A Christian extremist is here defined as someone who commits acts of violence because of their Christian beliefs. It is the Christian counterpart to “Muslim extremist”.
The Western press is full of news of violence by “Muslim extremists” or “Islamic extremists”, but not by “Christian extremists”. The Economist website (according to Google in 2015) brings up “Islamic extremists” a hundred times more often than “Christian extremists”.
It is not because Christians all turn the other cheek, as Jesus advised. It is because Western reporters and leaders play to a largely Christian audience: violence by an out-group (Muslims) seems more threatening than that by an in-group (Christians).
Prejudiced thinking plays up the worst of an out-group and the best of an in-group. It also sees the people of an out-group as being all the same – out-group homogeneity – while those from the in-group are seen as individuals.
Muslims, therefore, are stereotyped according to the most violent among them. So the beheaders of ISIS, not the scholars of Al-Azhar University, come to represent over a billion people. Their violence is seen as a natural outgrowth of their religion. That picture of Muslims comes not from a careful reading of (cherry-picked) verses of the Koran, but from prejudiced in-group thinking.
Christians, meanwhile, are seen as individuals. Even when some are driven to violence by their religious beliefs, they are not seen as representative. They are often written off as nutcases. Christian violence is commonly not seen as “Christian”, even when it is. Homophobic hate crimes, for example, are not carried out by “Christian extremists”, but by “hateful” or “homophobic” individuals – despite the applicable Bible verses.
The incomplete list of Christian extremism (there is some overlap between these):
- international:
- burning heretics at the stake
- The Crusades
- genocide and colonial wars – done in the name of “civilization”, of which Christianity was seen as an important part.
- enslavement of Africans – before racism, religion was the excuse
- pogroms
- War on Terror – which is driven by an appeal to Islamophobia
- Bosnia
- Britain
- Bloody Mary
- Guy Fawkes
- Oliver Cromwell
- Central African Republic
- The Anti-balaka
- China
- Eastern Lightning
- Egypt
- lynching of Hypatia
- France
- Albigensian Crusade
- French Wars of Religion
- St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
- Germany
- Thirty Years’ War
- Holocaust
- India
- Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland
- National Liberation Front of Tripura
- Ireland
- IRA
- Lebanon
- Lebanese Civil War
- Karantina and Tel al-Zaatar massacres
- Sabra and Shatila massacre
- Spain
- The Reconquista
- Columbus
- conquistadors
- The Inquisition
- Uganda
- Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
- US
- Pilgrims and Puritans (the Mystic Massacre, for example)
- Salem Witch Trials
- anti-Catholic riots in Philadelphia
- violence against Mormons
- William McKinley
- The Klan – which went after Catholics and Jews, not just Blacks.
- Eric Rudolph
- Neo-Nazis
- Aryan Nations
- Army of God
- George Bush
- Wade Michael Page (Sikh Temple shooter)
- Robert Lewis Dear
- hate crimes against Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, gays.
- attacks on abortion clinics, mosques, temples, synagogues.
This list is incomplete. Russia and Ethiopia, for example, would no doubt make the list, but I do not know enough about their history.
– Abagond, 2015.
See also:
518
I’m curious, would an act of religiously motivated violence in retaliation to an act of religiously motivated violence be on a list like this?
LikeLike
Thanks for the putting an unfamiliar face to terrorism. I guess there are some violent nuts that go on one’s preferred list because they seem to have your fate tied with theirs. So it’s hard to openly criticise them because your neighbours see nothing wrong and so you shut up. One of the favourite “terrorists” of all time was Mandela! I still can’t work that one out.
LikeLike
@LoM,
Was the terrorist attack in Paris the week before last performed by Muslim extremists?
LikeLiked by 1 person
To my knowledge Hitler didn’t care much about neo-paganism. I think Himmler was the only high-ranking Nazi into that stuff.
LikeLike
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_vril07.htm
LikeLike
Of course most English-language media is written from a White Christian viewpoint – most of it’s intended audience is both of those things. It’s the same thing with Eurocentric History in Schools, the US is part of Greater Europe, an overseas outpost of European Civilization, if you will.
It is only natural for children to learn more about their own culture than others.
LikeLike
@LordOfMirkwood
What follows is not directly aimed at you. This blog has a lot of informed readers and I just wanted to share some information.
There are approximately 15 million Jewish people in the world (give or take a few million). There are approximately 1,500 million Muslim people in the world. There are approximately 2,500 million Christians in the world.
In other words, for every one Jewish person, there are 100 Muslim people. For every one Jewish person, there are approx. 167 Christian people.
For every one Jewish person, there are approx. 267 Muslims and Christians.
You get the idea.
There are approx. 7,300 million people in the world. 15 million of those people are Jewish.
In other words, people of the Jewish faith represent less than a quarter of a percent of the world’s population (0.21%).
Christians hold sway over vast swathes of land, including many of Christianity’s most holy cities.
Muslims hold sway over vast swathes of land, including many of Islam’s most holy cities.
Yet Christians and Muslims (both religions heavily influenced by Judaism) won’t let the Jewish have Israel and Jerusalem?
Israel covers a tiny portion of land.
This is the Game of Empires.
Nations vastly richer than you, vastly more populous – who should be content with what they have – will STILL try to crush you.
Jewish people have faced persecution for thousands and years.
And now they finally have a place to call home and STILL people won’t leave them alone?
The USA wipes out entire states. It is justified.
Israel tries to stop rocket attacks, they are ‘Nazis’.
To anyone reading this, stop scapegoating other people for your problems, but most importantly:
Leave the f*cking Jewish people alone.
LikeLike
John 16:2
LikeLike
Great post, Abagond!
https://qph.is.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-1f4728ffc568700784d90045034f4695?convert_to_webp=true
LikeLiked by 1 person
@ Michael Cooper
Great cartoon! I added it to the post.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Boycott.
LikeLike
on the issue of Anti-semitism in Germany
It is ridiculous to count only the Nazi voters as anti-semites. Anti-semitism was deeply ingrained in the rethoric of the left-wing Communist and the Social Democratic Party as well as the catholic Center Party. “Common-place” seems to be a pretty good word for that.
While I agree with Kiwi that the racial anti-semitism of the Nazis and their predecessors grew out of the religious anti-semitism, it also has some features that clearly seperate the two so that the former can no longer be ascribed to Christianity. For example the idea that even a baptized Jew is still a Jew would have made no sense to the christian anti-semites.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Kartoffel
Anti-semitism was very widespread throughout Continental Europe. France included.
I have no idea why Lord of Mirkwood is trying to downplay it.
Hitler’s ideas were very common at the time, throughout the continent. Oswald Mosley, head of the fascists in the UK, was a sympathiser.
One of his descendants is none other than Maxwell Mosley, the former head of Formula One.
It was the age of Racism. This was the time when Belgians were reading cartoons of Tintin’s ‘exploits’ in Africa.
Whilst in actual fact, Leopold II was committing some of the worst atrocities known to man in the Congo.
Entire ‘Royal Avenues’ in Brussels were built from the Congo’s wealth.
Anyone heard of the ‘World Expo’? The Belgians had their very own world fair back in the 1930s where they paraded captured Congolese like animals.
The Belgian Congo has to be one of the less-spoken about atrocities ever committed, for the simple fact the Belgians never bothered to even count how many people they killed.
@Kiwi
Whites systematically wiped out Native Americans. The largest genocide every committed.
And you think you can ‘convince’ them into giving non-Whites an equal society?
African Americans are now the new Israelites. Just as the Israelites built the Pharaoah’s pyramids, African Americans built America’s economy.
LikeLike
@ Lord of Mirkwood, etc
Christian, nay Catholic, anti-Semitism has deep roots in Europe. It goes back hundreds of years. It did not drop from the sky in 1933. The Holocaust was a pogrom done on an industrial scale with German efficiency.
Yes, some Christians were killed in the Holocaust and some Christians helped to save Jews (Oskar Schindler being the most famous, thanks to Hollywood), but tons of other Christians willingly took part in the Holocaust. Hitler could not have killed millions of Jews all by himself. Anti-Semitism in Poland was, if anything, worse than in Germany.
Most of the Holocaust took place outside of Germany for legal reasons. You know, like how the US keeps people imprisoned without trial at Guantanamo.
Anti-Semitism was racialized in the late 1800s to square it with the science, but that hardly washes away its Christian roots, especially among those who were not up on the latest science, which was probably like 90% of everyone.
LikeLiked by 2 people
@ Benjamin
Of course. The Paris attacks, after all, are considered an act of Muslim extremism, even though they can easily be read as a case of self-defence: France had already been bombing ISIS.
LikeLike
If you were Jewish, what would you have done?
It is only when you are on the brink of extinction that you realise you cannot wait any longer.
When India and Pakistan split, Hindus in Pakistan went to India and Muslims in India went to Pakistan.
Sorry for omitting the contributions of other ethnicities, that was not my intention.
LikeLike
@ Somali Prince
He was no doubt taught by the elders of his homeland that the Holocaust was a great evil and that Christianity is a great good. He is trying to square the two.
LikeLike
@LoM
I did not ask you if they were representative of the worldwide Muslim community. I know that already.
My question was … was that act performed by Muslim extremists?
If that question is too complicated, then I can break it down.
Are the perpetrators Muslim?
Are they extremists?
LikeLike
@LordOfMirkwood
The WHOLE of Europe was racist at the time. Against Jewish, against non-Blacks, against everyone.
They convinced themselves that they were ‘superior’ to everyone else. It was institutionalised.
Hitler’s ideas were actually extremely common place.
Even some of the great European philosopher’s of the era devised all kinds of crazy theories to ‘explain’ why the European man was superior.
LikeLike
If anyone should have given up land to the Jews, it clearly should have been the Germans. The Allied Powers even had the power to carry it out. They could have given them, say, Danzig and its hinterland, which was given to Poland instead. Why in the world should Arabs suffer? That just creates a new chain of injustices that we are still living with. It just kicks the ball down the road.
LikeLiked by 2 people
@Kiwi
We all know it didn’t happen like that. The British owned that part of the world and promised it to both the Jewish and the Palestinians.
But I don’t want to debate the finer points, as Abagond might chastise me.
Do I think the Jewish should have conquered Israel by any means necessary?
Yes.
It is one of the most justifiable acts in human history.
The Palestianians had dozens of Muslim states they could have migrated to. The Jewish had nothing and were on the brink of extinction.
Just as African Americans should now arm themselves to obtain what they want.
Appeasement doesn’t work.
LikeLike
@Abagond
Israel is a very very small country in what was a very big British Empire (and previously a very big Ottoman Empire).
You are right. They could have been given any land.
But everyone knows the Jewish originate from Israel. It is what made the most sense.
Islam conquered vast swathes of land. Christianity too.
I do not begrudge the Jews for conquering a relatively small slice of land.
Especially considering the persecution they had faced in Europe for centuries.
But this debate could go on for ages, I don’t want to go off-topic.
LikeLike
“Appeasement doesn’t work.”—-That I fully agree on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@sharina
It is with such rarity that we agree that it somehow delights me.
LikeLike
@ Somali Prince
I agree.
LikeLike
@Kiwi
We are on Abagond’s blog. And we are entering into a debate that millions of people around the world have beeng having for the last 60 years, and it has still not been resolved.
If non-Whites in America have the slightest inclination that America will do as the Nazis did, should they conquer a slice of territory? Yes.
That is all I am saying on the matter.
We appear to have successfully chased out LoM at the moment.
Let’s be content with that.
LikeLike
I actually agree with you on that. I suspect that is why they weren’t given a slice of land in Germany. The Germans might have been defeated but I think Europeans still viewed the Germans as ‘race equals’.
Good point to finish on.
LikeLike
@Abagond
Do I have your authorisation to continue?
LikeLike
My apologies, Kiwi.
An epic 200-comments-long back and forth on the Israelo-Palestinian conflict will not see the light of day.
We will have many more opportunities in the future, I am sure.
LikeLike
OFF TOPIC: The creation of a Jewish homeland.
You can continue it on the Open Thread or, preferably, here:
LikeLike
@LoM
I know little of Christianity, so correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t the ‘eye-for-an-eye’ part in your Old Testament?
LikeLiked by 1 person
@LoM
I tried reading your blog. It looks good, but can’t you make the font smaller? or make it look more like Abagond’s?
It is a bit hard to read. And it’s better to have excerpts on the home page, rather than entire articles.
LikeLike
Interesting, ‘tintin’ is the name of a very old ‘mud client’ or original text based program you used to have to compile yourself in order to play ‘multi-user dungeons’ or adventure games online in virtual worlds
LikeLike
LOM
Just say you got it wrong and move on.
LikeLike
@LoM
Thank you for your reply.
I respect all beliefs and do not wish to offend anyone, but are you really free to pick-and-choose in such a manner?
Is your criticism Jewish scripture valid? Perhaps there are Jewish people who pick-and-choose in the same way you do?
And
As a man of European descent living in conquered lands, is it not hypocritical to condemn Jewish people for having settled in lands that, in size, constitute only 3% of Texas?
Should you not be aiding Native Americans rather than condemning Jewish people?
LikeLike
In other words,
what is the difference between a Zionist and you?
LikeLike
@LoM
Similarly, Jewish people were fleeing hardship. During WW2, Palestine was a safer place to be than internal Germany.
Jewish people were also forced to emigrate.
I do not condemn it. I am Machiavellian, but it just seems to me you are equating refugee status with a right to colonise.
After all, you are colonising foreign land.
This is my problem with ‘international morality’. People argue it exists but I don’t see it.
On the one side, it was correct for you to go to America but not correct for the Jewish to go to Palestine.
LikeLiked by 2 people
@LoM
“Yes to the second. To the first, they claim to be. But they do not faithfully follow their religion’s teachings.”
I’ve read the teachings of at least two of religions mentioned on this page (Bible, Quran, Hadith, Tafsir; not the Talmud yet, though), so I can see that being said of Christianity, but where does that conclusion stem from with Islam? I’m not focusing on the conclusion itself, but mean to ask how you came to that conclusion.
For you, is it because of Islam’s texts (which seems to be the case in your saying extremists don’t follow the religion’s teachings) or because of its adherents (whom I mention because you said, “The Paris attacks were perpetrated by tools who claimed to be acting in the name of Islam, but were completely unrepresentative of the larger worldwide Muslim community”)?
@Abagond
Please let me know if it’s off topic to ask; I can do so on the Islam page instead.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@LoM
Must you capitalise your letters?
I seek only reasoned debate.
Many Israelis were also born in Israel. Thus you claim your right to colonise America based on the fact that you were born there?
Perhaps you would argue that the way Israel treats Palestinians is wrong?
But what about the way America treats black people?
Perhaps you would point to Israel’s wars?
But what about America’s wars?
You blame the capitalist elite?
Can the Jewish colonists not, also, blame the capitalist elite?
Jewish claim to be the ‘chosen people’, did American colonists not also claim to tbe driven by God?
Essentially, why are you spending so much time criticising Israel and why do you not, instead, criticise your own government?
How are events occurring in the Middle East more relevant to events occurring in your own country?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I presume you blame the Holocaust, also, on capitalism?
‘It wasn’t the Germans, it was the capitalist elite.’
LikeLiked by 2 people
@Kartoffel
“For example the idea that even a baptized Jew is still a Jew would have made no sense to the christian anti-semites.”
Mmmm, not necessarily. For instance, the Spanish Inquisition went after “secret Jews” (baptized and converted Jews whom they suspected were still practising Judaism in secret).
And they did this to the point that someone of Jewish heritage who had been born and raised a Christian would still be suspect if they lit candles on Friday night or baked bread similar to challah.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Solitaire
Yes, they were called Marranos. Conversion did not really change anything, they were still persecuted.
They did this with the Moors (Muslims) as well. Converted Muslims were called Moriscos.
In either case, Jewish or Muslim, converted or not, the Spanish Inquisition went after all of them.
LikeLike
@Jefe
Another example of the ‘perpetual foreigner’ trope, perhaps.
LikeLike
@somaliprince
Yes, and also both groups were called conversos.
The inquisitors made transcripts of torture sessions. I’ve read some of those in translation.
Pretty harrowing. I remember things like a woman who admitted that whenever she baked bread, she would throw a pinch of the dough into the fire. And the inquisitors kept asking her about that, and it is all too clear from her responses that she’s got no clue why she did it except that’s what her mother and grandmother always did. She has no idea that it’s linked to Judaic practices or even what the inquisitors wanted from her. And towards the end of the transcript, every question they ask her, the answer is, “Whatever they say I did, that’s what I did, just please stop, it hurts so much, oh god oh god it hurts.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Everyone
Can you all please have a look at LoM’s blog and tell me that I am not dreaming, his font is obscenely big, or something else is not right about it. I don’t know what.
Abagond, credit to you, your blog looks great in comparison.
@LoM
I hate to say it, but you sound like you have a hidden agenda. No one really disputes what happened in Nazi Germany.
And no one needs to dispute the level of anitsemitism, then or now.
Anti semitism is and always will be high in Europe. Even today, it is still high.
The UK is perhaps the only European country where Jewish people don’t feel overly threatened and even there, they have extra security measures.
France, for instance, has become increasingly hostile.
In other words, the antisemitic streak didn’t vanish, the Nazis simply lost the war and had to do as ordained by their victors.
LikeLike
@ Soltaire
You’re right. I forgot about the spanish an their blood purity nonsense. But they went for the converts because they thought the had only converted for show, so theit motivation was still religious. That is very different from the racist idea of “Jew” and doesn’t tie the Nazis closer to christian anti-semitism.
LikeLike
@LoM
You know the common trope that goes all the way back to Voltaire, Karl Marx and even beyond that:
‘The Jews invented capitalism in order to control all the central banks of the world, they are greedy, they killed Jesus blabla’
You know, that whole ‘Mel Gibson’ rubbish.
LikeLike
@Kartoffel
Actually the majority were forced conversions. But you’re right on the whole, they believed that they hadn’t fully changed their ways.
There might have been a racial component with respect to the Moors, in the sense that North Africans controlled most of the Iberian peninsula for close to 800 years (although I doubt the two groups were racially distinct).
Once Christian rule was re-established, one of the main priorities was to get them all out.
LikeLike
@Lord of Mirkwood
You stated: Christ taught that we should turn the other cheek, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who persecute us. The Talmud is all about eye-for-an-eye.
Turns out that eye-for-an-eye is exactly what the old testament teaches. Yet instead of simply acknowledging you were not aware or forgot you go into a whole back story or parts to he bible you don’t read.
I am sure everyone is well aware that “Christians” pick and choose the part of the bible they know or read based on what narrative they want to play. 🙂
LikeLike
@Kartoffel
“That is very different from the racist idea of “Jew” and doesn’t tie the Nazis closer to christian anti-semitism.”
That was just one example. I think an argument could be made that Europeans saw Jews as a separate race from the early medieval period on. Certainly the Bible presents them both as a race and followers of a particular religion. European Christians were familiar with the concept of Jews as a race (the chosen people in the Old Testament). Jews a a group were targeted for massacres and pogroms, expelled from towns and countries, subjected to segregation, etc.
I’m familiar with the idea that the Nazis, at least the top leaders, were not Christians and instead identified with Germanic paganism. I think there’s some validity to that for certain individuals. But for the larger German population, I think the roots of their anti-semitism were firmly in the old Christian anti-semitism that had pervaded Europe for centuries.
LikeLike
@somaliprince
“Actually the majority were forced conversions. But you’re right on the whole, they believed that they hadn’t fully changed their ways.”
What’s interesting is there’s evidence this may have in fact been the case for some conversos. They managed not to be detected and to hide their true faith from the authorities.
LikeLike
@Lord of Mirkwood
I know you have trouble seeing so I am going to break this down as much as possible. Please feel free to zoom so you get a close look.
You stated: Christ taught that we should turn the other cheek, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who persecute us. The Talmud is all about eye-for-an-eye.
Did you not? Because when I search I see it pull up under your name here:https://abagond.wordpress.com/2015/12/01/christian-extremist/#comment-302062
Now. You are comparing what Christ taught vs Talmud. You (purposely) left out the fact that the the old testament teaches this as well. Which is why I said “Turns out that eye-for-an-eye is exactly what the old testament teaches.”
“Point to where I said that the Old Testament did NOT teach eye-for-an-eye.”—Point to where I said you did say it? See what you did right there is a straw man. 😉
“Is Jesus in the Old Testament?”—According to Mormons he is. He helped create the earth.
Now I can go further a point out how when somaliprince pointed out similar to you how you came up with the excuse of how you don’t read old testament etc. Bottom line is you got called out for being wrong on something and you made an excuse. What you do everyday.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@LoM
You’re not a full socialist, otherwise you wouldn’t be religious (‘religion is the opium of the people’ – Karl Marx).
You’re not a full Christian, otherwise you wouldn’t just follow one half of the bible.
And, according to you,
You’re not a full White American (you’re an Irish refugee, somewhere between Black and White).
So you don’t have White Privilege (but you do), you’re not a colonist (but you live on conquered land) and you criticise Zionists (who live on conquered land).
In other words, @LoM, is there a word more powerful than paradox that can be used to describe you?
LikeLiked by 2 people
@Solitaire
Yes, Indeed. Sephardic Jews (the word Sefarad is actually Hebrew for ‘Spain’) now have some traditions distinct from Ashkenazi Jews due to the fact that they had to observe Jewish customs in secrecy for hundreds of years before their eventual expulsion.
Those that successfully kept their faith a secret are called crypto-Jews.
It goes without saying that during the Middle Ages, Christians were obsessed with the idea that their neighbours might secretly be Jewish.
I presume a lot of people who weren’t actually Jewish were killed.
LikeLike
@Lord of Mirkwood
“In Bibles used by both Catholics and Protestants, is Jesus Christ a character in the Old Testament?”—Yep. You do realize that Mormons use King James right?
“Can you really say that I purposely left out what the Old Testament says about stuff?”—-Sure I can and it is based on a habit you have on this blog. You regularly read articles, comments, and even abagond’s post and ignore parts you do not like. On top of that you have people that are not Christian pointing out what is in it and your excuse, as a christian, is you don’t read that.
“Are you in my head? I know that telepathy is a power I do not have, since I sure as hell can’t figure out what’s going through your brain most of the time.”—Nope, but as I stated above you have a pattern. I make every effort to ensure you do not know what is in my brain, so much so I write it and you still can not get it. (sarcasm off)
P.S. Are you shifting goal posts now? I need to know so I can prepare for this lack luster effort at changing the subject so you can once again avoid admitting to being wrong.
LikeLike
@Solitaire
Good read on that ‘Germanic Paganism’. Indeed many to this day, ‘Neo Nazis’, do not prescribe to Christianity as they’ve finally come to terms with it be a Pseudo-Jewish religion. The Nazis still fascinate many around the world to a very uncomfortable perversion. Just look at CosPlay and the industries that garnish Nazi perihelia especially in Asia of all places.
LikeLike
As a side note Catholics and protestants don’t use the same bible I hear. http://www.gotquestions.org/Catholic-Bible.html
LikeLike
@Lord of Mirkwood
You shifted goal posts the moment you asked that question and avoided what this originally was about. So yeah….I just like watching you think you are slicker than you are. Plus I thought you would attempt to switch again.
“These characters do not cross over between Testaments!”—You do realize that each chapter is from the perspective of a person. It does not mean Jesus was not in old testament just because he does not have a dedicated book in it. By your logic God was not in old or new testament because he did not have a book. with his name.
“This means: in Bibles used by Catholics, and in Bibles used by Protestants.”—I know what you meant and they don’t use the same bibles between the two of them. So I could pick one or the other and My answer would be the same. Perhaps you need to familiarize on how King James version fits into this. The books don’t have the major difference you are trying to elude to. 😉
LikeLike
@ Lord of Mirkwood
It depends on what you believe. If you believe in eternal salvation, then you must believe, no matter how small the chance, that if Hitler gave himself to Christ, then he will be in Heaven.
Also, many Baptists believe that Christ is both an old testament and a new testament figure. That the portions of the Gospel before Jesus’ crucifixion are parts of the old testament and that the new testament begins when Jesus dies on the cross and the new covenant with God is consecrated with the blood of Christ.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What about jim jones and the original kool aid
LikeLiked by 2 people
Christian extremism is rooted in the theology that some Christians believe.
Their are two veins of this within the United Sates and the terrorism practiced by some Christians can be traced back to their affiliations with these two groups.
The first is the Christian Identity movement. (Timothy McVeigh)
http://www.kingidentity.com/
“The Elect Remnant, Christian Patriots, Nationalists, Reconstructionists, Racialists, and all seeking a higher level of understanding will learn Biblical solutions to personal and national problems, and be given keys to unlock hidden truth.”
Note the word “reconstructionist”. That ties them to the second group know as “dominion theology” and “Christian Reconstruction”. Christian Identity uses some dominion theology material such as R.J. Rushdoony’s work “Institutes of Biblical Law” which lays out a Christian master plan for a Christian theocracy for the entire planet.
Their are two groups of Evangelical Christians who hold two different “end time” views.
The first most common is Premillennialism which holds we are in the end times now, that a literal anti Christ will appear and reign from Jerusalem after Christians are rapture away.They believe that the book of Revelations is to be interpreted literally and that the return of the Jews to Israel is a fulfillment of prophecy.They are Christian Zionists.
The second group holds to a Post Millennial end time eschatology that believes Christ returns after the entire planet Earth has been Christianized and is under the rule of “gods law”. It is from this group that Dominion theology springs from.
The planned parenthood terrorism over the last few decades is done by people inspired by their works,
As a side note the Catholic church holds to an Amillennialism which means the Catholic church reigns until the return of Christ and they aren’t interested in end time views because who needs Christ to return and interrupt things when you have a monopoly on God.
Gary North is the current “leader” within Dominion theology. He sees himself as a “historian and and economist”. He wrote “An Economic commentary on the Bible” where me makes arguments for things like stoning and slavery.
He calls himself a “libertarian” lol
Other things to know. He has always been associated with Ron Paul and another associate of Paul’s, Lew Rockwell, who everyone knows within the libertarian community was the person who ghost wrote the racist Ron Paul news letters.
This article if from the Skeptical Libertarian which calls him out on his B.S.
http://blog.skepticallibertarian.com/2013/04/08/gary-north-the-libertarian-taliban/
I hope everybody here takes the time to read this article. It will blow your mind. Keep in mind that the reconstructionist following aren’t a handful of people but represent the views of tens of thousands.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That Jesus pic reminds me of the Simpson episode when Homer buys a gun.
“When I held that gun in my hand, I felt a surge of power… like God must feel when he’s holding a gun.”
LikeLike
LikeLike
LOM
You are slow. The point is Christians cherry pick what they want to follow in the bible. All those thing are a list of bible no nos. Yet Christians happily do it.
When did Jesus come and what versus in the bible says they were annulled by it?
LikeLike
Their is a kind of logic behind any kind of religious fundamentalism. If God is all omniscient and God’s word is immutable and unchangeable then what was written 2000 years ago is just as relevant today as it was back then.
It is this idea that God is honored by keeping “his word” pure that destroys the fluidity of religious experience and replaces it with rigity in application.
Religions that humanize at the same pace of society cause the least distruction.
It is the mutual humanism within religions that allow them to coexist in secular society’s.
LikeLike
To Abagond:
I either agree or don’t know enough to comment about your list except for the following:
Holocaust
The Holocaust is a case of racial extremism, not Christian extremism. Early on the National Socialists defined the concept of Übermensch (over-man or superior person) and Untermensch (subhuman ) and considered this to be paramount over religion. For example, membership in the Nazi party or to become a member of the SS required an Ariernachweis (Arayn certificate) proving one had no Jewish or “colored” ancestors going back to 1800 for the Nazi party and 1750 for the SS.
Jews, Slavs, and Roma were all classified as Untermensch. Millions more Christian Slavs and Roma were murdered by Hitler and his crew than Jews although the latter were killed at a much higher rate. Even Christian German “defectives” such as people with mental illness or former soldiers with brain damage from serving in WWI were killed off as they were considered a burden to the state.
IRA
The IRA was predominantly a secular organization (albeit with a majority of Catholics but a substantial number of Marxists and some Protestants) fighting British Occupation of Northern Ireland that formally condemned sectarian violence (Although sectarian attacks did sometimes happen). It’s true that the US press often claimed the IRA’s motivations were about religion but the IRA themselves did not see it that way. Their struggle whether you agree with it or not was similar to the PLO’s movement against the Israelis. Indeed the PLO and the IRA felt a kinship, trained together, and supplied arms to each other.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/IRA-PLO-cooperation-A-long-cozy-relationship
Closer to home the IRA heavily identified with the civil rights struggle in the US:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/dr-king-s-impact-fight-civil-rights-northern-ireland-n495701
The Reconquista:
Not sure why you would classify the reconquista as an example of Christian extremism..? Would you classify the expelling of the French out of Algeria or Vietnam in the same manner (EG Buddhist, Marxist, or Muslim extremism)…?
LikeLike
Looks like this link goes here:
White supremacist asks Muslim lawyer why there is no ‘Christian ISIS,’ gets schooled.
https://www.someecards.com/news/politics/white-supremacist-muslim-history/
LikeLike