CALI, COLOMBIA – Many people make fun of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the ‘Mormons’: some even target them with violence.
Are you a Broadway musical fan? Me? Kinda. I have seen a few shows live in New York and in Ottawa over the years. As a dyed-in-the-wool Monty Python fan the interpretation of The Holy Grail – Spamalot – was great!
I can’t say that this form of entertainment has a lot to do with terrorism – although I did see Come From Away, the story of how Newfoundlanders opened their hearts and their homes to passengers stranded on ‘The Rock’ (as the province is called) on 9/11. Nor are there many that treat religion.
One exception is The Book of Mormon, a play about, not surprisingly, the Mormon faith, or as it is more accurately called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). This particular sect has a reputation for going around ringing doorbells to pass out pamphlets and seek new adherents. Some may cringe at that activity, although it is not harmful.
Others see them as a threat and seek to eliminate them.
On this day in 2000
Four Mormon temples in the Colombian city of Cali were bombed by Marxist terrorists. Thankfully no one was injured. Police blamed the ELN – the Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional (National Liberation Army) – for the blasts.
We are saddened to learn that four of our chapels have been slightly damaged by terrorist bombs in Colombia. Gratefully, the explosions caused no injuries. Such misdirected attacks do nothing but temporarily deprive Colombian citizens of a place to worship God as their conscience directs.
Dale Bills, a spokesman for the LDS Church
It is thought that ‘radical’ Catholic priests may have put the ELN terrorists up to this act, although a year earlier an ELN unit burst into a Catholic church in Cali and kidnapped about 160 worshipers, whom they released after receiving ransoms. One faith not liking another. Gee, where have we heard THAT before??
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