The myth of " Christian terrorism"

 Ever since Anders Breivik went on his murder spree nearly a fortnight ago, we  have heard a lot of to put it crudely BS about "Christian terrorism"-mainly from liberal leftist commentators-notwithstanding the fact that Breivik openyl admitted that he was NOT an especailly religious man and explicitly criticized Pope Benedict XVI for insufficient "Islamophobia"
 
Just to clarify things- baptized Christians may become terrorists for secular nationalistic( ETA or PIRA) or atheistical causes( Red Brigades, Baader Meinhof Gang, Action Directe), but BELIEVING Christian terrorists are pretty rare birds relatively speaking( "Army of God" anti-abortion extremists, Christian Identity white supremacist wackos, the KKK, which was nearly as anti- Semitic and anti-Catholic as it was anti-black). More to the point, those "Christian" terrorists who do exist are almost universally disowned and denounced(if not unequivocally condemned)by mainstream denominations-whereas jihadis such as the 9/11 hijackers, the late Osama Bin Laden, and the bombers of 7/7 invariably quote the Koran and Mohammed's sayings( hadith) in their statements.
 
To argue that AQ (leaders and rank and file alike) are NOT motivated by religion is as fatuous as asserting that Soviet leaders from Lenin to Gorbachev were not motivated by Marxist ideology!

Sorry, just saw my name at the start of the title and had to check this out! :)

So, they're a myth, except at the same time they totally exist? Because you just said they are in fact, real. Just not accepted by the majority of the christian community. That's not the same as not existing. 

What I meant to say was not that "Christian terrorists" do NOT exist per se, but they are by and large far less numerous than their Islamic counterparts( and are indeed explicitly repudiated by the vast majority -if not ALL mainstream denominations whereas Muslim leaders seem less willing to explicitly repudiate them).
 
Terry

Well, your title conveys otherwise. 

What i meant was that to assert that "Christian terrorism" was morally coequal to its Islamic counterpart was a myth!

There are many people who commit acts of terror in the name of God or religion in general. With that being said there are many more people all over this planet who kill people because they are christian or believe in God. Anyone can be ignorant. Religion doesn't kill people. Stupid/Evil people kill people. 

Islam is actually one of the most popular religions on Earth and the vast majority of them are not terrorists and probably about 90% of what people in this country hears about Islamic terrorism is just right wing fear mongering of course the left wing is just as bad with their fear mongering about other things but the point is just as with Christianity and every other group of people the vast majority are mostly moderate with a few extremists that cause problems for the rest of them

The wonderful thing about terrorism is that the term is rather vague. What Anders Breivik did was terrorism. What the USA is doing in Iraq is terrorism. What Al Qaeda has done is terrorism (these days, they appear to have resorted to yelling loudly). Because here's the definition of terrorism:  "The calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religious or ideological in nature...through intimidation, coercion or instilling fear." This definition is universally accepted and is actually the official definition of the word.
 
Of course, this will not matter to your perception of your point, since it's not rooted in any kind of official definition but your own defensive stance on what I assume is your religion, that you hold very dear and don't want to see tarnished in any way. And that's okay, because it's all about individual perception of threats and justificated violence. As Gerald Seymour said "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." A really simple example of this would be the war in Iraq (a subject that's been done to death, I know): The USA invaded Iraq for various reasons. Every American Soldier fights - in the perception of the Americans - for freedom, for democracy and a lot of valiant values. Now, when you're an Iraqi citizen, just your regular Joe in Baghdad, you will experience the following: Soldiers with guns and tanks suddenly show up in your neighbourhood and they're ready and willing to shoot you dead when youmake a wrong move. You never had that before. Sure, Saddam occasionally had a war or two going on but that was against the Shiites, and they're evil anyways. So the Americans are - in your perception - the terrorists.

People still kill abortion doctors in the name of god. Michigan militia is a Christian terrorist cell.

Islam is actually one of the most popular religions on Earth and the vast majority of them are not terrorists and probably about 90% of what people in this country hears about Islamic terrorism is just right wing fear mongering of course the left wing is just as bad with their fear mongering about other things but the point is just as with Christianity and every other group of people the vast majority are mostly moderate with a few extremists that cause problems for the rest of them

The crusades say you're a little wrong. However, I don't disagree with your points as much as I expected to.

I'm a liberal leftist so I'm part of the problem, yassss!

According to FBI statistics, between 1980 and 2005, less than 6% of terrorist attacks in the United States were committed by Muslims.  Of the 83 terrorist attacks committed between 9/11 and the end of 2009, only 3 were directly related to the Jihadist cause (that means 3.6% of all terrorist attacks).
 
Same deal in Europe.  The EU's Terrorism and Trend Report states that in 2010, there were 294 failed, foiled, or successfully executed attacks in six European countrie s.  How many of them were carried out by an Islamic extremist group?  Three.    
   
Even if Anders Breivik wasn't necessarily a "Christian terrorist" in the sense of having been driven by religious ideals (although he was indisputably driven by right-wing extremism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia), that's not to say that there's no such thing as Christian terrorism.  The Army of God-esque anti-abortion attacks aren't quite as uncommon as you may think.  Since 1977 in the US and Canada alone there have been 41 bombings, 173 arsons, 91 attempted bombings or arsons, and 619 bomb threats on abortion providers.  Also, regarding so-called "rare bird" white supremacists, there are about 5000-8000 KKK members today; compare that to Al Qaeda, which is suspected to have around 500-1000 operatives.
 
I'm not saying Christianity is bad or anything like that; I'm just saying that Christians are no more or less dangerous than Muslims.  Any sort of extremism, be it Muslim, Christian, Jewish, right-wing, or left-wing, is a threat.  The Muslim blame is rooted in racism and xenophobia.
 
Oh, and by the way, Soviet Communism didn't resemble Marxism on any discernible level.  Communism is marked by a classless, stateless society marked by collective ownership; the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was a single-party fascist dictatorship.  They are literally on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Marxist ideology was used to appeal to the huge and powerful working class.

According to FBI statistics, between 1980 and 2005, less than 6% of terrorist attacks in the United States were committed by Muslims.  Of the 83 terrorist attacks committed between 9/11 and the end of 2009, only 3 were directly related to the Jihadist cause (that means 3.6% of all terrorist attacks). Same deal in Europe.  The EU's Terrorism and Trend Report states that in 2010, there were 294 failed, foiled, or successfully executed attacks in six European countrie s.  How many of them were carried out by an Islamic extremist group?  Three.         Even if Anders Breivik wasn't necessarily a "Christian terrorist" in the sense of having been driven by religious ideals (although he was indisputably driven by right-wing extremism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia, and the OP seems to be espousing quite a bit of the latter...), that's not to say that there's no such thing as Christian terrorism.  The Army of God-esque anti-abortion attacks aren't quite as uncommon as you may think.  Since 1977 in the US and Canada alone there have been 41 bombings, 173 arsons, 91 attempted bombings or arsons, and 619 bomb threats on abortion providers.  Also, regarding so-called "rare bird" white supremacists, there are about 5000-8000 KKK members today; compare that to Al Qaeda, which is suspected to have around 500-1000 operatives. I'm not saying Christianity is bad or anything like that; I'm just saying that Christians are no more or less dangerous than Muslims.  Any sort of extremism, be it Muslim, Christian, Jewish, right-wing, or left-wing, is a threat.  The Muslim blame is rooted in racism and xenophobia.  Oh, and by the way, Soviet Communism didn't resemble Marxism on any discernible level.  Communism is marked by a classless, stateless society marked by collective ownership; the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was a single-party fascist dictatorship.  They are literally on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Marxist ideology was used to appeal to the huge and powerful working class.

Haha, Christians deserve ever bit of this terrorism smear. Considering they are the ones largely responsible for the "every Muslim is a terrorist" bit.

According to FBI statistics, between 1980 and 2005, less than 6% of terrorist attacks in the United States were committed by Muslims.  Of the 83 terrorist attacks committed between 9/11 and the end of 2009, only 3 were directly related to the Jihadist cause (that means 3.6% of all terrorist attacks). Same deal in Europe.  The EU's Terrorism and Trend Report states that in 2010, there were 294 failed, foiled, or successfully executed attacks in six European countrie s.  How many of them were carried out by an Islamic extremist group?  Three.         Even if Anders Breivik wasn't necessarily a "Christian terrorist" in the sense of having been driven by religious ideals (although he was indisputably driven by right-wing extremism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia), that's not to say that there's no such thing as Christian terrorism.  The Army of God-esque anti-abortion attacks aren't quite as uncommon as you may think.  Since 1977 in the US and Canada alone there have been 41 bombings, 173 arsons, 91 attempted bombings or arsons, and 619 bomb threats on abortion providers.  Also, regarding so-called "rare bird" white supremacists, there are about 5000-8000 KKK members today; compare that to Al Qaeda, which is suspected to have around 500-1000 operatives. I'm not saying Christianity is bad or anything like that; I'm just saying that Christians are no more or less dangerous than Muslims.  Any sort of extremism, be it Muslim, Christian, Jewish, right-wing, or left-wing, is a threat.  The Muslim blame is rooted in racism and xenophobia.  Oh, and by the way, Soviet Communism didn't resemble Marxism on any discernible level.  Communism is marked by a classless, stateless society marked by collective ownership; the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was a single-party fascist dictatorship.  They are literally on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Marxist ideology was used to appeal to the huge and powerful working class.

My point was to note that  any attempt to imply moral equivalence between Al Qaeda and so- called "Christian terrorists" like Anders Breivik and the late unlamented Timothy McVeigh of Oklahoma City bombing notoriety was nonsensical- clearly a baptized Christian CAN become a terrorist( for a secular , nationalist or atheistical cause), but BELIEVING Christians are fairly rare as terroristsd( in my original post I noted th existence of "Christian Identity" wackos, "Army of God" anti-abortion extremists and of course the KKK, which was as rabidly anti-Semitic and anti_Catholic as it was anti-black). None of those criticizing me seem to dispute my contention that these groups are universally disowned and explicitly condemned by most  mainstream denominations, (whereas Islamists from Bin Laden downwards frequently quote directly from the Koran and Mohammed's sayings), so they accuse me of claiming that "all Muslims are terrorists"( when I made no such claims in my post)

My point was to note that  any attempt to imply moral equivalence between Al Qaeda and so- called "Christian terrorists" like Anders Breivik and the late unlamented Timothy McVeigh of Oklahoma City bombing notoriety was nonsensical- clearly a baptized Christian CAN become a terrorist( for a secular , nationalist or atheistical cause), but BELIEVING Christians are fairly rare as terroristsd( in my original post I noted th existence of "Christian Identity" wackos, "Army of God" anti-abortion extremists and of course the KKK, which was as rabidly anti-Semitic and anti_Catholic as it was anti-black). None of those criticizing me seem to dispute my contention that these groups are universally disowned and explicitly condemned by most  mainstream denominations, (whereas Islamists from Bin Laden downwards frequently quote directly from the Koran and Mohammed's sayings), so they accuse me of claiming that "all Muslims are terrorists"( when I made no such claims in my post)

you guys nazis? is this a nazi boarding camp?

Does it really matter what sh!t excuse these idiots have for being terrorists? If they weren't religious they would just find some other stupid reason to kill for. 

The wonderful thing about terrorism is that the term is rather vague. What Anders Breivik did was terrorism. What the USA is doing in Iraq is terrorism. What Al Qaeda has done is terrorism (these days, they appear to have resorted to yelling loudly). Because here's the definition of terrorism:  "The calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religious or ideological in nature...through intimidation, coercion or instilling fear." This definition is universally accepted and is actually the official definition of the word. 

According to FBI statistics, between 1980 and 2005, less than 6% of terrorist attacks in the United States were committed by Muslims.  Of the 83 terrorist attacks committed between 9/11 and the end of 2009, only 3 were directly related to the Jihadist cause (that means 3.6% of all terrorist attacks). Same deal in Europe.  The EU's Terrorism and Trend Report states that in 2010, there were 294 failed, foiled, or successfully executed attacks in six European countrie s.  How many of them were carried out by an Islamic extremist group?  Three.         Even if Anders Breivik wasn't necessarily a "Christian terrorist" in the sense of having been driven by religious ideals (although he was indisputably driven by right-wing extremism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia), that's not to say that there's no such thing as Christian terrorism.  The Army of God-esque anti-abortion attacks aren't quite as uncommon as you may think.  Since 1977 in the US and Canada alone there have been 41 bombings, 173 arsons, 91 attempted bombings or arsons, and 619 bomb threats on abortion providers.  Also, regarding so-called "rare bird" white supremacists, there are about 5000-8000 KKK members today; compare that to Al Qaeda, which is suspected to have around 500-1000 operatives. I'm not saying Christianity is bad or anything like that; I'm just saying that Christians are no more or less dangerous than Muslims.  Any sort of extremism, be it Muslim, Christian, Jewish, right-wing, or left-wing, is a threat.  The Muslim blame is rooted in racism and xenophobia.  Oh, and by the way, Soviet Communism didn't resemble Marxism on any discernible level.  Communism is marked by a classless, stateless society marked by collective ownership; the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was a single-party fascist dictatorship.  They are literally on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Marxist ideology was used to appeal to the huge and powerful working class.

Most Christians are peaceful folks who just want to live their lives and practice their beliefs. Most Muslims are the same. Anyone who uses their faith as an excuse to perpetrate violence against another is morally reprehensible, regardless of the belief system in question. Physical violence is the ultimate failure of the higher capacities of conscious thought.

Does it really matter what sh!t excuse these idiots have for being terrorists? If they weren't religious they would just find some other stupid reason to kill for. 

Oh, and by the way, Soviet Communism didn't resemble Marxism on any discernible level.  Communism is marked by a classless, stateless society marked by collective ownership; the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was a single-party fascist dictatorship.  They are literally on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Marxist ideology was used to appeal to the huge and powerful working class.

My point was to note that  any attempt to imply moral equivalence between Al Qaeda and so- called "Christian terrorists" like Anders Breivik and the late unlamented Timothy McVeigh of Oklahoma City bombing notoriety was nonsensical- clearly a baptized Christian CAN become a terrorist( for a secular , nationalist or atheistical cause), but BELIEVING Christians are fairly rare as terroristsd( in my original post I noted th existence of "Christian Identity" wackos, "Army of God" anti-abortion extremists and of course the KKK, which was as rabidly anti-Semitic and anti_Catholic as it was anti-black). None of those criticizing me seem to dispute my contention that these groups are universally disowned and explicitly condemned by most  mainstream denominations, (whereas Islamists from Bin Laden downwards frequently quote directly from the Koran and Mohammed's sayings), so they accuse me of claiming that "all Muslims are terrorists"( when I made no such claims in my post)

BELIEVING Christians are fairly rare as terrorists

On paper, it actually was a slightly modified version of Marxism. Note the slightly. In the real world, however, it quickly became corrupted due to the Orwellian Animal Farm reasoning of "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others", which led to the country being a very idealistic hellhole that impoverished its citizens. If all people - and I'm convinced that this will never, ever happen - were to believe in the "We're equal"-doctrine (sans the "more equal"-part), then communism would work. Well, could work.  Basically, Red Russia failed because of humans being human.  

Christianity doesn't promote terrorism at all. Real, new testament, new king James version Christians. If anything Christians are more suicidal, what with  martyr-ism and whatnot. Islam, on the other hand, converts by conquering with the sword. Even in these days. Someone flagging themselves as a Christian and then going on a killing spree would mean they are going on a tangent from actual Christianity. Like a Buddhist suddenly having an obsession with the material world. It's a perversion. The man was no true Christian.

The man was no true Christian.

Who says murder's  not an art?

terrorists are artists. and killing is their art. plus they make things go *BOOMY!!*. praise them for their art collection of a thoousand bodies. yay!!

Christianity's been the cause of heinous crimes, especially and most especially back during the Crusades, but this myth sounds paper-thin.

@realsilverjunk: " But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." Luke 19:27 King James version

@progenitor said:

Christianity's been the cause of heinous crimes, especially and most especially back during the Crusades, but this myth sounds paper-thin.

The Roman Catholic Church was to blame for those crimes, and even though they are considered to be Christians, Catholicism differs GREATLY from New Testament Biblical Christianity.  It's really a false Christianity at it's core.  The Catholic church even outlawed the Bible at one point.  

this is an extremely dangerous thing to say considering there are Catholics who hold the core teachings of Yeshua as truth... 

                    What i meant was that to assert that "Christian terrorism" was morally coequal to its Islamic counterpart was a myth!

                   

               

This thread makes my heart sad.

@King Saturn said:

this is an extremely dangerous thing to say considering there are Catholics who hold the core teachings of Yeshua as truth... 

I'm referring to the organization and the official Catholic Church, not necessarily the individuals who call themselves Catholics.  Especially since many of them do not even know the dark history of the RCC.  Catholicism is virtually re-hashed paganism with a Christian cover. 

@TheNooseIsLoose said:

@realsilverjunk: " But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." Luke 19:27 King James version

This is just another example of someone twisting scripture or not having a right understanding of it.  This scripture is referencing the Jews in the destruction of Jerusalem.  It's a parable, NOT God or Jesus commanding the death of anyone who will not serve him.  No disrespect, but that's a gross error you've made.  That's why people should have a proper understanding of scripture and the science of interpreting it before assuming and making false claims.   

     “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’

     “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.

     “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’

     “‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’

     “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’

     “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’

     “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth.   I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’

     “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow?   Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’

     “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’

     “‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’

     “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away.   But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”

There are many people who commit acts of terror in the name of God or religion in general. With that being said there are many more people all over this planet who kill people because they are christian or believe in God. Anyone can be ignorant. Religion doesn't kill people. Stupid/Evil people kill people. 

@Rudyftw said:

There are many people who commit acts of terror in the name of God or religion in general. With that being said there are many more people all over this planet who kill people because they are christian or believe in God. Anyone can be ignorant. Religion doesn't kill people. Stupid/Evil people kill people. 

QFT!!! Saddly most of people are not mature enough to blame people.

@Jenna said:

According to FBI statistics, between 1980 and 2005, less than 6% of terrorist attacks in the United States were committed by Muslims.  Of the 83 terrorist attacks committed between 9/11 and the end of 2009, only 3 were directly related to the Jihadist cause (that means 3.6% of all terrorist attacks). Same deal in Europe.  The EU's Terrorism and Trend Report states that in 2010, there were 294 failed, foiled, or successfully executed attacks in six European countrie s.  How many of them were carried out by an Islamic extremist group?  Three.         Even if Anders Breivik wasn't necessarily a "Christian terrorist" in the sense of having been driven by religious ideals (although he was indisputably driven by right-wing extremism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia), that's not to say that there's no such thing as Christian terrorism.  The Army of God-esque anti-abortion attacks aren't quite as uncommon as you may think.  Since 1977 in the US and Canada alone there have been 41 bombings, 173 arsons, 91 attempted bombings or arsons, and 619 bomb threats on abortion providers.  Also, regarding so-called "rare bird" white supremacists, there are about 5000-8000 KKK members today; compare that to Al Qaeda, which is suspected to have around 500-1000 operatives. I'm not saying Christianity is bad or anything like that; I'm just saying that Christians are no more or less dangerous than Muslims.  Any sort of extremism, be it Muslim, Christian, Jewish, right-wing, or left-wing, is a threat.  The Muslim blame is rooted in racism and xenophobia.  Oh, and by the way, Soviet Communism didn't resemble Marxism on any discernible level.  Communism is marked by a classless, stateless society marked by collective ownership; the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was a single-party fascist dictatorship.  They are literally on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Marxist ideology was used to appeal to the huge and powerful working class.

Well said!