We got the good news this morning that Archbishop Peter Imasuem of Benin Diocese in Nigeria had been released. If you hadn't heard, he was abducted at gunpoint outside his home after morning service in his cathedral last week. As far as I have heard he was released unharmed but what we don't know, and may never know, is whether the US$100,000 ransom demanded by his captors was actually paid or not.
Paying ransom money is controversal everywhere. The mission I used to work for always refused to pay ransom money (not because they lacked the cash - although that was also true!) but because paying out once only invites bandits to collect a few more hostages and increase their business turnover. But, try explaining that to the family! If my brother was taken hostage of course I would want to pay the ransom, as soon as possible, but is that just selfish? What about the next family to be effected, and the next?
Hostage taking has become a real industry in the seas off Somalia and there is a risk it will become so in the oil fiends of Nigeria. So was an archbishop worth just £63,000? Sounds rather cheap to me. So how much would a shop assistant or a motor mechanic be worth? Surely the answer is that we cannot put a monetary value on any life and we must do all we can to stamp out hostage taking - and every other form of trading in human lives.
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Thats right, Mark. Just in the past few days, we have been watching small kids who are orphans in Haiti and some men from here who have been arrested because they tried to kidnap them for all sorts of purposes, including sex abuse!!
ReplyDeleteThe situation in Somalia, and what you reported here re: Nigeria is serious, and to answer your big Q, I too would want to pay the millions for the life of my brother should he be in this situation. It is only human, isn't it? And yes, it does encourage others to continue the human trade.
As for the price of an Archbishop, perhaps we need to look at your recent post re: how the Anglicans have neglected their missionary commission in favour of mandane issue and decide who is worth how much...just kidding. But I thought about your concern for the Anglican church when I read your question about the value of an Archbishop/bishop. I came to know Christ through Bishop Festo Kivengere, and for that, I always value the work of Anglicans and bishops who are evangelical.
Harriet