So Erik Bolling, of Fox News says zero people have ever been killed in the name of any religion, except for Islam. Bolling said:
Reports say radical Muslim jihadists killed thousands of people in the past few months alone. And yet when you take Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, whatever, their combined killings in the name of religion––well, that would be zero.
This is all in the context of Obama's remarks at the nation prayer breakfast. I am a freelance journalist and medieval historian. I wrote about this for
the Guardian.
I wrote, among other things:
It’s a mistake to believe in Christian exceptionalism – the idea that Christianity alone has solved its problems – while other religions are still “medieval”. One of history’s lessons is that any ideology, sacred or secular, that divides the world into ‘us versus them’ can and will be used to justify violence.
But when we talk about the past, we’re often really talking about ourselves. In my scholarship, for instance, I look at the ways in which medieval people developed stories about holy war as a response to contemporary problems – which often had little to do with the Crusades.
So, now we have Mr. Bolling, showing us exactly why it's vital to stop Christian exceptionalism AND the other side of the coin, Islamic demonization. And maybe he meant only in the last few months, but it's not what he said, and it reflects this idea that somehow Islam is the only religion whose adherents are currently being violent.
Below the fold, I'll offer some links of violence against all kinds of people by people of all kinds of religions. They will be useful to share with your right-wing neighbor or uncle who recite Bolling's points back at you verbatim. Some are recent (Central African Republic's Christians killing Muslims, Hindus forcing conversions in India, the Sikh temple massacre). Some less so.
So here we go. A grim tour through time and space, but mostly I'm just talking RECENTLY. Because one of the right-wing arguments I'm confronting says that because the Crusades were so long ago, there's no reason to get upset about them any more.
Central African Republic. "Tens of thousands of Muslims flee Christian militias."
Burma: Buddhists kill scores of Muslims.
From Alternet - 10 killings in the U.S. inspired by Christianity, starting with the Sikh Temple.
A Princeton University Press book on Hindu violence against Muslims in India. More recently, Hindus force Christians to convert.
Three Jews confess to burning Palestinian teenager alive.
On the role played by militant rabbis in the murder of Rabin (Jews killing Jews over religion).
And none of this excuses the horrific acts of violence perpetrated by Muslims.
The problem isn't Islam. The problem isn't Christianity or any other religion either. The problem is ideology. When an ideology splits the world between us and them, same and other, human and dehumanized, it enables violence. Religious ideology is especially good for this, though certain secular ideologies have outstripped religion by far in the 20th century. We'll see about the 21st.
More illustrative links are welcome.
------------------
I am a freelance journalist focusing on the intersections of disability and police violence. I have written for CNN, Al Jazeera, Chronicle of Higher Ed, New York Times, and more. I'm also a blogger, long-time member of this site, and a history professor. You can read my blog at How Did We Get Into This Mess? This is a modified version of my most recent post.
To read more, you could 'like' my public Facebook page.
Or you could follow me on Twitter:
