Prayers for Killers as Slain US Hostage Remembered

|PIC1|More than 30 people gathered at the church of U.S. hostage Tom Fox to remember the Christian Peacemaker, whose body was found last week in a suburb of Iraq, and pray for his killers.

Fellow Christians remembered 54-year-old Fox at a special memorial held Sunday at the Hopewell Centre Meeting and offered their prayers of hope and forgiveness for the killers.

Bob Sekinger, a fellow member of the Hopewell Centre, where Fox would worship while home in Clear Brook on his four-month break from peace work in Iraq, said Fox knew the dangers but considered his risks minimal compared to the number of Iraqis who had been killed.

"With him I pray for those who persecuted and killed him," Sekinger said. "I pray for the people of Iraq."

The Meeting said in a statement: "Tom was committed to his work in Iraq and gave his life in an attempt to bring justice and peace to the Iraqi people. He was not naive about the dangers he faced; he felt that his work was of utmost importance and was willing to face those dangers with love and courage."

David Boynton, a member of Langley Hill Friends Meeting in McLean, Virginia, where Fox was previously a member for several years, said that Fox’s passion for peace and the Iraqi people was inspiring.

“He was a man who listened to what God said and did it," Boynton said. "And that means any of us can do that."

|QUOTE|Doug Smith quoted Fox in a statement read to reporters at the peace group’s headquarters in McLean, Virginia: "We reject violence to punish anyone who harms us. We forgive those who consider us their enemies. Therefore, any penalty should be in the spirit of restorative justice rather than in the form of violent retribution."

The Langley Hill group urged people to remember the thousands of Iraqis and others around the world who have been victims of violence as they continue to mourn the loss of Fox.

"We at Langley Hill will honor Tom's courage by ensuring that the work to which he was dedicated continues and that all the stories of loss, not just Langley Hill's, are told," said Smith.

Members of Christian Peacemaker Teams also gathered in a plaza near the U.S. Courthouse in Chicago, the home base of the organisation.

"He went with his eyes open. He knew what he was getting into. He knew that this was a possibility," said Kryss Chupp, a friend of Fox. "And his love for peace and his love for the Iraqi people were enough to take him there."

Palestinians also gathered throughout the West Bank in mourning for the killing of Fox, who had, according to locals, previously demonstrated alongside Palestinians in the West Bank town of Jayyus against the Israeli construction of a partition wall.

|AD|"Tom used to sit in front of the (Israeli) bulldozers to block them," said Jayyus' mayor, Shawka Shamha. "Hearing news that he was killed makes me very sad."

In a separate statement released last week, Christian Peacemaker Teams urged others not to demonise others as they expressed their deep sympathy for the loss of their colleague.

Each of our teammates has responded to Jesus' prophetic call to live out a nonviolent alternative to the cycle of violence and revenge."

"In response to Tom's passing, we ask that everyone set aside inclinations to vilify or demonise others, no matter what they have done.

Quoting Tom Fox, they said: "We reject violence to punish anyone. We ask that there be no retaliation on relatives or property. We forgive those who consider us their enemies. We hope that in loving both friends and enemies and by intervening nonviolently to aid those who are systematically oppressed, we can contribute in some small way to transforming this volatile situation."

Speaking about Fox they said: "Even as we grieve the loss of our beloved colleague, we stand in the light
of his strong witness to the power of love and the courage of nonviolence. That light reveals the way out of fear and grief and war."

Fox was taken hostage last year while working with Christian Peacemaker Teams for peace in Baghdad along with Norman Kember, a 74-year-old retired British professor, and two Canadians, James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden. His body was found Thursday near a railroad in Baghdad, with police saying he suffered torture before being shot.