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Western Christianity certainly haven't left violence behind. Just take the christian terrorist Anders Brevik who killed 80 people in Norway.
by olavk 12y ago
Western Christianity certainly haven't left violence behind. Just take the christian terrorist Anders Brevik who killed 80 people in Norway.
- fafner 12y agoBreivik isn't a Christian terrorist. He described himself as not being overly religious. He is also very critical of modern (I think that's what's meant by Western here) Christianity, both in the Church of Norway and Catholicism.
- mcv 12y agoI've read somewhere that the Charlie Hebdo attackers weren't actually very religious either. Didn't visit mosques or read the Quran, but felt separated from society, and looking for some meaning to their life, some way to have impact, they found this. The article claimed they had more in common with Breivik and the Unabomber, or maybe even the Sandy Hook shooter and similar lone gunmen. It wouldn't surprise me if the same is true for many extremists. ISIS also apparently gets a surprising number of recruits from Europe. People not fitting in looking for a place where they can be appreciated.
- olavk 12y agoMuslim terrorists in general are also in opposition to mainstream Islam. They are extremists, just as Breivik is an extremist.
- fafner 12y agoWahhabism and other extremist versions of Islam have a significant following. Polls regularly indicate support or acceptance towards extremist views within Muslim communities. It's therefore not as simple.
- Kiro 12y agoI don't think one Christian terrorist is enough to say that Western Christianity "certainly" is violent. I wouldn't even say that about Islam even though I think Islam has some problems with violence that Western Christianity doesn't have.
- olavk 12y agoI'm not saying western Christianity in general is violent! Certainly Breivik is a lone extremist with absolutely no support by any mainstream church. But it doesn't change the fact that he was a christian and what he considered christian values (in his own eccentric interpretation) is part of what he believed he fought for. That makes him a christian terrorist, unless you apply some kind of "no true scotscman" filter, which could just as well be used to argue that no muslim terrorists are actually muslim terrorists. Another example would be the IRA.
- Kiro 12y agoYou're right and I agree that he was a Christian terrorist in that sense. I was mostly commenting the use of "certainly".