Post by dukePost by Cloud HobbitPost by dukeAnd on it goes. The world sucks with atheism and murder and mayhem/
I wonder how long it will take for an atheist to profess a theist did the
shooting.
Since, as you so gleefully point out there are many more theists than atheists, it would seem the odds are in your favor of the shooter being a theist. Not sure if that matters if you bring PTSD into the picture unless the PTSD was caused by priests.
It takes a Godless atheist to murder 12 innocent kids at a dance. That's not
the way of the Christian. That's the way it's always been. Over and over and
over, the mass murders were perpetrated by atheists. End of story.
WHAT ever you think atheists have done that is bad or evil, do not
worry, because christians have done worse.... Much much worse.. like 1
million times worse. YOU STUPID FAT FUCK
Only a christian could murder 6 million men women children and babies
and disabled and infirm.
I mean Duke you are a fucking moron.. here are a few more you may like
Gunpowder Plot
Main article: Gunpowder Plot
The early modern period in Britain saw religious conflict resulting
from the Reformation and the introduction of Protestant state
churches.[2] The 1605 Gunpowder Plot was a failed attempt by a group
of English Catholics including Guy Fawkes to assassinate King James I,
and to blow up the Palace of Westminster, the English seat of
government. According to Vahabph D. Aghai, "The beginnings of modern
terrorism can be traced back to England and the Gunpowder Plot of
1605."[3][self-published source] Although the modern concept of
religious terrorism had not yet come into use in the 17th century,
David C. Rapoport and Lindsay Clutterbuck point out that the Plot,
with its use of explosives, was an early precursor of 19th century
anarchist terrorism.[4] Sue Mahan and Pamala L. Griset classify the
plot as an act of religious terrorism, writing that "Fawkes and his
colleagues justified their actions in terms of religion."[5] Peter
Steinfels also characterizes this plot as a notable case of religious
terrorism.[6]
Pogroms
See also: Religious persecution and Ethnic cleansing
Orthodox Christian-influenced movements in Romania, such as the Iron
Guard and Lancieri, which have been characterized by Yad Vashem and
Stanley G. Payne as anti-semitic and fascist, respectively, were
involved in the Bucharest pogrom and political murders during the
1930s.[7][8][9][10][11]
Ku Klux Klan
Main article: Ku Klux Klan
Klan members conduct a cross burning in 1921.
After the American Civil War of 18611865, former Confederate soldiers
organized the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) organization originally as a social
club, which was taken over in the next year by "night rider" elements.
It then began engaging in arson, beatings, destruction of property,
lynching, murder, rape, tar-and-feathering, whipping, and voter
intimidation. They targeted newly freed slaves, carpetbaggers and
scalawags, and the occupying Union army. That iteration of the Klan
disappeared by the 1870s, but in 1915 a new Protestant-led[12]
iteration of the Klan was formed in Georgia, during a period of
xenophobia and anti-Catholicism. This version of the Klan vastly
expanded both its geographical reach and its list of targets over
those of the original Klan.
Rev. Branford Clarke's illustration in the 1926 book Klansmen:
Guardians of Liberty portrays the Klan as slaying Catholic influence
in the US.
Vehemently anti-Catholic, the 1915 Klan had an explicitly Protestant
Christian terrorist ideology, basing their beliefs in part on a
"religious foundation" in Protestant Christianity and targeting Jews,
Catholics, and other social or ethnic minorities,[13] as well as
"immoral" practices such as adultery, bad debtors, gambling, and
drinking alcohol. The goals of the KKK included, from an early time
onward, an intent to "reestablish Protestant Christian values in
America by any means possible", and they believed that "Jesus was the
first Klansman".[14] Although members of the KKK swear to uphold
Christian morality, virtually every Christian denomination has
officially denounced the KKK.[15]
From 1915 onward, Klansmen conducted cross-burnings (adapted from[16]
scenes in the 1915 film Birth of a Nation), not only to intimidate
targets, but also to demonstrate their respect and reverence for Jesus
Christ.[16] The ritual of lighting crosses was steeped in Christian
symbolism, including prayer and hymn singing.[16] Within Christianity
the Klan directed its hostilities against Catholics. Modern Klan
organizations remain associated with acts of domestic terrorism in the
United States.[17]
Contemporary
Mark Juergensmeyer, a former president of the American Academy of
Religion, has argued that there has been a global rise in religious
nationalism after the Cold War due to a post-colonial collapse of
confidence in Western models of nationalism and the rise of
globalization.[18][19] Juergensmeyer categorizes contemporary
Christian terrorists as being a part of "religious activists from
Algeria to Idaho, who have come to hate secular governments with an
almost transcendent passion and dream of revolutionary changes that
will establish a godly social order in the rubble of what the citizens
of most secular societies regard as modern, egalitarian
democracies".[20]
According to terrorism expert David C. Rapoport, a "religious wave",
or cycle, of terrorism, dates from approximately 1979 to the present.
According to Rapoport, this wave most prominently features Islamic
terrorism, but also includes terrorism by Christians and other
religious groups that may have been influenced by Islamic
terrorism.[21]
Australia
On 16 July 2001, Peter James Knight walked into the East Melbourne
Fertility Clinic, a private abortion provider, carrying a rifle and
other weapons[22] including 16 litres of kerosene, three lighters,
torches, 30 gags, and a handwritten note that read "We regret to
advise that as a result of a fatal accident involving some members of
staff, we have been forced to cancel all appointments today". Knight
later stated that he intended to massacre everyone in the clinic, and
attack all Melbourne abortion clinics. He developed home made mouth
gags and door jambs to restrain all patients and staff inside a clinic
while he doused them with the kerosene.[23] He shot 44-year-old
Stephen Gordon Rogers, a security guard, in the chest, killing him.
Staff and clients overpowered him soon after. He intended to massacre
the 15 staff and 26 patients at the clinic by burning them alive.[24]
According to psychiatrist Don Sendipathy, Knight interpreted the Bible
in his own unique way and believed in his own brand of Christianity.
He believed in a pro-life Crusade.[24]
Central African Republic
See also: Central African Republic conflict under the Djotodia
administration
Anti-balaka groups destroyed almost all mosques in the Central African
Republic unrest.[25][26] In 2014, Amnesty International reported
several massacres committed by the Anti-balaka against Muslim
civilians, forcing thousands of Muslims to flee the country.[27][28]
Other sources report incidents of Muslims being cannibalized.[29][30]
While anti-balaka groups have been frequently described as Christian
militias in the media, this has been denied by Church leaders. Bishop
Juan José Aguirre said: "But in no sense can it be said that the
anti-balaka is a Christian group. The anti-balaka are made up of
people of all kinds, terribly enraged, and including many people whom
we call the 'dispossessed' bandits, ex-prisoners, delinquents,
criminals who have got involved in these groups and are now
extending, like a plague of locusts, across the whole of the CAR,
murdering Muslims".[31] The Tony Blair Faith Foundation has also
pointed out the presence of animists in anti-balaka groups.[32]
However, there have been reports that many members of Anti-balaka
groups have forcibly converted Muslims and animists to
Christianity.[33][34][35][36]
On 20 January 2014, Catherine Samba-Panza, the mayor of Bangui, was
elected as the interim president in the second round voting.[37] The
election of Samba-Panza was welcomed by Ban Ki-moon, the UN
Secretary-General.[38] Samba-Panza was viewed as having been neutral
and away from clan clashes. Her arrival to the presidency was
generally accepted by the anti-balaka. Following the election,
Samba-Panza made a speech in the parliament appealing to the
anti-balaka to put down their weapons.[39]
The next day anti-Muslim violence continued in Bangui,[40] just days
after the Muslim former Health Minister Dr. Joseph Kalite was lynched
outside the Central Mosque[41] and at least nine other people were
killed when attacked when a mob, some of whom were from Christian
self-defence groups, looted shops in the Muslim-majority Miskine
neighbourhood of Bangui.[42] As of 20 January, the ICRC reported that
it had buried about 50 bodies within 48 hours.[43] It also came after
a mob killed two people whom they accused of being Muslim, then
dragged the bodies through the streets and burnt them.[44] Within the
previous month, about 1,000 people had died.[45] On 4 February 2014, a
local priest said 75 people were killed in the town of Boda, in Lobaye
prefecture.[46] In the southwest, anti-balaka militants attacked Guen
in early February resulting in the deaths of 60 people, according to
Father Rigobert Dolongo, who also said that he had helped bury the
bodies of the dead, at least 27 of whom died on the first day of the
attack and 43 others the next day. As a result, hundreds of Muslim
refugees sought shelter at a church in Carnot.[47]
In May 2014, it was reported that around 600,000 people in CAR were
internally displaced with 160,000 of these in the capital Bangui. The
Muslim population of Bangui had dropped from 138,000 to 900. The
national health system had collapsed and over half of the total
population of 4.6 million were said to be in need of immediate aid.
Also from December 2013 to May 2014, 100,000 people had fled to
neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo
bringing the number of CAR refugees in these countries to about
350,000.[48] Amnesty International blamed the anti-balaka militia of
causing a "Muslim exodus of historic proportions.[49] Some Muslims of
the country were also weary of the French presence in MISCA, with the
French accused of not doing enough to stop attacks by Anti-balaka
militias. One of the cited reasons for the difficulty in stopping
attacks by anti-balaka militias was the mob nature of these
attacks.[50] In October 2017, Anti-balaka militants killed 25 muslim
worshipers in a mosque.[51]
Anti-balaka groups have also kidnapped, burnt and buried alive women
and men accused of being 'witches' in public ceremonies.[52]
China
The Eastern Lightning is a heterodox new Chinese Christian[53][54][55]
movement.[56][57][58] Its official name is the Church of Almighty
God,[59] but it is identified by several other names, such as Church
of the Gospel's Kingdom and "The Gospel of the Descent of Kingdom".
The group has been described as a cult[60][61][62] and a terrorist
organization.[63][64]
The name "Eastern Lightning" is drawn from the New Testament, Gospel
of Matthew 24:27: "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and
shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man
be."
In 1998 members of the church triggered eight riots which lasted for
twelve days in Hetang county, Henan. They reportedly broke the arms
and legs, and cut the ears off their victims.
In 2010 members killed an elementary school student, leaving a
lightning-like mark on one of the victim's feet. The police
investigation revealed that the boy was killed because one of his
relatives, a member of the church, expressed his desire to quit.
In 2012 the church was found to be behind more than 40 riots caused by
spreading doomsday rumors and distributing propaganda material. Also
in 2012 Ming Yongjun, who said he was motivated by the doomsday
prophecies of the church, stabbed an elderly woman and 23 students at
a school in Henan province.
In August 2013 in Shanxi the eyes of a boy were pulled out. According
to a report in Taiwan's Want China Times this was one of "several
cases of violence in China [which] have been linked to the cult".
On May 28, 2014, six members who claimed to represent the "Almighty
God" sparked a national outcry when they attacked and killed a woman
at a McDonald's restaurant in Zhaoyuan, a city in Shandong Province of
China. During an interview with a CCTV journalist, Lidong Zhang, the
lead attacker in what became known as the Zhaoyuan McDonald's Cult
Murder, claimed that the subject rejected his daughter's request for
her phone number and was called a "devil", which prompted the six
members to attack. Zhang described in detail how they kept stamping
the victim's head to the ground for about three minutes, and that "he
felt great", but he deliberately avoided questions on the organization
to which he belonged and his rank within the religious group. Five of
them were convicted and on October 10, two were sentenced to death and
later executed, one to life imprisonment, and the other two to 7 and
10 years in prison. The McDonald's murder was later studied by
scholars of new religious movements such as Emily Dunn, David Bromley
and Massimo Introvigne.They came to different conclusions, and argued
that the assassins were part of a small, independent cult not
connected with Eastern Lightning, who used the words "Almighty God" to
designate its two leaders, Zhang Fan (who was executed in 2015) and Lü
Yingchun.
France
In 1988, a Paris cinema which was screening the controversial The Last
Temptation of Christ movie was attacked by members of a right-wing
Catholic group. An acidic device was detonated inside which caused a
fire which destroyed the cinema and caused serious injuries to people
inside.[65]
India
Assam
Manmasi National Christian Army (MNCA), a christian extremist group
operating in North East India[66][67] In 2009, this group was charged
with forcing Hindus to convert at gunpoint. Seven or more Hmar youths
were charged with visiting Bhuvan hill, a Hindu village, armed with
guns, and pressuring residents to convert to Christianity. The
militants were seen holding a gun in one hand and a Bible in another
hand.[68] They also desecrated temples by painting crosses on the
walls with their blood. The Sonai police, along with the 5th Assam
Rifles, arrested 13 members of the group, including their
commander-in-chief. Guns and ammunition were seized from
them.[69][66][67]
Tripura
Further information: Tripura rebellion
The National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), is a rebel group that
seeks the secession of Tripura, North-East India, and is a proscribed
terrorist organization in India. Group activities have been described
as Christian terrorists engaging in terrorist violence motivated by
their Christian beliefs.[70][71][72] The NLFT includes in its aims the
forced conversion of all tribespeople in Tripura to Christianity.[73]
The NLFT says that it is fighting not only for the removal of Bengali
immigrants from the tribal areas, "but also for the tribal areas of
the state to become overtly Christian", and "has warned members of the
tribal community that they may be attacked if they do not accept its
Christian agenda".[74] In the Bagber massacre, 25 Bengali Hindu
refugees were killed by NLFT militants. The NLFT is listed as a
terrorist organization in the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002.[75]
The state government contends that the Baptist Church of Tripura
supplies arms and gives financial support to the NLFT.[76][77][78]
Reports from the state government and Indian media describe activities
such as the acquisition by the NLFT of explosives through the Noapara
Baptist Church in Tripura,[78] and threats of killing Hindus
celebrating religious festivals.[79] Over 20 Hindus in Tripura were
reported to have been killed by the NLFT from 1999 to 2001 for
resisting forced conversion to Christianity.[80] According to Hindus
in the area, there have also been forced conversions of tribal
villagers to Christianity by armed NLFT militants.[80] It is believed
that as many as 5,000 tribal villagers were forcibly converted during
1999 to 2001. These forcible conversions, sometimes including the use
of "rape as a means of intimidation", have also been noted by
academics outside of India.[81] In 2000, the NLFT broke into a temple
and gunned down a popular Hindu preacher popularly known as Shanti
Kali.[82] They have also been accused of force converting Buddhists to
Christianity.[83]
In 2001, there were 826 reported terrorist attacks in Tripura, in
which 405 people lost their lives and 481 kidnappings were made by the
NLFT and related organisations such as the Christian All Tripura Tiger
Force (ATTP). Nagmanlal Halam, secretary of the Noapara Baptist Church
in Tripura, was arrested for and confessed, under torture from police,
to providing munitions and financial aid to the NLFT from 1998 until
2000.[84]
Nagaland
Further information: Ethnic conflict in Nagaland
See also: 2015 Indian counter-insurgency operation in Myanmar and 2015
Manipur ambush
The Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) is also a
Christian[85] Naga nationalist militant group operating in North
India.[86][87] The main aim of the organization is to establish a
sovereign Christian state, "Nagalim",[88] unifying all the areas
inhabited by the Naga people in Northeast India and Burma.[89] The
organization's slogan is "Nagaland for
Christ".[90][91][92][93][94][95] Its manifesto is based on the
principle of Socialism for economic development and a Baptist
Christian religious outlook.[96] In some of their documents the NSCN
has called for recognizing only Christianity in Nagalim.[97] They
believe in Christian theocracy.[98] The NSCN has been declared a
terrorist organisation in India under the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act, 1967.[99] It is believed that the organisation
primarily raises funds through trafficking drugs from Burma and
selling smuggled weapons to other insurgent groups in the region.[100]
The group reportedly indulges in kidnapping, assassination, extortion,
forced conversion,[101] and other terrorist
activities.[102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110]
On 3 August 2015 NSCN leader T. Muivah signed a peace accord with the
Government of India in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and NSA Ajit Doval.[111] However, NSCN
also joined with a militia organization named the United Liberation
Front of Western South East Asia, along with other Northeast Indian
terrorist groups,[112][113] and shortly after broke off peace talks
with the Indian government.[114]
Indonesia
The Walisongo school massacre is the name given to a series of attacks
by Christian militants on 28 May 2000 upon several predominantly
Muslim villages around Poso town, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia as part
of a broader sectarian conflict in the Poso region. Officially the
total number killed in the attacks is 165,[115] but there is no
definite figure of how many died. The number of dead is believed to be
greater than the 39 calculated from bodies later discovered in three
mass graves, and equal to or below the 191 quoted by Muslim
sources.[116] The massacre is named for the Pesantren Walisongo
boarding school in Sintuwu Lemba where the most high-profile murders
occurred.[117] Three leaders of local Christian militia groups called
the Red Group were later convicted and executed in 2006 for crimes
committed during the massacre.[118]
A similar attack by alleged Red Group members was staged against the
majority Muslim village of Buyung Katedo on the next year, killing at
least 14 people, all but two of whom were women and children. Among
those murdered in Buyung Katedo were the Imam of the local mosque and
Firman, an infant.[116][117]
Israel
Monte Kim Miller formed a group known as the Concerned Christians in
Colorado, during the 1980s. Created to combat New Age religious
movements and anti-Christian sentiment, it has shifted to more of an
apocalyptic Christian movement as the group adopted the less
mainstream views of the millennium held by Miller.[119] They believe
all Jews should be converted to Christianity.[120]
The Concerned Christians believe that the Fall of the Soviet Union in
1991 signaled "the time of the end." They interpret many biblical
passages regarding the apocalypse through the lens of political events
in world history. It is stated that they believe that the office of
the United States President is the seat of the Antichrist. For
example, in what is titled The Seed of Abraham, the group reports that
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was the
archetypal Antichrist and helped build the "Babylonian nation that
leads the entire world astray." They see American patriotism as a
"foolish" compromise to their Christian beliefs. Founder, Monte "Kim"
Miller, proclaimed that he was "the Prophet of the Lord," and that God
spoke through his mouth.[121]
Between 60 and 80 members of the group disappeared from their homes
and jobs in Colorado in October 1998 and were the subject of a search.
On January 3, 1999, they gained notoriety when they were arrested and
deported from Israel as part of an Israeli effort to protect the
Al-Aqsa mosque from extremist Christian groups, codenamed "Operation
Walk on Water". According to Israeli police, the Concerned Christians
were one of several independent groups who believed it must be
destroyed to facilitate the return of Jesus Christ. The group members
said that they were law-abiding religious pilgrims there to await the
return of Jesus but had no plans to participate in any illegal
activity.[122][123]
The group is said to currently reside in Greece or the Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania area and its potential threat level has since been
disputed.[119]
Lebanon
Maronite Christian militias perpetrated the Karantina and Tel
al-Zaatar massacres of Palestinians and Lebanese Muslims during
Lebanon's 19751990 civil war. The 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre,
which targeted unarmed Palestinian refugees for rape and murder, was
considered to be genocide by the United Nations General Assembly.[124]
A British photographer present during the incident said that "People
who committed the acts of murder that I saw that day were wearing
[crucifixes] and were calling themselves Christians."[125]
Myanmar
God's Army was an armed revolutionary Christian insurgent group that
opposed the then military junta of Myanmar (Burma).[126][127] The
group was an offshoot of the Karen National Union. They were based
along the Thailand-Burma border, and conducted a string of audacious
guerrilla actionsincluding allegedly being involved in the seizure of
the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok-during the 1990s and early 2000s.They
have been described as a terrorists.[128][129]
God's Army was situated in mountainous rainforests along the border
between Burma and Thailand.[130] They were a band of Christian
guerrillas who maintained an austere lifestyle, including abstinence
from sexual intercourse, alcohol, milk, eggs and pork. The group was
estimated to have around 500 fighters in 1998, but gradually declined
to between 100 and 200 men by early 2000 after many left to find work
to support their refugee families. Meanwhile, the Burmese army had
21,000 troops in the area.[131] Some of its members also called
themselves as ''Jesus Warriors'' or ''Jesus Commandos'' and believed
its founders had "Christian powers". According to Kwe Htoo, the name
of the group was actually Kaserdoh God's Army.[132][133]
In October 1999, a group calling themselves Vigorous Burmese Student
Warriors along with the God's Army seized the Burmese embassy in
Bangkok and the situation ended with their departure, at which point
they were taken in by God's Army.[134] The Burmese Government called
the attack "a pure act of terrorism" and in Washington the State
Department, which has been critical of the Burmese military regime,
also condemned what it called "a terrorist attack".[135]
In January 2000, 10 members of God's Army seized a hospital in
Ratchaburi, Thailand.[136] The group held 700 to 800 patients and
staff members hostage for 22 hours. They demanded the Thai government
stop shelling Karen positions in Burma and treatment for their
wounded. Thai security forces stormed the hospital, killing all 10 of
the gunmen.[130] After the raid, God's Army were strenuously pursued
by the Tatmadaw (Burmese armed forces) and shunned by other Karen
rebels.
Norway
Anders Behring Breivik was convicted for the 2011 Norway attacks, in
which he killed eight people by detonating a van bomb amid
Regjeringskvartalet in Oslo and then shot dead 69 participants of a
Workers' Youth League (AUF) summer camp on the island of Utøya,
leaving 77 dead. On the day of the attacks, Breivik electronically
distributed a compendium of texts entitled 2083: A European
Declaration of Independence, describing his militant
ideology.[137][138][139][140] In them, he lays out a worldview
encompassing opposition to Islam and blaming feminism for creating a
European "cultural suicide".[141][142] The texts call Islam and
"Cultural Marxism" the enemy and advocate the deportation of all
Muslims from Europe based on the model of the Bene decrees, while
also claiming that feminism and Islam exists to destroy Christian
European culture.[143][144] Breivik wrote that his main motive for the
atrocities was to market his manifesto.[145] Breivik contends that he
is waging a Christian Crusade against multiculturalism and believes
that the attacks were "necessary".[146]
In his manifesto it states that its author is "100 percent
Christian",[147] but he is not "excessively religious";[147] "I'm not
going to pretend I'm a very religious person, as that would be a lie";
and considers himself a "cultural Christian" and a "modern-day
Crusader" of the Knights Templar, a medieval Catholic military
order.[147][148] Furthermore, Breivik said "myself and many more like
me do not necessarily have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
and God."[148][149] Nevertheless, he said he planned to pray to God
for help during his attacks.[150] Before the attacks, he stated an
intention to attend Frogner Church in a final "Martyr's mass".[151] In
2015, Breivik claimed to be an Odinist, but Breivik and others have
previously linked his religious beliefs to Christianity during the
attacks.[152]
Deputy police chief Roger Andresen initially told reporters that
information on Breivik's websites was "so to speak, Christian
fundamentalist"[153][154][155][156] and many mainstream media such as
The New York Times have described him a Christian fundamentalist.[157]
Others, however, have disputed Andresen's characterisation of Breivik
as a Christian fundamentalist.[158]
In an earlier incident, a dynamite was detonated near a Word of Truth
church in Slemmestad on 14 September 2003 by two siblings and former
members of the church.[159]
Philippines
Main article: Ilaga
Ilaga is a Catholic Extremist group who are anti-Islam based in
southern Philippines. The group is predominantly composed of Visayans
(mostly Ilonggo), embracing a form of Folk Catholicism that utilizes
amulets and violence. From March 1970 to January 1972, the Ilaga
committed 22 massacres resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Muslim
civilians. The group is guilty of "mutilating bodies of victims" and
"marking bodies with a cross."[160] It also burned down and looted
many houses and properties.The group committed its bloodiest act on
June 19, 1971, when the group killed 70100 Moro civilians inside a
mosque.[citation needed] In November 2008, Ilaga killed five Muslim
civilians in an ambush in Lanao del Norte.[161]
Spain
Milícia Catalana (lit. Catalan militia) was a Spanish nationalist and
ultra-catholic armed paramilitary group that operated between 1976 and
the mid 90s in Catalonia. The main objectives of this group were
Catalan independence-related associations and independentist parties
(especially the Moviment de Defensa de la Terra, the most prominent
extra-parliamentary political expression of the Catalan independence
movement); but Milícia Catalana also attacked clinics where abortions
were practiced (in 1989, the Dexeus Clinic façade was damaged by an
explosion attributed to the band.[162]), LGBT locals and brothels[163]
Similarly, they sent threats and intimidated collectives of the
alternative left and those who satirized with Catholicism, like Els
Joglars, a popular theater company. One of its most famous attacks was
the provocated fire near the Sanctuary of Montserrat in August 1986,
burning 2,000 hectares, the 75% of the mountain area, and leaving
1,000 people isolated in the sanctuary for a day.[164]
Uganda
The Lord's Resistance Army, a guerrilla army, was engaged in an armed
rebellion against the Ugandan government in 2005. It has been accused
of using child soldiers and of committing numerous crimes against
humanity; including massacres, abductions, mutilation, torture, rape,
and using forced child labourers as soldiers, porters, and sex
slaves.[70][165] A quasi-religious movement that mixes some aspects of
Christian beliefs with its own brand of spiritualism,[166][167] it is
led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and
a spirit medium, primarily of the "Holy Spirit" which the Acholi
believe can represent itself in many
manifestations.[168][168][169][170] LRA fighters wear rosary beads and
recite passages from the Bible before
battle.[166][171][172][173][174][175]
During the mid-1990s, the LRA was strengthened by military support
from the government of Sudan,[176] which was retaliating against
Ugandan government support for rebels in what would become South
Sudan. The LRA fought with the NRA army which led to mass atrocities
such as the killing or abduction of several hundred villagers in Atiak
in 1995 and the kidnapping of 139 schoolgirls in Aboke in 1996. The
government created the so-called "protected camps" beginning in 1996.
The LRA declared a short-lived ceasefire for the duration of Ugandan
presidential election, 1996, possibly in the hope that Yoweri Museveni
would be defeated.[177]
During the Christmas of 2008, the LRA massacred 620 people and
abducted more than 180 at a concert celebration sponsored by the
Catholic Church in Faradje in the Democratic Republic of Congo,[178]
and struck several other communities in the near-simultaneous attacks:
75 people were murdered in a church near Dungu, at least 80 were
killed in Batande, 48 in Bangadi, and 213 in Gurba.[179][180][181]
Many of them hacked into pieces,[182] decapitated,[183] or burned
alive in their homes.[183] By August 2009, the LRA terror in this
country resulted in displacing as many as 320,000 Congolese, exposing
them to a threat of famine, according to UNICEF director Ann
Veneman.[184] That same month, the LRA attacked a Catholic church in
Ezo, South Sudan, on the Feast of the Assumption, with reports of
victims being crucified, causing Ugandan Archbishop John Baptist Odama
to call on the international community for help in finding a peaceful
solution to the crisis.[185][186][187] In December 2009, the LRA
forces under Dominic Ongwen killed at least 321 civilians and abducted
250 others during a four-day rampage in the village and region of
Makombo in the DR Congo.[188][189] In February 2010, about 100 people
were massacred by the LRA in Kpanga, near DR Congo's border with the
Central African Republic and Sudan.[190] Small-scale attacks continued
daily, displacing large numbers of people and worsening an ongoing
humanitarian crisis which the UN described as one of the worst in the
world.[191] By May 2010, the LRA killed over 1,600 Congolese civilians
and abducted more than 2,500.[192] Between September 2008 and July
2011, the group, despite being down to only a few hundred fighters,
has killed more than 2,300 people, abducted more than 3,000, and
displaced over 400,000 across the DR Congo, South Sudan and the
Central African Republic.[193]
Ukraine
The Russian Orthodox Army is a Christian Extremist militant group in
Ukraine that was founded in May 2014, as part of the insurgency and
following War in Donbass.[194] It reportedly had 100 members at the
time of its founding, including locals and Russian volunteers. As
fighting between separatists and the Ukrainian government worsened in
Donbass, their membership rose to 350, and later 4,000.[195] Notable
engagements of the ROA include the June 2014 skirmishes in Mariupol
and Amvrosiivka Raion.[196] The headquarters of the ROA is located in
an occupied Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) building in Donetsk
city.[197] Members had no special training apart from the usual
conscription service in the army[198] and swore allegiance to Igor
Girkin ("Strelkov"), insurgent and Minister of Defence of the
self-declared Donetsk People's Republic. Along with other separatist
groups in the region, the ROA has been noted for "kidnapp[ing],
beat[ing], and threaten[ing] Protestants, Catholics, and members of
the Ukrainian Orthodox Church ... as well as participat[ing] in
anti-Semitic acts."[199] The ROA is designated as a terrorist
organization by the Ukrainian Government.[200]
In late November 2014, the group gained attention after abducting
prominent Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest, Sergeii Kulbaka, and Roman
Catholic priest, Father Pawel Witek.[201][202] According to the
Defence Ministry of Ukraine, the ROA has also been in conflict with
another pro-Russian militia, the Vostok Battalion, which accused the
ROA of looting, and of avoiding combat.[203][204]
In July 2015, the Russian Orthodox Army, abducted Tykhon Kulbaka, a
Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest. According to the report, "His captors
reportedly subjected him to repeated mock executions and took away his
medication, threatening him with a 'slow death' unless he joined the
Russian Orthodox Church. He also sustained physical injuries before
his release.".
Other churches that are targeted include God's Church of Ukraine,
Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, and a variety of
Protestant denominations.[205]
United States
See also: Anti-abortion violence in the United States and Terrorism in
the United States
Contemporary American Christian terrorism can be motivated by a
violent desire to implement a Reconstructionist or Dominionist
ideology.[206] Dominion Theology insists that Christians are called by
God to (re)build society on Christian values to subjugate the earth
and establish dominion over all things, as a prerequisite for the
second coming of Christ.[207] Political violence motivated by dominion
theology is a violent extension of the desire to impose a select
version of Christianity on other Christians, as well as on
non-Christians.
Of the roughly 800 crimes aimed at abortion clinics between 1978 and
1993,[208] 38 have been bombings, and there have been an additional 7
violent crimes, including murder.[209] At least 11 people have been
killed in attacks on abortion clinics in the United States since 1993.
After 1981, members of groups such as the Army of God began attacking
abortion clinics and doctors across the United States.[210][211][212]
A number of terrorist attacks were attributed by Bruce Hoffman to
individuals and groups with ties to the Christian Identity and
Christian Patriot movements, including the Lambs of Christ.[213] A
group called Concerned Christians was deported from Israel on
suspicion of planning to attack holy sites in Jerusalem at the end of
1999; they believed that their deaths would "lead them to
heaven".[214][215] Terrorism scholar Aref M. Al-Khattar has listed The
Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA), Defensive Action,
the Montana Freemen, and some "Christian militia" as groups that "can
be placed under the category of far-right-wing terrorism" that "has a
religious (Christian) component".[216]
Mark David Chapman accused John Lennon of blasphemy before murdering
him in 1980. Chapman was a Beatles fan who had idolized Lennon but
turned against him after Chapman's religious conversion, He was angry
about Lennon's 1966 well-publicized comment that Beatles were "more
popular than Jesus." He later stated that he was further enraged by
the songs "God" and "Imagine", even singing the latter with the
altered lyric: "Imagine John Lennon dead".[217] Jan Reeves, the sister
of one of Chapman's friends, reported Chapman "seemed really angry
toward John Lennon and he kept saying he could not understand why John
Lennon had said [the Beatles were more popular than Jesus]. According
to Mark, there should be nobody more popular than the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said it was blasphemy."[218] Chapman was charged with
second degree murder.[219]
Eric Robert Rudolph carried out the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in
1996, as well as subsequent attacks on an abortion clinic and a
lesbian nightclub. Michael Barkun, a professor at Syracuse University,
considers Rudolph to likely fit the definition of a Christian
terrorist. James A. Aho, a professor at Idaho State University, argues
that religious considerations inspired Rudolph only in part.[220]
In 1996 three menCharles Barbee, Robert Berry and Jay Merellewere
charged with two bank robberies and bombings at the banks, a Spokane
newspaper, and a Planned Parenthood office in Washington State. The
men were anti-Semitic Christian Identity theorists who believed that
God wanted them to carry out violent attacks and that such attacks
would hasten the ascendancy of the Aryan race.[221]
Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder were a gay couple from Redding,
California, who were murdered by white supremacist brothers Benjamin
Matthew Williams and James Tyler Williams in 1999. The Williams
brothers confessed killing the couple because they were gay. The
Williams brothers, who were both known by their middle names, operated
a landscaping and lawn service out of their parents' home in Palo
Cedro, California. Neighbors said that the family was known for their
fundamentalist Christianity, and that recordings of sermons and
religious music were often heard from their house.[222]
Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the United States who
provided abortions late in pregnancy, was a frequent target of
anti-abortion violence and was killed in 2009 by Scott Roeder as he
stood in the foyer of his church. A witness who was serving as an
usher alongside Dr. Tiller at the church that day told the court that
Mr. Roeder entered the foyer, put a gun to the doctor's head and
pulled the trigger. At trial, Mr. Roeder admitted to killing Dr.
Tiller and said he did it to protect unborn babies. He was convicted
of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. At his
sentencing, he told the court that God's judgment would "sweep over
this land like a prairie wind." Dr. Tiller was shot once before, in
1993, by Shelley Shannon, an anti-abortion activist who compared
abortion providers to Hitler and said she believed that "justifiable
force" was necessary to stop abortions. Ms. Shannon was sentenced to
10 years in prison for the shooting of Dr. Tiller and later confessed
to vandalizing and burning a string of abortion clinics in California,
Nevada and Oregon.
James Kopp was convicted of the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian, an
obstetrician who provided abortion services in the Buffalo area, and
has been named a suspect in the shooting of several abortion providers
in Canada. Mr. Kopp hid in the woods behind Dr. Slepian's home in
October 1998 and shot him through the window with a high-powered
rifle, killing him as he stood in his kitchen with his family. Dr.
Slepian had just returned from a memorial service for his father when
he was killed. Mr. Kopp spent several years on the run in Mexico,
Ireland and France before he was captured and extradited to the United
States. He was convicted of a state charge of second-degree murder in
2003 and sentenced to 25 years in jail. He was convicted in 2007 on a
separate federal charge and sentenced to life in prison. The
authorities in Canada also suspect Mr. Kopp in the nonlethal attacks
on several abortion providers there who were shot through the windows
of their homes. He was charged with the 1995 attempted murder of Dr.
Hugh Short, an abortion provider in Ontario, although the charges were
dropped after his conviction in New York. The police in Canada also
named him a suspect in the 1997 shooting of Dr. Jack Fainman in
Winnipeg and the 1994 shooting of Dr. Garson Romalis in Vancouver,
which was the first attack on an abortion provider in Canada.
From March 28 to March 30, 2010, nine people thought to be Hutaree
members were arrested in police raids in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana
(in Hammond), for their alleged involvement in a plot to kill various
police officers and possibly civilians using illegal explosives or
firearms. The group was allegedly preparing for what they believed
would be an apocalyptic battle with the forces of the Antichrist, whom
they believed would be supported and defended by local, state, and
federal law enforcement.[223] The group formed in early 2006. The name
"Hutaree" appears to be a neologism; the group's web site says that
the name means "Christian warriors".[224]
In 2015, Robert Doggart, a 63 year old mechanical engineer, was
indicted for solicitation to commit a civil rights violation by
intending to damage or destroy religious property after communicating
that he intended to amass weapons to attack a Muslim enclave in
Delaware County, New York.[225] Doggart, a member of several private
militia groups, communicated to an FBI source in a phone call that he
had an M4 carbine with "500 rounds of ammunition" that he intended to
take to the Delaware County enclave, along with a handgun, molotov
cocktails and a machete. The FBI source recorded him saying "if it
gets down to the machete, we will cut them to shreds".[226] Doggart
had previously travelled to a site in Dover, Tennessee described in
chain emails as a "jihadist training camp", and found that the claims
were wrong. Doggart pleaded guilty in an April plea bargain stating he
had "willfully and knowingly sent a message in interstate commerce
containing a true threat" to injure someone. The plea bargain was
struck down by a judge because it did not contain enough facts to
constitute a true threat.[227][228] Doggart, who describes himself as
a Christian minister of the "Christain National (Congregational)
Church" (apparently the National Association of Congregational
Christian Churches), stood as an independent candidate in Tennessee's
4th congressional district, losing with 6.4% of the vote.[229] None of
the charges against him are terrorism related.[230][231][232][233]
The November 2015 Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting, in
which three were killed and nine injured, was described as "a form of
terrorism" by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper.[234] The gunman,
Robert Lewis Dear, was described as a "delusional" man[235] who had
written on a cannabis internet forum that "sinners" would "burn in
hell" during the end times, and had also written about smoking
marijuana and propositioned women for sex.[236][237] He had praised
the Army of God, saying that attacks on abortion clinics are "God's
work".[238] Dear's ex-wife said he had put glue on a lock of a Planned
Parenthood clinic, and in court documents for their divorce she said
"He claims to be a Christian and is extremely evangelistic, but does
not follow the Bible in his actions. He says that as long as he
believes he will be saved, he can do whatever he pleases. He is
obsessed with the world coming to an end." Authorities said that he
spoke of "no more baby parts" in a rambling interview after his
arrest.
In 2016, Curtis Allen, Gavin Wright and Patrick Eugene Stein, 3 Kansas
militia men calling themselves 'Crusaders' were arrested plotting a
bomb attack and a mass shooting targeting an apartment complex home to
a mosque and many Muslim immigrants from Somalia.[239] Stein allegedly
told the agent the trio would use ammonium nitrate to make the bombs,
a method used in 1995 by Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.[240]
Dr. John Birky, who works with the Somali community, told the AP about
300 to 500 Somali refugees resided in the area where the attacks were
planned.[240]
In 2018, Marckles Alcius, a 31-year-old Massachusetts man deliberately
crashed a stolen truck into Planned Parenthood clinic, injuring three
people including a pregnant woman.[241][242] Alcius had indicated to
investigators after his arrest that the act was intentional and that
he was willing to die in the attack[243]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_terrorism
Post by dukethe dukester, American-American
*****
The Purpose of the NT Word of God is not to inform as it did in
the OT,but instead to form us in the very image of Jesus Christ.
*****