The violence of religious fundamentalism
by John Bryson Chane

We are living in a moment of time when the world is turned upside down by chaos, international terrorism, and indiscriminant violence. As Americans, we want to get even with those persons responsible for carrying out the attacks against our country on September 11. The loss of almost 5,000 lives and previous terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center in 1993, the Embassy bombings of 1998 in Kenya and Tanzania, along with the attempt to sink the USS Cole are fearful reminders of what can happen when the forces of religious fundamentalism mix with politics.

Terrorism is not the sole providence of Islamic terrorists. During the Civil War in the United States, acts of terrorism were routinely used against civilian populations by both Union and Confederate troops. After the Civil War and following the Emancipation Proclamation, terrorism, indiscriminate lynching, shootings and dynamite bombings were used by the Ku Klux Klan and later by "night riders" to suppress the civil rights of blacks and to disengage Federal and State enforcement of the Civil Rights Act.

Prior to September 11, the violence of internal terrorism visited America with the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the bombing of abortion clinics, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, and against gays and lesbians as graphically witnessed in the beating death of Matthew Shepherd and others.

Ninety percent of all terrorist attacks are fueled by religious philosophies that have strayed far from the core teachings of a particular religion. Islam, Christianity, and Judaism are certainly linked together when terrorism raises its ugly head. When religion is co-opted by politics, human beings are capable of doing horrible things to one another. Reactionary Conservative Judaism, Christianity and Islam have done more to kill, maim, and destroy the human body and soul than have any political leader’s signature on a formal declaration of war.

Was flying civilian jet liners into the World Trade Center Twin Towers and the Pentagon living into and following the commandments of the God of Islam? Was the holocaust of Nazi Germany living into the understanding of "God with Us" (Gott Mit Uns)? Are the disproportionate use of violence and military force by Israel and the occupation of disputed Palestinian lands living out the promise of what it means to be "The People of God"? Do Palestinians really believe that Allah sanctions indiscriminant violence and terrorism against Jews in the Holy Land? Is the incessant bombing of Afghanistan in search of Osama bin Laden and our nation’s intentional fling into the Old Testament Theology of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," really sanctioned by the God of America…the, "In God We Trust"?

If we are intent on living together in a very pluralistic, shrinking, global community, then America must come to terms with the frightening and violent impact that religious fundamentalism has on all three theistic religions of the world, Judaism, Islam and Christianity! America must also begin to embrace the cultural and religious pluralism that now defines the American landscape. If it does not, America will continue to live into the vision of "one nation…separate and unequal," with the potential for violence as its common denominator.

As religious leaders, we must also reclaim the basic, shared, core teachings of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity and force the dissonant factions within these religions not to use religious emotions to affirm political claims. This will be hard to do, especially in the United States, but it must be done. National and international political leaders must be careful not to align themselves to religious extremists and tie religion too closely to nationalism.

As has been so often said, to respond to a violent world with more violence is to live out the "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" admonition to its logical conclusion, that ultimately those who do so will become blind and toothless.

If there is a hope that can come from the tragedy of September 11 and following, it is that the partnership of violence and religious fundamentalism can no longer be tolerated by the international community. Violence can never be the solution for solving the current world problems that divide, demean and destroy the people of God. Jesus death on the cross and his overcoming death through the mystery of the resurrection should make this very clear to every Christian who currently supports violence as a solution to the terrorism that currently encapsulates the world.

John Bryson Chane is dean of St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in San Diego, California.