Religious Extremists Are All The Same
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One man’s “jihad” is another man’s “crusade”. It’s all religious belief in favor of evil.
A group of Christian protesters tried to shout down a Hindu clergyman who was invited to give the opening prayer during yesterday’s session of the Senate. Capitol Police say they arrested three people after they stood up and started yelling “this is an abomination” when guest chaplain Rajan Zed invited the Senate to join him in prayer.
Before 9/11 the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history was from a radical Christian. They’re all threats.
22 Responses to “Religious Extremists Are All The Same”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
Wow, Oliver. Good one. Radical Christian. Oh wait- Which one of the conspirators was the “Radical Christian” and how exactly did the Oklahoma City attack play in the Christian world and/or further the cause of Christian jihad? Did McVeigh and Nichols leave notes stating that this act was done to further the cause of Christianity around the world?
I think the nitwits that tried to shout down the Hindu priest are idiots and deserved to be arrested, but your oh so weak point here is almost as idiotic- unless you can show me the waves of radical Christian terrorism (or even anti-government terrorism for that matter) inspired by the Oklahoma City Bombing. I can confidently say that that particular act was not related to any form of “Radical Christianity” as much as anti-government zealotry. Further, I would add with as much confidence that the bombing was condemned by 99.9999999999% of Christians, unlike the acts of “jihad” done around the world.
Oliver,
I like you but that is a serious stretch. There are crazy christians, but they pale in comparison to crazy muslims. If you polled evangelicals, how many would approve of suicide bombings? Probably close to zero. The same cannot be said of muslims. Now certainly radical christians use different means, i.e. in this country the power of the right is through the fact that lots of idiots vote for them. The comparison between the two groups is weak.
And for the record I would love nothing more than all religion to go away.
Religious fanatics
On the air every night
Sayin’ the Bible
Tells the story
Makes the details
Sound real gory
‘Bout what to do
If the geeks over there
Don’t believe in the book
We got over here…
-Frank Zappa-
Religious fanatics
On the air every night
Sayin’ the Bible
Tells the story
Makes the details
Sound real gory
‘Bout what to do
If the geeks over there
Don’t believe in the book
We got over here…
-Frank Zappa-
If there aren’t any violent Christian fundies out there, why did we have several bombings of women’s clinics, and targeted doctors?
Attempts to discern which group of religious extremists are more violent, Christian or Muslim, miss the point: the two groups are not arising from anything near an equivalent background that would allow for easy comparison. The countries that are producing Muslim extremists have a long history of Amero-European interference, toppling their governments and choosing new ones, etc. There is *no* excuse for terrorism–but this is a background that, had it been Christians living in small nations that were regularly bullied politically, economically, and militarily by a much stronger group of Islamic countries, might well have produced the same kind of terrorist response.
And if you think they wouldn’t, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Northern Ireland. Where Christian terrorists held sway for many years.
“If you polled evangelicals, how many would approve of suicide bombings? Probably close to zero.”
How about just plain bombings?
The United States is trying to protect gays from hate crimes, and American Christians are acting like they are the victims.
The only real difference between the two groups is the amount of political power they have. If the leadership had no sway on the government, you can bet they would resort to violence.
Yes, there are no Christian terrorists in America.
Surely they are a creation of the librul media.
What is funny here is that you cite wikipedia to say that the Oklahoma City bombing was the act of a radical Christian.
The Wikipedia article on Timothy McVeigh states he was “agnostic”
Incidentally I think that shouting down a Hindu trying to pray is despicable.
I believe the proper Christian response would be to pray for the poor lost heathen Hindu.
That is a religion that burns childless widows, they need some prayer.
All religion divides.*
*With the possible exception of Quakers.
Tim McVeigh as far as I could tell was a bit of an agnostic. He was also a talk-radio-fed conservative.
He was also a talk-radio-fed conservative.
which is a whole different church.
Oliver, you are flat out 100% wrong in accusing Tim McVeigh of being a Christian. He was a self described agnostic for crying out loud and he never claimed to carry out his crime in the name of any God. In fact, people who knew McVeigh said he would claim, “Science is my religion” when the conversation would surface.
The accusation that McVeigh was Christian came largely from Muslims who were getting pissy about the multitude of radicals killing in the name of Islam.
Going to make a correction?
I doubt it, but in a few days we’ll find you screeching like a schoolgirl over an error a conservative blogger makes.
“The Wikipedia article on Timothy McVeigh states he was ‘agnostic’”
He was a Catholic, and yes, you can be both.
…how many would approve of suicide bombings? Probably close to zero.
Because they don’t really have the strength of their convictions?
America has a long history of christian terrorists. Aside from the modern-day abortion bombings and doctor murders by christian terrorists, don’t forget the historical christian terrorists that murdered blacks and burned crosses to prevent black empowerment.
It’s funny, Oliver. One day, I am disagreeing with you from the “left” and another day from the “right” on religious matters. At core, I agree with your general line here, but nitpick pedantically only on a few details.
These fools were radicals; those who disrupt a house of the United States to push a theocratic objection to a mere ceremonial invocation are radicals per se. But I think there is a difference between “radicals” and “terrorists” that is worth reiterating.
The Chicago Seven were radicals but not terrorists. The Black Panthers were extreme radicals but it seems unfair to call them terrorists. McVeigh was raised a Catholic and was probably an agnostic, but one steeped in the culture of extreme radical Protestantism of the Turner Diaries and the Christian Identity movement.
The folks who got themselves arrested were probably mainstream right-wing Christians. I suspect that the couple with Slavic names were Roman Catholic Croatians or Croatian-Americans but that’s a total guess. But these three were not comparable to murderers (and you did not explicitly make any such comparison.)
The protesters are clearly ignorant about Hinduism, but the author of the article in USA Today isn’t much better. He writes:
The protesters’ concerns, according to the website of a Mississippi group that was trying to mobilize opposition to Zed’s appearance, were based on the fact that Hindus worship multiple Gods.
That is quite wrong. Hindus believe in a single God, but conceptualize many aspects of the creator in different forms.
As it happens, I’m just now home from a weekend where I had a couple of enlightening conversations with a Hindu scholar. As a Quaker, I’m completely comfortable with all aspects of Hinduism. Central to their tenets is a recognition of the presence of the divine in all beings and an acceptance of all faiths. (OK, you can find plenty of examples of Hindus behaving badly in the news–that only proves Oliver’s initial point.)
There are roughly a billion Hindus in the world. Couldn’t we trouble ourselves to find out there’s more to it than chanting about a flute-playing blue guy?
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