Saturday, July 23, 2011

God in the details

It turns out yesterday's horrendous acts of terrorism in Oslo were not the work of Islamic extremists (despite the fact that one or two such groups tried to claim responsibility, sending the media on a speculative feeding-frenzy), but instead a lone Christian extremist (or duo thereof—it's still not clear at time of writing) opposed to multiculturalism, among other things.

Should we, I wonder, hold our breaths for society's outrage against Christians? Its painting of all Christians with the same extremist brush? Acts of violence against Christians? Calls for their expulsion? I sincerely doubt it, and am grateful for it, but it makes one wonder how this story might have played out differently if the bomber–gunman's religion had been Muslim rather than Christian. I do not expect, for instance, in-depth analyses from the media about the rise of Christian extremism—despite my suspicion that the internal shift to extremism within Christianity over the past two decades would probably compare favourably with Islam's global conversion rate, a statistic frequently bandied about to induce our panicked horror.

This isn't about being pro-Islam or anti-Christian—it's about the media's hypocrisy, and the historical/economic roots of religious/racial demonization. Of course, the solution is not for society to do to Christians what has been/is being/will be done to Muslims. The solution is to have a rational, mainstream discourse about the manifold and unrelenting dangers of religion. Period.

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