We have incredible opportunities to access information in our culture today.
It’s a pity that we, as a people, tend to do so little with that information.
What we do use it for is to make popular arguments, whether they are done accurately or not.
And, to be fair, you can find this happening on both sides of the political arena.
Let’s face it, whether you are conservative or liberal — if those are our dividing marks — it’s tough to come up with three hours worth of communication every 24 hours, that doesn’t border on inanity.
And yet that is what happens daily on TV and radio.
One of the challenges of this information age is that we only pay attention when there is something being said, with which we already agree.
That came up this week in the continuing discussion of Anders Behring Breivik, the terrorist murderer who killed 68 people in Norway.
The dust had scarcely cleared when Breivik was labeled as a “right-wing Christian fundamentalist.”
See, we were urged, this is just the Christian version of the 9-11 attacks on America. It just shows how violent and intolerant organized religion is, as if they are all the same.
However, now Breivik has made it clear that he is not a Christian after all. He is, by his own admission, a Darwinian.
So now we need TV talking heads and the editorial cartoonists and the radio shock talkers to address themselves to the Darwinianists. The Fundamental Darwinianists, to be precise.
Here is a small part of what Breivik actually wrote: “I’m not going to pretend I’m a very religious person, as that would be a lie. I’ve always been very pragmatic and influenced by my secular surroundings and environment. In the past, I remember I used to think: ‘Religion is a crutch for weak people. What is the point in believing in a higher power if you have confidence in yourself!? Pathetic.’ Perhaps this is true for many cases. Religion is a crutch for many weak people, and many embrace religion for self-serving reasons as a source for drawing mental strength (to feed their weak emotional state for example during illness, death, poverty etc.) Since I am not a hypocrite, I’ll say directly that this is my agenda as well. However, I have not yet felt the need to ask God for strength, yet.”
He also urged “that science takes an undisputed precedence over biblical teachings. Europe has always been the cradle of science, and it must always continue to be that way.”
Breivik certainly does not come from a conservative religious background. Norway is apparently where you go if you want to be rid of religion. According to its national statistics agency, only about 2 percent of the population attend church weekly — the lowest percentage in Europe.
Let’s be honest.
No one in their right mind wants to take credit for Breivik or his ideas. Not the Christians. Not even the Darwinians.
That won’t stop this continued movement to paint him as the Christian alternative to Islamic terrorism, however, whether Christians want him or not, whether he can be shown to have any real Christian connections or not.
— Chuck Smith