The Bible and Violence

Filed under: Bible, Christendom, Christianity, Europe, Islam, Qur'an, Religion, The Netherlands — Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief on March 1, 2008 @ 10:43 pm CET

Via Jihad Watch comes the news that Dutch public broadcaster the KRO (Catholic) has given up on a project that intended to prove that one can very well commit violence based on the Bible. The reason? “After extensive research, linking Bible quotations with real political events and acts of violence however produced an insufficient basis for a thorough journalistic production.”

Frankly, I would have far more difficulty linking the two, especially considering the fact that many of those who commit violence in the name of Islam do so, not based on the Koran, but based on so-called legal scholars who lived many years after Islam first came into existence. Christianity was shaped, for centuries, by people who defended violence and war based on the Bible / religion.

The Pope himself called on people to start the crusades.

And if you combine that knowledge with the fact that Muslim extremists adhere to a strange kind of cut and paste Qur’an it becomes even more easy to link the Bible with violence (just do what Muslim extremists do).

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1 redfish

March 2, 2008 @ 3:39 am CET

michael,

yes the pope did raise a call to the crusades, but we shouldnt forget that it was only after the byzantine emperor asked for help, as they were being overrun, and europe saw islam as a threat, coming in from the east, and from the south of spain.

there was a lot of war tied to Christianity, mostly within Europe though, in conflicts such as the 30 years war, where politics was just as much at stake as religion; after all the 30 years war was rooted in Germanic princes vying for power. In England burnings happened because there was a political conflict over lines of sucession. Because European society at the time lacked any strong idea of government tied to natural laws, leaders appealed to some type of providence for governing; and most of the religious persecutions carried out were done by the state.

Injustices from religions in colonial settings were more about not respecting local culture, than justifying war.

I don’t think its uncalled for to contrast that with the history of Islam, which expanded mostly by military conquest, and has always been linked to concepts of theocracy. Military conquest by Islamic rulers was justified by the idea that if there were muslims being mistreated anywhere, they had a right to go to war.

so, you can very easily criticize both religions, for being tied to deaths or injustice, but I think its fair to characterize Islam historically as being more of a militant religion.