The problem is, when someone like this nut at Ft. Hood does something like this we immediately jump to conclusions because he has a Muslim sounding name. I will not make excuses for this person that is not my job but we tend to want to hate someone when something like this happens. We need to make sense out of the entire situation so it is easy to just say, he is a crazy Muslim terrorist. It is only natural for us to want to blame someone to something to make sense out of events such as this. Was this man a terrorist? I would say yes, not because he was a Muslim but because of this actions. He caused terror that makes him a terrorist. Shortly after that event there was a similar event in Orlando Florida. Another man went crazy at his prior place of employment. Of course religion did not play any role in his actions because he did not have a Muslim sounding name so it was not even asked. But this man was a terrorist just like the man at Ft. Hood. If you cause terror you are a terrorist regardless of religion.
Now back to hate. Yesterday there was an article in the news about a USMC Reservist who beat an Orthodox Priest with a tire iron because he thought the man was a Muslim. Okay bad enough that one person would beat another person with a tire iron but to use the excuse that the guy was a Muslim. This is what happens when we jump to conclusions that the man who did the shootings at Ft. Hood is a Muslim. I would call this Marine a terrorist as well.
Hatred under any banner is bad. Hatred does not come from the God of Love hatred comes from the other Guy, the spirit of hate. I understand people are frustrated and I understand the level of hatred but I do not condone it.
An update to yesterday’s story of the Marine now it seems the Marine as sexually assaulted by this Orthodox Priest and that is why he whacked him with the tire iron. When will it end?
Fr. Peter,
You risk sounding naive here. "Hate" is not always (or even usually) found in isolation. It is usually a product of an event or serious of circumstances, an ideology, or a habit of mind and living.
In this case the mans religion is directly related to his "hate" – why he terrorize and killed others.
It is not a reaction in kind (to "hate back") to take note of this fact.
Islam is a unique religion. It was founded by a military leader who left explicit instructions on how to rape and kill Islam's enemies.
Your post here wants to make all this irrelevant as if a simple underlying emotion is the cause of these evils and as if all religions/philosophies are equally a basis for hate, love, etc.
You blur significant and important distinctions (moral, religious, etc.)…
Christopher
Christopher,
No where in my post did I say the shooter did this out of hate I am talking about the reaction to the shooting. Christians cannot hate it is not in them to do so. We are to be reconciled to all. The Divine Liturgy says in Peace Let us Pray to the Lord. We are required by our faith to pray for those who love us and those who hates us. We are to love our enemies. This is not easy I know and it is a goal of the Christian life.
A nut is a nut.No matter what their religious affiliations are.
The issue with Fort Hood was this man had many red flags going off, but no one choose to follow through and face who he was.No one wanted to be called a racist.We need to start facing the fact that if someone is acting odd then they need to be confronted before they have a chance to do something extreme.
We should not feel like just because a person belongs to a minority they are hands off,early intervention may have saved allot of families allot of grief.
And personaly I feel bad for the families and victums because they did nothing wrong but be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
This man should have been thrown out of the army instead of handed off from one base to another.linda
Ah, I interpreted you to be tying together the "what is a terrorist" middle to hate.
I don't see an outbreak of hate by either Christians or our secular neighbor. Any real raw "hate" is quickly and vocally condemned by both groups.
I do see attribution of motives being erroneously linked to "hate". If I argue that Islam is not a "religion of peace", or that terrorists networks and the states that sponsor them should be converted, subdued or contained, and failing that destroyed it is often supposed that I am "hate filled". It's just a simple case of one religion "hating" another (in this case Christianity vs. Islam) and everyone knows that religion is the chief cause of "hate".
The link between "hate" and terror and Islam is real and should not be discounted as reactionary…