White Christians can be Terrorists too!

[thomhartmann]

Thom Hartmann comments on a piece on Huff Post that says terrorism isn't just a Muslim problem.

[Dawson Leery]

1. Certainly. Here is Marsha Blackburn attempted to incite

violence against fetal tissue researchers.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/274176-dems-protest-subpoenas-seeking-names-of-fetal-tissue-researchers

[21st Century Poet]

2. Terrorism has nothing to do with religion.

Terrorism is not about religion but about political enfranchisement, lust for power and attracting attention.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Europe was a hotbed of terrorism.

The Baader Meinhof

The Brigate Rosse

The Communist Combatant Cells

The First of October Anti-Fascist Group

The Irish Republican Army

The Popular Forces of 25 April

The assassination of Aldo Moro

Roman Catholics, Protestants, Republicans, Monarchists, Socialists, Communists, Maoists, terrorism has a long and varied history (much of it sadly forgotten post 9/11) and it has always been about political power. In the case of the Islamic State, it is ISLAMISM (the political ideology) NOT ISLAM (the religion). Too many people fail to make this distinction. Terrorists invoke God to justify their barbaric acts but what they really want is power and political recognition.

Islamism is a political ideology which uses religion as an inspiration for some of its philosophical ideas (not all Islamists are terrorists either) but it's no different than the non-religious political ideologies that came before it. From The Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda to Buddhist Nationalists in India, it has always been about trying to spread and enforce political ideologies. What terrorists want is something temporal not spiritual or ethereal. Those who want to pray go to a house of worship not to the battlefield.

[MisterP]

3. the Moluccans in the Netherlands, too--lots of schoolchildren and trains held hostage

[21st Century Poet]

4. Yes, and others too.

Yes, and the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna in Spain, the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey and others.

It's a pity that Islamist terrorism is not put into the context of terrorism throughout history. You hear all the talking heads in the news and you would think that terrorism is something new, intrinsic to Islam and unique to it as well. How can Islamist terrorism be understood with all this misinformation spread about it? It's like the talking heads have never read a political history book.

This is not about holy books but about people who are angry and politically disenfranchised. The Middle East has been a hellhole ruled by brutal dictators and often at war for decades so it is no surprise that it has given birth to so many violent groups. That is the real problem and not what holy books say.

[MisterP]

5. heck, LTTE invented suicide bombing; much Palestinian force abroad was ex-Orthodox

Christian and the IRA was headed by atheist Marxist-Leninists!

[21st Century Poet]

7. And one more thing

And let's not forget that it has been a long tradition for soldiers of 'legitimate armies' (for lack of a better term) in 'legitimate wars' (also for lack of a better term) going into battle to be blessed by holy men or attend mass or another religious ritual.

When soldiers fight, they have historically almost always done it for "the glory of God", even though the aims are always worldly power and temporal politics. This puts the "Allahu akbar" yells into further context. Let's face it, it's much easier to persuade people to risk or give their lives if you assure them that God is on their side and will take them straight to heaven if they die in battle.

But for the talking-heads, it's like religion has never been used in war and political pursuits, and Islam is unique, terrorism is new and the role of religion in war is impossible to understand. Duh!

[MisterP]

8. and then the scientific, secular forces of Europe turned on Benedict XV for trying to

bring WWI to an early end!

[hollysmom]

6. hard as it is to believe, I have been caught in terrorist acts by two different white christian grou

and it was in the same year, sheesh, in my two different homes
I lived in an an apartment in Weehawken, which was filled with the blonde blue eyed christian anti-Castro people of the first boat people. The darker people came in the second boatload, these were the people who owned like luxury cruisers and stuff.

anyway, things were interesting with some feelers out to Cuba, and it was difficult to get stuff to family members still there, so the newer (darker) boat people opened a place where they would help you mail things to relatives in Cuba, but they were also kind of pro Castro. that did not sit well with the earlier boat people, this store front was in the store next to my rental apartment in a converted victorian. To put it succinctly, watching TV one night, BOOM - thrown across the room, windows broken, great damage to the buildings across the street.

Shortly there after we decided time to buy a house and we moved to a quiet little town in NJ. What could happen there?
One week after moving in, BOOM - thrown out a chair, but not far and no real damage done to my house, but a block away in the building next to the ELKs and across from the police department an IRA bomb factory blew up. Why there were making Bombs for the Irish Republic army I have no idea, but that was the business, build bombs and send them our for the IRA.
Two white christians catholics and terrorists groups.

[mwrguy]

9. K&R against Islamophobia!

[FrodosPet]

11. And Christophobia as well?

Or is one bad but one good?

[FrodosPet]

10. Does Christian terrorism justify Islamist terrorism?

Both Christianity AND Islam has some serious issues with parts of their doctrine AND some of their followers.

But it is only OK to criticize one of them.

That is hypocrisy, and it is wrong.