The Religious Roots of Domestic Terror

[DonViejo]

The same critics who are quick to link terrorist acts and Islam have been equally slow to recognize the warped Christianity motivating white supremacist violence.

From Charleston to Chattanooga to Lafayette, a series of mass murders has reignited debates over the nature of terrorism and how it is covered by the media—over whether these are terrorist acts to begin with, and—the latest wrinkle—whether or not they might be acts of religious terrorism.

In many ways the controversy has become part of a culture war. Those on the Left argue that an implicitly racist media too often dismisses mass violence by white men as the byproduct of mental derangement; Islam is seen an acceptable predicate for terrorism, but not white supremacy. Those on the Right argue that liberals, especially those in the Obama administration, are too quick to sugarcoat acts of Islamic terrorism as mere extremism devoid of religious impulse—jeopardizing security in the name of political correctness.

But if Americans want to understand and possibly even prevent domestic terrorism in the future, then they may have to abandon neat labels and presuppositions and start to deal in nuance.

The very act of defining terrorism is nuanced, something academics and national security experts have acknowledged for decades. The U.S. State Department (which once designated Nelson Mandela as a terrorist), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United Nations all offer different criteria for who or what qualifies as a terrorist.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/07/the-religious-roots-of-domestic-terror.html

[RKP5637]

1. Religion is the root cause of so much hatred for eons. I find nothing embracing about

religion. It's another line of politics, propaganda and brainwashed flocks IMO.

[haikugal]

2. Totally agree.. nt

[Warpy]

7. For a good 95% of the people who believe

religious congregations are welcoming places, sources of community and often sources of help when life goes pear shaped. If they were just hate and intolerance factories, a lot of people would be turned off and we'd have far lower numbers of believers in this country. Face it, for most, religion is a good thing.

The other 5% are always problematic and will twist any religion out there to suit their own twisted characters. Yes, racial and political extremism in the US mostly has religious roots. And yes, religion has been twisted for eons by leaders and charismatic sociopaths into something ugly that can be turned toward war, genocide, rape, looting, and every other organized curse against humanity.

Trying to end religion itself isn't going to work since 95% of believers get good things from it. You'll just succeed in driving it underground where, paradoxically, it will get stronger.

The only other thing you can do is attempt to educate people starting in childhood in how to recognize charismatic sociopaths so that seekers won't get suckered as easily.

Not much you can do about the charismatic sociopaths except reduce their access to other people.

[hifiguy]

9. I am not sure.

Fundy churches, and there are zillions of them of all Western denomination and Islam, are at their core factories of ignorance, paranoia, intolerance and flat out bigotry towards "others." and who the "other" is can be adjusted neatly to fit with the boogeyman du jour. And once some group is on the boogeyman list they never come off of it.

"Religion is a disgrace to humanity. Without religion good people would still do good things and evil people would still do evil things. To get good people to do evil things takes religion."

- Nobel Laureate (Physics) Steven Weinberg

[RKP5637]

11. I've never understood why some people drag the element of hatefulness into

religion. I'm not religious in the least, left eons ago.

The community aspect and helping each other has always struck me as a good thing, but then the elements of hatred, violence, ignorance, bigotry and the rest often get dragged into religion. It's always been a WTF to me, so many end up being hate cults IMO.

One of the first hymns that stuck me as a very little kid was Onward Christian Soldiers. That, was such a WTF to me and likely the point at which I started to question what it was all about.

[RKP5637]

10. Excellent post, Warpy! Thanks! n/t

[guillaumeb]

3. And what of the "religion" of patriotism?

Is it not also the root of much domestic terror?

[DonViejo]

4. Sounds like you could start an interesting and informative OP about the subject. Hope you do so!

[guillaumeb]

5. I have thought about that topic.

Also the interesting symmetry that I see between patriotism/chauvinism and religious belief/fundamentalist thinking.

Simply a matter of degrees of separation, in my view.

[hifiguy]

8. Like many powerful, simple beliefs,

and they are pure beliefs, nothing remotely resembling facts and more properly called myths, they completely obviate the need for thinking. Take the pill, swallow the dogma and never bother thinking again. No questions, only simplistic, unverifiable answers, a/k/a nonsense, bullshit, buncombe or whatever else one might choose to call it. It has a strong appeal to the superstitious, the low-information-by-choice and low-mental-horsepower types and has all through recorded history. Thinking is work, sometimes hard work.

"Most people would rather die than think; many do." - Bertrand Russell

[RKP5637]

12. The core of it seems the same. Different aspects, ramifications, but the core is similar IMO. n/t

[hifiguy]

6. Kick and Rec!