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Church Bells Ring Nationwide for Newtown Shooting Victims

  • Religion Today Religious persecution, missions, Christianity around the world
  • Updated Dec 21, 2012

Church bells tolled across the U.S. Friday morning in remembrance of the victims of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting last Friday, and religious leaders called on people to pause and reflect on the tragedy, the Christian Post reports. "Bells in churches historically have a variety of functions. They are announcements, they are a call to prayer, they are a memorial and they are a call to action," said the Rev. Richard Burnett of Trinity Episcopal Church Downtown in Columbus, Ohio. "I think all of those things at one level or another can speak to people in our community a week after the tragedy of the massacre." Some churches, like the one in Ohio, rang the bell 26 times in observance of the victims shot dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School, while others, like some in Texas, rang 28 times to include the gunman and his mother in the count. People across the U.S. on Friday morning also joined in a nationwide moment of silence called for by Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy.