Guildford Cathedral is uncluttered. Its interior is very simple - just a lot of columns taking the weight of the roof. The vaulting is a thing of very great beauty, because of its simplicity. The cathedral is a place for contemplation, for prayer, and for the finding of inner peace as a retreat from the complexity, the angst, the greed, and the hostility of the secular world outside. A haven. A retreat from the world. Somewhere to sit and think, and not be threatened, because of God's presence. Somethere to find a little moment of peace, perhaps.
A young man who suffered from severe depression sat in the safety of the Cathedral quite often. He was known to the Dean, and to the volunteers who act as guides and helpers in the cathedral for visitors.
But last week he had a bit of bad day. Probably influenced by one of the reports that our telly media love to give us about gun-crazy America, or perhaps the lip-smacking coverage of the Bombay atrocity, he foolishly told somebody he had a gun and he was going to shoot people.
I think it was a cry for help, because of where he was.
You can read the story of what happened next in the Church Times (5 Dec). The police turned up, shot him and killed him, to the great distress of his parents and family, because he might, just possibly, have had a gun. Equally possibly, he might have wanted to blow his nose. The police, evidently, cannot tell the difference when a suspect reaches into his pocket, for they opened fire, shattering the glass screen of a creche. Luckily, there were no children there.
This is the law of Wild West, and successive governments bear the moral responsibility for taking us from theism to meism.
I cannot tell you how my heart reaches out to this young man's family. Ann and I lost our eldest son, Tim, in circumstances which still have the dark hint of cover-up.
There will undoubtedly be a cover-up over this murder. Because that's what it was - murder, by the custodians of our safety, the police, when their victim was in sanctuary.
A young man who was ill in his head has been shot dead in a cathedral by the police. If that was a headline in the little newspapers that like to show you pictures of ladies' tits, wouldn't it worry you a bit?
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