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H/N: I guess we need a header note, for those who have so sadly revealingly missed the point of the below, at Anti Evo. I suggest you cf. here, and here. (And here, here and here (as well, here and here) will also help.)
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It is now almost sadly predictable that the major international and regional media will misunderstand, fail to do due diligence and will use incidents in the remotest way connected to the Christian faith or its cultural expression to smear Christians.
H/N: I guess we need a header note, for those who have so sadly revealingly missed the point of the below, at Anti Evo. I suggest you cf. here, and here. (And here, here and here (as well, here and here) will also help.)
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It is now almost sadly predictable that the major international and regional media will misunderstand, fail to do due diligence and will use incidents in the remotest way connected to the Christian faith or its cultural expression to smear Christians.
Which, equally predictably, will be picked up by those loaded up on hostility to the Christian faith here in our region, and used to spread polarising slanders.
So, while we must first pause to express condolences to the people of Norway, and call for common sense corrective actions, let us also set record straight on the relation of this murderer to Christianity; in the teeth of the failure of major media houses up to and including the BBC.
I do so by clipping a comment I have just made at the UD blog (where I am now a contributor, cf my most recent post on Alfred Russel Wallace -- the co-founder of modern evolutionary theory -- and design thought in evolutionary theory from its beginnings, here).
Kindly, see from here on:
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>> I think we need to take a breath and calm down.
Media whipped up hysteria — e.g. the BBC was drumming out the same talking points being complained of at a rate of speed not seen in recent years — is hardly the best mood to think straight in.
(And BBC’s failure to do due diligence is a far more serious offence to me than a headline such as the above, Dr Liddle. I do not agree with the headline, but it can be seen as pointing out how the attempt to twist the case from the patent case of the mad man it is, into yet another poisonously laced caricaturing attack on Christians — remember the fulminations of TWT et al and their thereat made against my family only a few weeks back? — is ill founded,a s one can find references enough to say St Darwin and his ideas to make much the same inference on clips taken out of context.)
Next we need to put on our common sense, non-politically correct thinking caps, updating what my old grade school teachers used to say.
Let’s knock the chief poisonous talking point on the head right away.
Oh how handy it has been [cf WND article here] for the spin-meisters to find this man referring to Europe’s historic — and now largely dead — Christian culture as a counterweight to Islamist aggression, and talking in one breath about a hudna [temporary truce agreement with an Islamist state . . . usually up to 10 years] with the Islamists in parallel with an expulsion of Muslims and a “crusade” to reconquer some historic lands of Christendom now under Islamic control. Clipping the just linked:
Piecing together Breivik’s various posts on the Internet, many media reports have characterized the terrorist – who says he was upset over the multiculturalist policies stemming from Norway’s Labour Party – as a “right-wing, Christian fundamentalist.”
Yet, while McVeigh rejected God altogether, Breivik writes in his manifesto that he is not religious, has doubts about God’s existence, does not pray, but does assert the primacy of Europe’s “Christian culture” as well as his own pagan Nordic culture.
Breivik instead hails Charles Darwin, whose evolutionary theories stand in contrast to the claims of the Bible, and affirms: “As for the Church and science, it is essential that science takes an undisputed precedence over biblical teachings. Europe has always been the cradle of science, and it must always continue to be that way. Regarding my personal relationship with God, I guess I’m not an excessively religious man. I am first and foremost a man of logic. However, I am a supporter of a monocultural [note the cultural reference] Christian Europe.” . . . .
“I trust that the future leadership of a European cultural conservative hegemony in Europe will ensure that the current Church leadership are replaced and the systems somewhat reformed,” he writes. “We must have a Church leadership who supports a future Crusade with the intention of liberating the Balkans, Anatolia and creating three Christian states in the Middle East. Efforts should be made to facilitate the de-construction of the Protestant Church whose members should convert back to Catholicism. The Protestant Church had an important role once, but its original goals have been accomplished and have contributed to reform the Catholic Church as well. Europe should have a united Church lead [sic] by a just and non-suicidal pope who is willing to fight for the security of his subjects, especially in regards to Islamic atrocities.” . . . .
Breivik adds, “I went from moderately agnostic to moderately religious.”
In a question-and-answer section of his manifesto, Breivik asks himself, “What should be our civilisational [sic] objectives, how do you envision a perfect Europe?”
His answer is hardly the response of a “Christian utopian”: “‘Logic’ and rationalist thought (a certain degree of national Darwinism) should be the fundament [sic] of our societies. I support the propagation of collective rational thought but not necessarily on a personal level.” . . . .
Breivik also points out that his association with Christian cultural values is one of political expedience rather than religious commitment or faith
“My choice has nothing to do with the fact that I am not proud of my own traditions and heritage,” he explains. “My choice was based purely pragmatism. All Europeans are in this boat together, so we must choose a more moderate platform that can appeal to a great number of Europeans – preferably up to 50 percent (realistically up to 35 percent).” . . . .
“As this is a cultural war, our definition of being a Christian does not necessarily constitute that you are required to have a personal relationship with God or Jesus,” he writes. “Being a Christian can mean many things; That you believe in and want to protect Europe’s Christian cultural heritage. The European cultural heritage, our norms (moral codes and social structures included), our traditions and our modern political systems are based on Christianity – Protestantism, Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and the legacy of the European enlightenment (reason is the primary source and legitimacy for authority). It is not required that you have a personal relationship with God or Jesus in order to fight for our Christian cultural heritage and the European way. In many ways, our modern societies and European secularism is a result of European Christendom and the enlightenment. It is therefore essential to understand the difference between a ‘Christian fundamentalist theocracy’ (everything we do not want) and a secular European society based on our Christian cultural heritage (what we do want). So no, you don’t need to have a personal relationship with God or Jesus to fight for our Christian cultural heritage. It is enough that you are a Christian-agnostic or a Christian atheist (an atheist who wants to preserve at least the basics of the European Christian cultural legacy (Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter)). The PCCTS, Knights Templar is therefore not a religious organisation [sic] but rather a Christian ‘culturalist’ military order.” . . .
A perfect illustration of those nasty right wing theocratic fundies, isn’t it?
NOT — and, plainly, explicitly not. How much more explicit did this man have to be than:
“As this is a cultural war, our definition of being a Christian does not necessarily constitute that you are required to have a personal relationship with God or Jesus,” he writes. “Being a Christian can mean many things; That you believe in and want to protect Europe’s Christian cultural heritage. The European cultural heritage, our norms (moral codes and social structures included), our traditions and our modern political systems are based on Christianity – Protestantism, Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and the legacy of the European enlightenment (reason is the primary source and legitimacy for authority). It is not required that you have a personal relationship with God or Jesus in order to fight for our Christian cultural heritage and the European way. In many ways, our modern societies and European secularism is a result of European Christendom and the enlightenment. It is therefore essential to understand the difference between a ‘Christian fundamentalist theocracy’ (everything we do not want) and a secular European society based on our Christian cultural heritage (what we do want). So no, you don’t need to have a personal relationship with God or Jesus to fight for our Christian cultural heritage. It is enough that you are a Christian-agnostic or a Christian atheist (an atheist who wants to preserve at least the basics of the European Christian cultural legacy (Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter)).
And yet, global media, up to and including the once great BBC could not pick that up and strike a reasonable balance on the merits?
That makes me sick.
Heart-sick.
Beware when something in the mass media fits your favourite stereotypes just a bit too well!!!
Such is functionally specific and complex, so it is likely to be an artifact of design, not a mere natural happenstance.
That is, yes, I am applying the explanatory filter, common sense version, to media information to detect propagandistic designs.
(And you thought the ID EF was useless?)
Now, let us clip some pretty explicit core ethical instructions from the Christian rule-book [specifically the New Testament], which would immediately identify whether this man’s ideas and behaviour are legitimately Christian:
Rom 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,”[a] and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
1 Pet 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For,
“Whoever would love life13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear[b]; do not be frightened.”[c] 15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil . . . .
and see good days
must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from deceitful speech.
11 He must turn from evil and do good;
he must seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”[a]
4:14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? . . . 19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
Why is it that we find nowhere in the major media coverage any serious reflection of the sort of ethical teachings that I have just excerpted?
No-one in even the most basic degree shaped by the teachings of Christ,the Apostles and Prophets, would condone, contemplate or worse actually carry out the sort of attack we have just seen in Norway.
And contrary to the criminologist trotted out by BBC, this man is clearly demoniaclally, coldly mad.
It seems he murdered about 100 people simply to grab global headlines for his demented cause, after he laid out his foul, Hell-scented fulminations at 1,500 pp length.
If that is not demoniacally, criminally insane — and yes you can be both mad and bad once you have a measure of rationality to think about moral issues — and “thou shalt not kill” is not that hard to grasp — I do not know what “madness” means.
Then, that settled, let us now strike a nuanced balance, first expressing sympathies and condolences, and calling for common-sense correctives.
For instance, in an era of Jihadi attacks how is it that a nation at war with Jihadism would allow a large scale retreat centre to operate without a fast security call-up and/or onsite people knowledgeable in how to — and equipped with the tools to — respond to a bombing or shooting attack?
It is decades ago that Israel had to deal with waves of mass murders by shootings, and their common sense conclusion was that the attacks stop shortly after the first armed responders turn up and reply to the shooter in kind, as recently happened in the US in an attack on a church.
So, teachers in schools etc were armed, and the number of successful incidents went way down.
Of course, that does not eliminate the phenomenon, e.g. there was a sleeping family massacred recently.
Similarly, right after the 9/11 attacks, I took the view that the best solution was that sound frequent travellers should be recruited into a voluntary corps of sky marshals, given training and licenses. And should be armed with appropriate weapons, non-lethal and lethal.
What was truly inexcusable in this case is something also reported by WND through linking an external story:
Norway police arrived 90 minutes after gunman fired at youth on island
Published On Sat Jul 23 2011
OSLO, NORWAY — Police arrived at an island massacre about an hour and a half after a gunman first opened fire, slowed because they didn’t have quick access to a helicopter and then couldn’t find a boat to make their way to the scene just several hundred meters offshore. The assailant surrendered when police finally reached him.
Survivors of the shooting spree have described hiding and fleeing into the water to escape the gunman, but a police briefing Saturday detailed for the first time how long the terror lasted — and how long victims waited for help.
The shooting came on the heels of what police told the Associated Press was an “Oklahoma City-type” bombing in Oslo’s downtown: It targeted a government building, was allegedly perpetrated by a homegrown assailant and used the same mix of fertilizer and fuel that blew up a federal building in the U.S. in 1995 . . . .
A SWAT team was dispatched to the island more than 50 minutes after people vacationing at a campground said they heard shooting across the lake, according to Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim. The drive to the lake took about 20 minutes, and once there, the team took another 20 minutes to find a boat.
Footage filmed from a helicopter that showed the gunman firing into the water added to the impression that police were slow to the scene. They chose to drive, Sponheim said, because their helicopter wasn’t on standby.
“There were problems with transport to Utoya,” where the youth-wing of Norway’s left-leaning Labor Party was holding a retreat, Sponheim said. “It was difficult to get a hold of boats.”
At least 85 people were killed on the island, but police said four or five people were still missing.
Another report linked through WND adds:
Suspect in Norway attacks bought six tons of fertilizer
Published On Sat Jul 23 2011
SUNDVOLLEN, NORWAY—The Norwegian man suspected in a bombing and shooting spree that killed at least 92 people bought six tons of fertilizer before the massacre, the supplier said Saturday as police investigated witness accounts of a second shooter . . .
Something was seriously wrong with the first responder system, and it is clear that we now need a system of armed volunteer marshals for public events in remote places or other places where large numbers of people could be harmed in the time it takes for SWAT teams to arrive.
For instance, why was not the Norwegian Navy equivalent to the Seals on-call?
Similarly, we need something to deal with security checks on those who buy large quantities of Ammonium Nitrate fertiliser, a known high explosive. A law on nitrate compounds would do.
Prof Gumby has a solid point on the Norway terrorist/mass murderer:
Breivik was first and foremost a nut. Attempts by any side to shoehorn him into their opponents’ camp are simply shamefully cheap debating tactics and blatantly ridiculous. The same goes for any mass murdering nutcase . . .
If the mass media would do due diligence (as WND, headline aside, seems to have done), that would be a foregone conclusion.
But unfortunately, JDNA also has a sobering point, given the poisonously polarised atmosphere currently spreading like a disease across our civilisation:
Prof. FX Gumby, yes from your rundown of his books you list he looks like a mixed bag of crazy. However, what we are dealing with here (at least in the US) is two day 24 news cycle blast from the legacy media beating the “right-wing Christian fundamentalist” drum. The manifesto is out sure, but the populace is fully submerged and marinating in the original slime smear. This is how it works. Smear slime on page one, retraction or correction a week later buried on page 37 next to a Sears lawnmower ad.
So a little balance is in order.
It is high time that we called the media to account for such smear tactics.
And it is high time that we made up our minds that we are in an era of mass murder by terrorists and madmen of all stripes, so we need to take reasonable common-sense measures to protect ourselves, at a youth camp, in church, at a sports event, in a pizza restaurant, on a crowded street, in a bus, in an airliner, on a cruise ship.
It is time for us to get rid of our knee-jerk, cleverly cultivated aversion to an armed citizenry. I vote for an internationally recognised volunteer corps of armed marshals, equipped with appropriate weaponry up to and including automatic weaponry where appropriate.
And for the rest of us, I think we need to resurrect an old form of sport and martial arts, the quarterstaff. This should now become a part of the regular school curriculum, right next to supervised firearms training and associated safety training.
Is our civilisation serious?
That is the real question.>>
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I trust that his will provide a context for responding appropriately to the now all too usual poisonous talking points in coming days, then bridging to the real message of hope: transformation through repentance, trusting in the God who so loved he gave his Son who died in our place and will put his transforming Spirit of love, power and soundness of mind in our hearts if we will only let him. END
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