Today, whenever someone of the Islamic faith commits an act of terrorism, the news media automatically refers to him/her as an “Islamic Terrorist.” We have been so inundated with that coupled phrase that for too many people “Islam” has become virtually synonymous with “terrorist.”
I never seem to hear about the “Christian terrorist” who kills people providing abortions. Or the “Episcopal terrorist” who wreaks havoc on labs perceived as mistreating animals. Or the “Catholic terrorist” or “Protestant terrorist” who killed indiscriminately in Northern Ireland. Or the “Baptist terrorist” who blew up an occupied government building in Oklahoma City. Nor the Methodist or Presbyterian terrorist who kills in various circumstances for one personal cause or another. Yet in each of these instances, violence was committed in the name of some supposed greater good or higher calling, more often than not towards an innocent bystander(s) who just happened to be there at a particular moment.
Yet we hear about the Islamic terrorist, the Palestinian terrorist, and the Basque terrorist. The common thread? Each of these is perceived by many in our population to be an underclass people with a culture significantly different than our own, a culture likely well beyond our easy understanding.
I would suggest that we need to either stop the name-calling altogether, or use it consistently across all cultures and religions. Terrorism is terrorism, plain and simple. Bin Laden is no different than McVeigh. Each acted with self-righteous indignation against what they perceived as a great evil, their acts made permissible to them by their own interpretations of their religious beliefs. Let us not make terrorists into a caste system of better or not-so-bad or worse. If we do, we thereby injure the reputations and distort our perceptions of many innocents who have not resorted to terrorism for their beliefs.
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2 comments:
I have to question your equating several very different motivations for acts of terrorism. Yes, all are combatting a perceived evil but it would seem that only one is driven by overt religious motivations. Certainly religion informs the protestant, Episcopalian and Baptist, but their acts do not rely upon their holy texts or understanding of God for justification. Terrorism absolutely should not be equated with Islam, ever. But it would seem to be appropriate to identify a major motivating factor in the terrorists decision to wreak such evil upon the world. I don't see that strong of a religious connection among your other examples.
Congrats on the blog. I look forward to the dialogue.
My Thanks to Howard for being the first to submit a feedback Comment.
Regarding his thoughts, I believe that we get very comfortable in our own ideas, actions, culture and thoughts. So one of the hardest things to do is see our own lives from an outside perspective shorn of our comfort.
From such outside perspective, we might see that most every bomber of an abortion center points directly to the "Thou shall not kill" commandment as the basis for the action. The Catholic IRA of Northern Ireland was the first to use urban terror as we now know it as the tool to defend their oppressed faith. Acts committed against homosexuals are usually excused because "homsexuality is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord." Skewed religious teachings from all faiths have led to incomprehensible outcomes. Faith unfortunately too often leads to perspectives of morals which give (seeming) permission for unimaginable actions.
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