The power of prejudice and use of religious ideals to fuel terrorist action

THE POWER OF PREJUDICE AND USE OF RELIGIOUS IDEALS TO FUEL TERRORIST ACTION

Religion and the Racist Right expounds on the origins of Christian Identity movement tracing its roots to the British-Israelism , and the reasons for divisions between the two . The author Barkun explains the British-Israelism as a sort of a small cult of Victorian English Protestants who recognized that they were of British descent from the ten "lost tribes (Barkun 4 . The followers had a different explanation for history as not a difference between good vs . evil but more of an

br ongoing "Race War . They think that government action is more of an illegitimate and sinister move that is of a Jewish-Satanic Conspiracy Thus , it is recognized that Christians do not owe any loyalty to the government (Barkun 240 . This looks into the dangers caused by the confluence of radical religious concepts and politically radical religious groups . It looks at religious terrorism and how the confluence between prejudice and the use of religious ideals necessarily fuel terrorist action

The author now explores into the three main beliefs of the Christian Identity and enumerates them as 1 ) the White Aryans are said to be from the biblical tribes of Israel and their purpose is to obey what God says , 2 ) Jews are children of the devil (offspring of Satan and Eve 3 . Many believe that the world is headed towards apocalypse where there will be a tug-of war between the good and the evil (Barkun ix

John Wilson was the man described as the first British Israelite . He believed that the Jews were "Erring brothers " who was missing the right path (Barkun 6 . It was Reuben Sawyer of Oregon who combined the British-Israelite ideology with the right wing politics and religion This was done in to encourage "Traditional Morality " through the Ku Klux Klan (Barkun 23 . The Anglo-Saxon Federation of America pioneered by Howard B . Rand was the person responsible for bridging the British-Israel movement with the right wing anti-Semitic influences Indeed , Michael Barkun provides very specific and thorough research about these movements as well as their respective leaders and ideologies

The policy of retaliation is not without its own logic . Terrorists need an organization and a source of outside support . If you can strike at the source , sometimes you can destroy the organization . Israel , with its excellence intelligence and successful in fending off terrorism for many years and executed many brilliant counterstrikes . Yet terrorism has not been eradicated . It reappeared whenever more peaceful methods of protest failed to produce positive results . Under the Bush administration , the United States has also become a victim-turned-perpetrator , although the American public does not necessarily recognize it

On September 11 , America was the victim of a heinous crime and the whole world expressed spontaneous and genuine sympathy . Since then , the war on terrorism has claimed more innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq than have the attacks on the World Trade Center . That comparison is rarely made at home : American lives are valued...