Manchester Synagogue Attack

Writes Pastor Mike Judge, Evangelical Times (2/10/25), in reponse to the horrible attack upon the Manchester Synagogue:

"As a serving church pastor in Manchester, I write this with a heavy heart and deep sorrow over the terrorist attack today at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in this city. On this Day of Atonement, a man drove a vehicle into worshippers outside the synagogue, then exited and stabbed several people before being shot by police. Authorities have declared the incident a terrorist act.

I have visited Heaton Park many times with my family. It is a place of open green space, walking paths, ponds, children playing, quiet corners and wide lawns. Our church has held fellowship days there, picnics, walks, fun and games. In all those visits, I have never driven (or walked) through that part of Manchester without being keenly aware that a large Jewish community lives nearby, and that their synagogues and homes are interwoven into the life of the city.

To imagine violence striking so directly at that community, on one of their festival days and in the very shadow of their synagogue, fills me with horror. We mourn the innocent lives lost, and we weep for the wounded, the traumatised, the families, and the community. In this moment, words feel inadequate, but our prayers are real: Lord, have mercy. Lord, bind up the brokenhearted. Lord, console those who mourn and bring justice where there has been violence.

We also must call this what it is: an assault not merely on a building, not merely on individuals, but on the dignity of human life, on religious freedom, on neighbourly peace. Hatred — deep, dark, destructive hatred — is at the root of this evil. To deny that any such malice lurks in the human heart is to court blindness. Such evils do not take hold by themselves; they grow when prejudice, fear, dehumanising rhetoric and ignorance are permitted to flourish.

From a Christian perspective, we know the ultimate root is sin. Our hearts are desperately sick, proud, fearful, and alienated from God, and unless transformed by grace, we are capable of unspeakable cruelty. This is not simply a “security problem” or a “social problem” (though it is both) — it is a spiritual problem. And the only truly lasting answer lies in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only in him is there reconciliation between God and sinners, and only in him can we find the power to lay down enmity, to love those we once hated, to seek peace not vengeance, to repent and be changed.

In this hour I do not claim to have any political or security fixes. But I do call for watchfulness, for prayer, and for solidarity. Christian friends everywhere — let us stand with our neighbours who are grieving, affirming that they are not alone, affirming their full dignity as image-bearers of God, affirming our common need before God of mercy and redemption. Let us point to the cross, where Jesus bore the sins of hatred and opened a way of peace. May God work even in this darkness to bring light, may truth prevail over lies, may mercy conquer vengeance, may divisions be healed, and may the Lord bind up wounds, restore safety, and draw many to himself."