No Such Thing as a Christian Terrorist?

Anders Behring Breivik is a mass murderer and a terrorist.  The Norwegian killed massive numbers of people in an attempt to advance a social-cultural-political goal.  Since his brutal attack, the debate has raged over whether or not it would be proper to call him a "Christian terrorist."  Many people called Timothy McVeigh a "Christian terrorist," even though he was an agnostic who did not expect there to be an afterlife at all.  Similarly, Breivik said, "Regarding my personal relationship with God, I guess I'm not an excessively religious man. I am first and foremost a man of logic."

Yet Breivik did identify himself as a "Christian," using the term culturally and not as a reflection of his personal religious beliefs or practices.  He launched his attack as part of an agenda to see Europe unified as a "Christian" culture, like Christendom of old.  As for faith in God and heaven, he said, "If there is a God, I will be allowed to enter heaven as all other martyrs for the church in the past."  This statement alone shows how incredibly mis-guided and irrational his belief system is.  First of all, he is agnostic about the existence of God or heaven.  Secondly, he speaks of "all other martyrs" in a Muslim way, not in a Christian way.

Herein lies the great irony and sad tragedy of Breivik's beliefs: He hates Islam, but his view of religion and culture is more Islamic than Christian.  The Christian church has no mass-murdering martyrs.  Only Islam has those.  The martyrs of the Christian church are those who have died, and are continuing to die, peacefully and passively for their faith.  They were and are executed for believing in Jesus.  They did not execute others for refusing to believe.

It is Islam and not Christianity that united faith and culture into a religious empire.  It was Muhammed and not Jesus who led troops into battle to conquer and subjugate others in the name of God.  Christ sent out His disciples to teach and preach, to baptize and to catechize.  He told Peter to put away his sword and told Pontius Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight." (John 18:36)

Sadly, Breivik is not the only one who has been ignorant of this central Christian truth.  Though Breivik was never trained by a pastor or priest and was not sent out by any group in the name of Jesus, he did have some historic precedent to his distorted vision of the nature of Christianity.  In a previous power-struggle with Islam, the Spanish powers succeeded in driving the Moors out of Spain.  They then launched the Spanish Inquisition, torturing and even executing those who did not repent and believe.  The Spanish rulers and the Catholic Church were wickedly wrong and demonically mis-guided in this campaign of terror 500 years ago.  So was Breivik last month.

In this world, sadly, we do have a terrorist who calls himself a "Christian."  In doing so, he takes tha name of the Lord in vain and betrays all that Christ taught.  I wish I could say he was the first.  I hope he will be the last.