Last week few people had heard the name of Anders Behring Breivik. Today he is trending on twitter for all the wrong reasons, along with 'Freemasonry' and 'Christianity'. The carnage in Oslo and Utoeya Island will change Norway. What these attacks mean for understanding the relationship of religion and right-wing extremism, is a more open question.
We have a great deal more to discover about alleged murderer, Breivik. Much of the speculation is based on Twitter and Facebook accounts set up on the 17 July. On that Facebook page he describes himself as a Christian and a conservative. He lists his interests as hunting, body-building and Freemasonry. His internet posting seems to show far-right, nationalist and anti-Muslim views. Until we know more it seems unwise to make too much of the suspect's possible motives. Much of the Norway 'debate' on Twitter today amounts to Punch and Judy, Christian vs Humanist head-banging.
So, what do we know? There is no unanimity on the political or religious far-right. This is a murky and convoluted world where resentment, racism and dogma mutate into bizarre and sometimes lethal configurations. It is hard enough to keep track of a myriad of sects and splinter groups, let alone individual psychology. Christianity makes a poor civil religion. Allegedly it 'enfeebled' a people. The Nazis believed this, hence the attraction of Alfred Rosenburg's 'Positive Christianity'. Rosenburg attempted to rid the Bible of its Jewish heritage and claimed the 'Aryanhood' of Christ. His influence can still be traced in today's far-right groups, which espouse either outright paganism or a tractable and bastardized Christianity.
The Church has found trouble enough with barbarism committed by the orthodox, let alone our dogmatic, convoluted first cousins. I have no idea whether this has any relevance to events in Norway. As for Anders Behring Breivik, I hope to be proved wrong.
We have a great deal more to discover about alleged murderer, Breivik. Much of the speculation is based on Twitter and Facebook accounts set up on the 17 July. On that Facebook page he describes himself as a Christian and a conservative. He lists his interests as hunting, body-building and Freemasonry. His internet posting seems to show far-right, nationalist and anti-Muslim views. Until we know more it seems unwise to make too much of the suspect's possible motives. Much of the Norway 'debate' on Twitter today amounts to Punch and Judy, Christian vs Humanist head-banging.
So, what do we know? There is no unanimity on the political or religious far-right. This is a murky and convoluted world where resentment, racism and dogma mutate into bizarre and sometimes lethal configurations. It is hard enough to keep track of a myriad of sects and splinter groups, let alone individual psychology. Christianity makes a poor civil religion. Allegedly it 'enfeebled' a people. The Nazis believed this, hence the attraction of Alfred Rosenburg's 'Positive Christianity'. Rosenburg attempted to rid the Bible of its Jewish heritage and claimed the 'Aryanhood' of Christ. His influence can still be traced in today's far-right groups, which espouse either outright paganism or a tractable and bastardized Christianity.
The Church has found trouble enough with barbarism committed by the orthodox, let alone our dogmatic, convoluted first cousins. I have no idea whether this has any relevance to events in Norway. As for Anders Behring Breivik, I hope to be proved wrong.
10 comments:
I blogged on this subject, too, focussing on the inherent link between violence and modern culture. We Christians who follow the way of non-violence simply do not do enough to show the way of Jesus Christ that is non-resistant and non-violent.
If anyone is interested, my blog is at http://magdalenaperks.wordpress.com. I'm sorry to self-promote like that, but for some reason blogger doesn't always link up to wordpress. I expect many will join in this discussion and analysis as more is known.
Thanks Magdalena, I'm always glad for you to self-promote here. You're already on my blogroll. I'm a great fan of your blog and dip in whenever I miss Wales and the small-holding. I've been moved and appalled by events in Norway. It's almost as if the place lost its innocence.
Fanaticism is not a religious tendency. It is a human tendency and it is not only unfair to label people of faith due to the actions of one fanatic, it is intolerance at its core. Not all Christians are fanatical as not all Muslims are fanatical terrorists. Nor are all all Atheists fanatics bent on riding the world of the mention of God. Ignorance leads us as humans to become fanatical because we tend to be passionate about things that are foreign to us. When you add religion to the mix it just makes one all that more passionate. So we need to get off the religion-bashing bandwagon and address the real problem - ignorant humans. There have been just as many non-religious fanatics who have killed than religious ones.
Hello David, I agree with you in focusing on human fanaticism. To place the blame on Christianity, Islam, atheism or any other party is part of the problem and not the solution. All too often we default to crude tribalism, defining our identity through what we hate. As for Breivik, I have no idea what the 'truth' is. We may never know. What little has emerged so far is very worrying. That this man talks overtly of 'martyrdom' should offer opportunities to reflect on the meaning of the word. Shalom, phil
I think this shows that extreme views are dangerous and can lead to violence. The language of those who hold extreme views is often violent and disrespectful, it is only a step or two further from there to violent actions.
Hello Karin, It's good to hear from. How are you?
As for Breivik, I'm greatly alarmed by talk of a wider plot. I never thought this would happen in Norway. It's just about the most tolerant country in Europe. Peace.
Norway is a funny place. I spent a Summer in the far north nearly 15 years ago - and generally speaking people have little time for organised religion. The church services I attended had only a handful of people in massive buildings (where they sat to sing and stood to pray - which was strange to me).
There is a kind of macho culture going on - particularly in the North where the farming communities work very long hours to make the most of the short growing season in the Summer. Of course, there is also the hunting/fishing/sailing image which is part of life too. Outsiders seem to be tolerated but never quite accepted. My cousin (who is English and speaks good Norsk) has lived there for more than 20 years and is still seen as being an outsider.
Also there are tensions below the surface. For example, there are actually two written Norsk languages spoken - and the dividing line is more-or-less random between villages. And from what I saw, there is some simmering resentment below the surface of society (though not sure it is only due to this difference).
Of course, the same could be said about the UK in different ways.
But I guess what I'm saying is that it would be as easy to blame Norwegian society for Breivik as his warped religious dogma.
Hi Joe, I appreciate your impressions of Norway. I suspect that even after these appalling events, the majority of people will continue to be both liberal and tolerant. I think the key word in what you said is 'warped'. Whatever the connections between someone like Breivik and his religious or cultural background it's almost impossible to trace one to the other. We will have to wait and see whether he had 'help' in doing what he did.
Faith has very little to do, if anything with what happened, yet it remains a likely scapegoat. As others here, I've been musing this in my blog, and find it hard to accept the fialry savage attacks that faiths have taken because of this. This was the action of a disturbed human being, not a faith or a representative of a faith.
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