Relgion in the Age of
Religious Terroism
THOMAS HALE
“Religious terrorists are motivated by blind
conviction based on a religious code
As a Christian, I am motivated by blind
conviction based on a religious code
Therefore, I am a terrorist.”
Logical fallacies aside, there is something bothersome
about that thought, that Christianity and religious
terrorism share a basic premise. After all, Christ calls us
to follow him blindly, without second thoughts or doubts.
“No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back
is fit for service in the Kingdom of God.” Jesus even
commands us to ignore our parents’ burial--a violation
of the Ten Commandments! (Luke 9: 59-62 NIV)
Now, clearly a line is drawn somewhere between
going to church and acts of terrorism, but is there a
fundamental difference? If so, is the difference unique to
Christianity? And how does one keep oneself in check
and prevent a descent to religious fanaticism? After all,
countless atrocities--the Inquisition comes to mind-have been committed in the name of Christianity.
More often than not, religious fanaticism is based on a small
minority misinterpreting a religious text and projecting their
own interpretations or expectations over the “objective” or
commonly accepted understanding. Intra-Islamic violence
is not exactly a pillar of Islam; however, the vast majority
of Islamic terror is in Muslim countries, often Sunni-onShiite, or vice versa. Furthermore, according to a recent
Pew study, a vast majority of Muslims disapprove of or
are concerned about Islamic terrorist groups.Finally, Islam
hardly has a monopoly of violent terrorism: groups such as
the Army of God, Kahane Chai and Bodu Bala Sena have
justified their actions respectively by Christianity, Judaism
and Buddhism; not to mention groups such as the KKK.
Thus, terrorism and fanaticism tends to evolve on the
fringes of religion, far from “mainstream” understanding.
So fanaticism is easily avoided: maintain a conventional
system of beliefs. Unfortunately, this doesn’t really work.
Christians are called to be outsiders; after all, “small is the
gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few
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find it” (Matt 7:14). If we must exist on the fringe of society,
outside of the mainstream, what keeps us from fanaticism?
Suppose then that objective study of religious texts
prevents fanaticism. If terrorists’ misguided views are
based on misunderstanding then an in-depth study of the
text they follow should correct their path. Unfortunately,
this is hardly the case. Deep objective study of religious
texts is simply not enough to prevent fringe groups. On
the contrary, it can enable them--after all, Taliban is Arabic
for “students”, and although, this is hardly the place for
an in-depth interpretation of Qu’ranic justification of terror
it is clear study of the Qu’ran did not stop the Taliban.
Instead, let us turn to the foundation of our faith-Christ. Religious terror as we know it was not a staple
two thousand years ago, but its basis--religious zeal
and an obsession over religious text--most certainly
was. Furthermore, Christ had rather a lot to say about
zealots, which allows the direct application of Biblical
text to something as seemingly unrelated as terrorism.
Christ’s comments are on the Pharisees--the teachers of
the law, men whose entire lives revolved around the study
of the Torah. One would expect that Christ would approve
of such behavior--focus on the law and on God’s will;
however, we find the complete opposite. Jesus despised the
Pharisees. In Matthew 23, Jesus presents a comprehensive
list of their failures. He describes the “teachers of the law”
as hypocrites overly focused on outward appearances
without taking into account the spirit of the law:
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,
you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices [to
God] … But you have neglected the more important
matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness.
(MATTHEW 23:23)
Thus we find that there are key Pharisaical failures that
are almost always found in extremists--hypocrisy, an
obsession with literal interpretation of the law, and the
leading of others astray. Terrorists and fanatics are always
hypocritical, focusing on a particular aspect of the law to
the detriment of many others, or using a particular element
of the law to advance their own interests. Taliban insiders