Church Leaders Support Memorial Service Invitation to Bomber Families

Church leaders have expressed the wish to invite families of the July 7 suicide bombers to a national memorial service in tribute to the victims.

The Queen and Tony Blair will attend the service due to take place on 1 November at St Paul’s Cathedral.

The Church of England said that inviting the bombers’ families to the service would acknowledge their loss too, as well as sending a powerful message of reconciliation to the Muslim Community, The Times said.

The Bishop of Newcastle, Martin Wharton, said: “It will acknowledge the wickedness of the act and the grief and devastation it has caused.”

He added: “I believe this has to be an inclusive invitation.”

Jack Nicholls, the Bishop of Sheffield, also commented: “We have to look forward, not back, forward to a society in which Muslims and Christians live together amicably in an integrated community.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is yet to comment on the issue, although senior Church of England sources said that he would “see the value” of extending the invitation to the families.

Bashir Ahmed, the uncle of Shehzad Tanweer, one of the bombers, said that his family would accept the invitation if given, and added that if some of the victims’ families take offence he would be “happy to go and apologise for any pain a member of my family may have caused”.

Government officials, who have the final say on the guest list, oppose the proposal owing to the highly sensitive nature of the issue. Some families of the victims have also expressed their indignation at the idea.