One can easily connect the dots and say that the Norwegian gunman Anders Behring Breivik, the man that killed 68 young adults, teenagers and children at a Labor organized summer camp on the island of Utoya, is no different in ideology and in action from the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shaabab and the rest of those extremist Islamic organizations that have committed similar atrocities time and time again.
Mr. Breivik, described by police as a Christian fundamentalist with extreme right-wing views, has shattered, in my opinion, the idea that religious extremism leading to terrorism is solely an Islamic phenomenon.
Of course one cannot dare generalize Mr. Breivik’s actions and assign them to the larger more moderate Christian population.
However, when one belongs to a group calling itself the “Knights Templar Justiciar”, and writes a 1500 page manifesto about how there should be a resurgence of nationalism in all of Europe’s Christian nations to push back the menace of multiculturalism, liberalism and immigration, then it’s impossible not correlate a man’s violent actions with his beliefs.
Now, despite the urge that I’m sure many of my secular and non-believing friends are feeling right now, to denounce religion in general in the wake of this terrible atrocity by say things like: “See, I told you Christians are just as hateful and racist as Muslims”, or this familiar argument Christians used to use to defend their beliefs, “We Christians may have some astounding and unbelievable claims to reality and some would say outrageous beliefs, but we never have and never will commit to terrorism to enforce them. Therefore, Islam is far inferior and more violent than Christianity”.
Of course I’m referring to the Christians that are not Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant. Because self-evidently some belonging to these denominations have committed atrocities out of sheer faith before and I would assume will commit in the future.
So then let’s not beat around the bush and admit that religion, just like any other form of exclusivist ideology, such as nationalism, Nazism, eugenics etc, can provide the individual with the impetus to commit vile acts.
I think that Mr. Breivik acted out of pure hatred and selfishness and in a spirit of incredible self-justification, because the man’s very proud of what he’s done, instead of some mental instability.
It is easy to say that this man is psychopathic and needs mental treatment and ignore the fact that his motives were ideological, his actions were methodical and his plan was calculated and planned.
He is the man that went all the way, allowing his hatred and contempt of another culture and belief system to galvanize into action. He is at the very least the physical embodiment of a mixture of ideas from international right-wing ideologues. Ideologues such as: Geert Wilders, a Dutch parliamentarian and leader of the Freedom Party, Mark Steyn, the Canadian author of the anti-Islamic polemics After America and America Alone and Giselle Littman, also known as Bat Ye’or, author of Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis.
To be fair, neither of the above authors has ever made calls for violence against Muslims nor have they openly preached hatred of Islam.
Also, I haven’t read any of their books, except for a few reviews scattered here and there on the web and some of their news articles, which some of them write regularly for a publication.
I have listened to some of their speeches and watched some of their debates on YouTube though.
Nevertheless, their message resonates with contempt of Islam and of Muslims in general, whether extremist or moderate.
I’m sure that the image and ideological movement they attempt to propagate internationally has taken a serious blow in the wake of the Norwegian massacre; especially after Mr. Breivik mentioned their names in his manifesto.
Thus, in the wake of this incident, I now find it difficult to distinguish the previously rowdy but relatively peaceful right-wing and anti-Islamic movements in both the U.S. and Europe from the rowdy protested and violently established terrorist organizations in the Middle East and North Africa.
