired tear gas in a four-hour operation to clear the Capitol. Police said that one woman, reportedly a female Trump partisan from southern California, was shot and killed and that three other people died in the area in circumstances that were unclear.
Source: premierchristian.news, ndtv.com