Religious Violence

In 2002, Christianity Today presented one of the most troubling explanations of hell that I have ever encountered. The April 22 issue bothered me, but not because of a Jonathan Edwards style description of an angry God. That sort of argument would have been troubling enough but at least internally consistent. The CT article was, to my mind, much worse because it presented the tortures of an eternal hell as somehow consistent with the character of Jesus. In other words, hell is the creation of a loving God.

Like most of us, I’m still trying to get my mind around the violence perpetrated in the neighboring city of San Bernardino yesterday. The meaning of it all eludes definition. Ironically, it was about the time I was online blogging about violence when a married couple in their 20s shot and killed 14 people and wounded 21 more. The couple died a short time later in a shootout with police. Their bodies were extracted from a bullet ridden SUV not far from the original crime scene. This morning, Kerry Heinrich, Loma Linda University Medical Center CEO, addressed the media to add some perspective related to treating the victims and dealing with a bomb scare.

A Footnote to the Previous Post

The subject of religious violence demands a much more thorough treatment than I can include in one or two posts. So the following notes about my previous blog are basically an acknowledgment that there’s more to the story.

The inclusion of the quote by Richard Marcinko might have seemed strange, given that it was not directly related to religious violence or terrorism. And it even seems to glorify violence.  I’ll admit, I included the quote for its sheer outrageousness.

Sacrifices and other Forms of Religious Violence

I believe they went after Ollie because he shredded paper—destroyed evidence. But they went after me for shredding people. Let me also add for the record that I had more fun doing my shredding than Ollie had doing his.– Richard Marcinko reacting to a statement by Mike Wallace (60 Minutes) who had compared him to Oliver North.¹

Short of mass assassination, there is no natural end to the cycle of retaliation. – Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.²

In spite of advances in knowledge and culture, humans still exhibit a primitive tendency to violence. We kill each other for causes involving competition, honor, revenge, and devotion; and sometimes for no apparent cause at all. We appear to be the most cruel and also the most benevolent of species; at once selfish and altruistic. Furthermore, violence appears to be so engrained in our world view that it seems normal. In one moment we claim to be victimized and repulsed by it. But a moment later we might be fascinated by it and even find it useful and necessary. Even our views of God reflect our split personality with respect to violence. We believe in a loving God with a sinister dark side. He might just kill you (or worse) if you don’t believe properly.

Newscasters can deliver the most horrible news in the most routine way. But even the most skillful reporters could not smooth over the latest example of barbaric cruelty by the group known as ISIS; the self-identified “Islamic State.” I will not describe what they did to a Jordanian pilot. If you don’t know already, I urge you to put it out of your mind. Suffice it to say, describing ISIS as a violent terrorist group is a gross understatement; like saying that serial killers are sort of naughty.