Within 24 hours of each other, one assassin walked into a church and shot a doctor who
provided late-term abortions, while he was handing out orders of worship, and another assassin shot up a military recruiting center, killing a soldier right out of basic training, and wounding another. Both of them felt they were right, they seem to have had religious motivations for their action. Both of them attacked people who were fulfilling legal and even necessary roles in our society. Both of them were captured after their act.
I usually try to post only polished articles here on Celestial Lands. Usually I spend days if not weeks or months pondering an article before I even begin writing… and articles have sat on my computer weeks before being posted. This, however, is not one of those articles.
Extremism, Fundamentalism, and the motivations of an Assassin have nothing to do with any particular beliefs. Every single belief set (including those of liberal faith) can inspire certain individuals to extremist speech and actions. Extremist Christians who are today celebrating the death of a doctor in his church have more in common with Al Qaeda than with the rest of Christianity. The assassin who killed a young soldier in Little Rock today has more in common with Neo-Nazi skinheads than with the majority of adherents of whatever religion he claims.
Notice I have not mentioned the supposed causes of either of these individuals. That is not by mistake, nor is it because I am trying to cover them up. It is because I don’t think the stated causes of these individuals are the real motivation for their action, just as I do not believe that the claimed religious views of most fundamentalists have anything to do with why they are fundamentalist (including the liberal faith fundamentalists out there).
Fundamentalism has nothing to do with any belief-set or religion (those are just the medium) and everything to do with deep insecurities within the individual. When a man walked into my first UU Church and started shooting people last summer, he claimed it was because liberals were destroying the country, but it was really because he needed to feel powerful, important, and superior.
One man killed a doctor in his hospital yesterday because of his deep need to feel important. Another man killed one and wounded another young man in an Army Recruiting Center for the same reason. What they claim as their motives was just an excuse, one they were goaded into accepting by others in their communities and in the media. Though they might never have committed their action had they not found a justification for it, the need to commit such atrocities has nothing to do with the justification itself. It is deeper than that.
Before any of us on the liberal side of American politics get high and mighty, remember that the majority of attacks upon recruiting stations in recent memory have been by liberal anti-war fundamentalists. Remember the truth behind the phrase “Eco-Terrorism”. Remember that before Homeland Security issued their report on Right-Wing Extremist Groups, they issued on the Left-Wing ones. The hands of the left are not clean on this issue either, though we have been moving away as others have been moving toward accepting such criminal acts.
Fundamentalist Extremism is the issue… not whatever motives or issues they might claim.
http://celestiallands.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=219
Yours in Faith,
David
Would you please define what you mean by a “fundamentalist”? Do you consider anyone who speaks out publically against abortion an extremist? Is it okay to be pro-life as long as the objection to abortion is not voiced? Could you give an example or web-site of an extremist Christian who is celebrating Mr. Tiller’s death?
I will do so tonight… when I’m not at work. I just wanted to say that I hear your concerns, and I will do my best to address them in a response… I think that many people can object to abortion and not be fundamentalists… because Fundamentalism has little to do with what you believe and more to do with how you believe it.
Here are some links to articles I have already written on Fundamentalism.
http://celestiallands.org/wayside/?p=177
http://celestiallands.org/wayside/?p=94
http://celestiallands.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11
I will address specifically your questions later this evening… I knew if I put up an unfinished product I would get questions around how I am using those terms…
Yours in Faith,
David
It’s interesting Rev Sinkford’s condemed Tiller’s killer and remains silent on the killer of two GIs.
Correct me if I’m wrong.
ditto on the Fundamentalist definition.
PS Jeff Goldbert has a pretty good take on these two shooters over a The Atlantic.: http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/06/a_conspiracy_of_euphemism.php
In answer to Bill Baar’s comment about UUA President Bill Sinkford’s apparent silence about the killing of the Army recruiter I will only say give him time. Like a day or two. It’s called giving him enough rope to hang himself. . . If President Sinkford says nothing about the shooting of the GIs in the next few days then he *might* be justifiably accused of exercising hypocritical double standards in his responses (or indeed non-response) in these two shootings. I personally only became aware of the shooting of the Army recruiters just now as a result of reading this blog post. That’s all for now but I will likely comment again on this matter later.
See, this is why I don’t do off the cuff articles here at Celestial Lands… and this has reinforced that. Rather than compound my “off the cuff”ness, I am going to take a few days, and do a full article on my definitions of Fundamentalism and Extreemism.
Thank you all for your patience.
Yours in Faith,
David
On the issue of those who are “Celebrating” the murder of Dr. Tiller, here are just a few examples. Be warned, many of these sites are very graphic.
http://www.armyofgod.com/
http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/8967610531.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2261656/posts
http://news.puggal.com/tiller-the-killer/
http://gawker.com/5274773/randall-terry-says-george-tiller-reaped-what-he-sowed-invites-press-out-for-wings-and-beer (for the videos, not the blog)
http://bagwine.blogspot.com/2009/06/scott-roeder-is-my-hero-god-is-my.html (Ok, this one may be a parody…)
http://www.matchdoctor.com/blog_106817/Death_of_a_Baby_Killer.html
http://wickedseed.blogspot.com/2009/06/scott-roeder-51-christian-american-hero.html
There are more… but frankly I can’t stand to look at any more. I’m going to bed.
Yours in Faith,
David
My answer on the question of the operative definition of Fundamentalism is here:
http://celestiallands.org/wayside/?p=187
Yours in Faith,
David