Terrorism: If You’re Afraid, They’ve Already Won

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Brussels has sadly joined the list of cities affected by terrorism. Again, a group of religiously motivated cowards attacked “soft targets” in an attempt to instill fear and create chaos. As with Paris, the majority of people have stood in solidarity with Belgium and denounced the attacks while still others have concentrated on perpetuating the divisiveness and hatred that align perfectly with the terrorists’ goals.

It’s being continued with the same old rhetoric they use after any Islamic terrorist organization claims credit for such acts of cowardice. Islam is a religion of hate and violence! All Muslims want death to America! Let’s just nuke’em all! The sarcasm font would come in real handy right about now. Maybe it makes them feel better. Maybe they feel that’s the right response. And, perhaps, they’re wrong. Saying anything now that isn’t decidedly anti-Muslim is out of fashion and usually perceived as defending terrorism. I disagree. I vehemently denounce any act of terrorism, regardless of the deity to which they pray, but let’s be honest.

Is Islam a religion of evil and violence? Certainly seems that way if you only watch and believe every bit of the news here. They have it down to a science. The Muslims wear black hats and all Christians wear white hats. To them, it’s as simple as that! People ask, “What about Christian terrorism?” And then the response is normally, “There’s no such thing. Christians would never do such things. And if they did, they weren’t true Christians to begin with.” And there lies the crux of the problem. Christians are Christians up until the point where the break a commandment and then they get their Get out of Hell card revoked. But Muslims are evil evil Muslims all the way up until the very end. Again, I don’t care to which version of god you pray, but let’s not presume that Christianity is immune to the same sort of perversion that we’ve been lead to believe is exclusively reserved for Islamic believers.

Cases in point:  A group called Concerned Christians was deported from Israel on suspicion of planning religionto attack holy sites in Jerusalem at the end of 1999 while they believed that their deaths would “lead them to heaven.”

Perhaps you’ve heard of  the Lord’s Resistance Army, a guerilla army, that was engaged in an armed rebellion against the Ugandan government in 2005? They were found guilty of genocide by the UN and for other acts, including massacres, abductions, mutilation, torture, rape, and using forced child laborers as soldiers, porters, and sex slaves. Sound familiar?

Does the Maronite Christian Militia ring a bell? They were the group wearing crucifixes that was responsible for the massacre, rape, and torture of unarmed Palestinians in Lebanon during the 1980’s.

Surely you’ve read about The Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland, or the NSCN which is also a Christian militant group operating in Northern India. Their main goal is to set up a sovereign Christian state, “Nagalim.” Sounds like another page out of the Islamic Extremist playbook, if you ask me.

Of course, there’s always the widely known anti-Balaka group of Christian extremists that killed over a thousand people accused of being Muslim before dragging their bodies through the streets and setting them on fire.  They were also responsible for one of the largest Muslim exoduses in history by displacing over 350,000 refugees and decimating the Muslim population in one area from 138,000 to less than 900 in a matter of weeks.

ussoilIf you want to stick to terrorism here in the United States, I can oblige you there as well. The Army of God, which was responsible for bombing abortion clinics and attacking doctors across the United States.

The Christian Patriot organization responsible for racially and religiously motivated killings across the country and that support the tenets of white supremacy and ethnic cleansing.

The Olympic Park Bomber, Eric Rudolph, attacked a lesbian bar and abortion clinic before gaining his more famous moniker and claimed his actions were based on religious teachings.

Did you ever hear of the three men from the Christian Identity movement that committed murders and robberies in 1996 because they believed God required these atrocities in order to hasten the rise of the White Race.

Can you recall ever hearing about the Hutaree Christian Militia that was determined by the FBI in 2011 to possess more weapons than the combined weapons holdings of all Islamic terror defendants charged in the US since 9/11?

Also, consider Professor Charles Kurzman’s research into religious terrorism. He is a consultant for the DHS that finds that out of the 140,000 murders committed in this country since 9/11, Muslims are responsible for approximately 36 of them.

Globally, out of the 150,000 people killed each day, his research points to the fact that only about 50 of them can be laid at the feet of Islamic extremists. In fact, out of all acts of terrorism on US soil from 1980 until now, only 4% have ties to Islamic extremism. Surprisingly, 26% of the acts of terrorism on US soil have been committed by Puerto Rican separatists. And animal rights groups are responsible for more than twice the amount of terrorist here at home as any followers of Allah. Should we deport all ASPCA advocates for the actions of a few bad eggs that have splintered off in their perversion? Should we build a wall around San Juan to keep us safe from those pesky PR secessionists? No, because that would be ludicrous and absurd.

Why is almost one quarter of the world’s population responsible for the acts of such a small percentage of its members? Why is the label of terrorism reserved for “the other guy” and not used for anyone who would use violent acts of cowardice and intimidation to further their agenda? That’s the easy part. Because if we looked at it from an objective standpoint, then the division and fear tactics wouldn’t play out nearly as well.

I love my country enough to recognize her faults instead of just skipping the chapters that don’t paint us in a flattering light. This is a supposed Christian nation that abhors violence and terrorism yet we live on land that was stolen from indigenous people after they were either slaughtered or forced to convert to the dominant religion we brought with us, or both.

Terrorism is the tool of cowards and anyone who thinks the Islam has the market cornered on terrorism and cowardice needs to do something other than read the headline du jour or click on the video that lines up with their preconceived notions about something which they know so little.

Perpetuating the myth that only Islam is responsible for terrorism is dangerous and plays right into the extremists’ hands. The WTC was no more demolished than the Oklahoma City Federal Building was. Dylan Roof’s victims are no less dead than Sayed Farook’s are. Let’s start to stand up against any and all terrorism instead of just picking the boogeyman of the day. And let’s be perfectly honest with ourselves and understand that terrorism is the cowardly tool of ignorant people promoting a violent agenda, regardless of what’s in their head or their heart.

About Post Author

Josh Fielder

Josh Fielder is from Central Virginia and when he's not driving his RV cross-country, writing short stories under the pen-name Hack Kerouac, or saving turtles, he writes articles designed to help sufferers of Cranial Rectal Inversion.
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Ivona
8 years ago

This seems, to me, so obvious that it continually amazes me that so many people out there just can’t seem to grasp it.

Thank you for (as always) being one of the sane minds out there.

Marsha Woerner
8 years ago

YES!
Shared on facebook. I have some “friends” who need to hear this from someone other than me! It’s still not the change anyone’s mind, but it makes ME feel better…

Bill Formby
8 years ago

Very well done Josh. It paints a realistic picture of America. I still feel that the families of those who died in the 9/11 attacks should have not been compensated as they were. There are about 10,000 murders every year whose families do not receive compensation. “The home of the brave” is quiet a stretch considering the fact that every time there is a terrorist attack by a Muslim Americans tend to panic and forget every value they have been taught. The politicians who make their living by creating fear begin spouting idioms of hate and violence. I believe that it preys on the largely ignorant those who live by vitriolic screams of those who vie for attention. Radical Islamic Jihad is born of a small fanatical group who have ideology that they are right and the world is wrong. It occurs out of religious and/or political beliefs. One cannot stamp out an ideology with weapons of war because it is a thought. As Hillary Clinton pointed out, we cannot defeat ISIS by violating the first admendment’s freedom of religion by banning certain people from the country or building walls. There is not a wall high enough to stop the internet. ISIS and other terror groups, including those based in America, recruit through the internet and they are beating us and other nations in the war of recruitment. Until free, democratic countries begin to countermand these recruitment tactics acts of violence will continue. One step in that process is for these countries to stop living in fear, think about the way we treat each other, and be aware of the fact that freedom is not free. It has costs. When teaching classes in Criminal Justice, especially the introductory courses, I try to get across the point that if everyone will give me all of their freedoms I can protect them. Simply put everyone in a cage at birth.

jess
Reply to  Bill Formby
8 years ago

One of my girlfriends was on the plane that went into a field in PA. All her parents and step parents want, is for no one else to go through what they have gone through. Like her dad told me at the anniversary gathering we had last year, no amount of money will bring my baby back to me. They go about their business and they have said it makes them want to have fun if nothing else, just to show, you may do this to us, but you won’t stop us from living life and being fearless in living that life. Basically do your worst and we will rise up to spite your nastiness.

jess
8 years ago

Me, myself and I, we just go about our business. I figure if something bad happens it happens and you just dust yourself off and get to try changing things.

8 years ago

What an articulate, well written description of America today. Read it twice. Thanks Josh.

8 years ago

Josh, thank you for writing a much needed counter to the cardboard heroes who advocate torture, terror and constant violence against the ‘other’.

8 years ago

And don’t forget the Buddhist monks slaughtering Muslims in Myanmar. I don’t think the peaceable Buddha had that in mind when his religion was founded.

Reply to  Lori Bebko
8 years ago

I had forgotten that, as have most people I expect. The world is now, and has always been filled with violence. In 100 years when man is exploring and colonizing space we will be fighting each other over possession of galaxial mineral rights, and ownership of planets, moons and asteroids. Violence is the nature of the beast and we are the beast.

Reply to  Lori Bebko
8 years ago

..and hundreds and hundreds of years from now we will be defending galaxies against human invaders, as well as a few aliens I expect. I just hope religion goes the way of the hapless dodo bird, but I expect there will always be some new nonsense to take it place. Men need someone or something greater than themselves to worship.

Glenn R. Geist
8 years ago

Bravo – I couldn’t agree more.

Admin
8 years ago

The media can drive love, as well as hate. These days it’s mostly hate. Let’s hate all the police because they do nothing but kill innocent black people and let’s hate all Muslims because they do nothing but kill all other people. Both statements, are, of course, nonsensical, but the media will make you believe it in their never ending quest for ratings. Sad indeed. Good article.

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