Terror in the Mind of God

Mark Juergensmeyer

Meets

Charles Kimball

Terror in the Mind of God

• Mark Juergensmeyer presents a cross cultural study of cultures of violence

• Intentionally or not, cultures of violence cultivate Kimball’s 5 “symptoms” of evil:

– Absolute truth claims

– Blind obedience

– Establishing the “ideal” time

– The end justifies any means

– Declaring Holy War

Cultures of Violence

• Individuals like Timothy McVeigh or the Rev. Paul Hill do not act alone.

• Cultures of violence need moral, ideological, and organizational support

• “Violence” presupposes the disruption or destruction of “an order” or society that is hated or feared

Cultures of Violence

• Violence occurs when worldviews are in conflict

• Worldview = a socially-constructed system of cognitive and motivating structures; reality by consensus

• Worldview = when it comes to violence, it is never about the truth of a given worldview; it is about POWER to define order and CONTROL over individual and group behavior

Worldviews & Religion

Everyone has a worldview:

• A worldview = your identity, or sense of self + your relationship with the world around you + your interpretation of life’s circumstances + your behavior!

• Worldview = what a person really values; what they really seek in life

• You know a person’s worldview by their behavior; all else is “window dressing”

Memetics: How Worldviews Evolve

• Memes (from “memories”) = bits of intellectual or cultural information passed from person to person through imitation and repetition

• Memes are the smallest unit in cultural evolution, similar to the gene in biological evolution; they include tunes, ideas, catch phrases, etc.

Supporting cultures of violence

Perpetrators of violent acts need:

• community of support

• large organizational network

• internal conviction

• Stamp of approval from a legitimizing ideology or authority one respects

Causes of Violence, Today

Mark Juergensmeyer lists two primary reasons:

• The devaluation of secular authority

• The need for alternative ideologies of public order

For groups that embrace violence, the world is at war! Believe it!

Religion in the 21st Century: Global Processes

1. Modernization

2. Globalization

3. Exclusivism

4. Humanism and Scientific Inquiry

5. Postmodernity

… these processes have and will continue to change the religious contours of the world

Religion in the 21st Century: Global Processes

1. Modernity = changing social structures

• population shift from country to cities

• technological progress: shift from agrarian to manufacturing enterprises

• political control in nation states

• tradition cultural patterns are diluted

• educated, occupationally specialized middle class develops

Religion in the 21st Century: Global Processes

2. Globalization - increasing interlinking of people from all corners of the plant

• the spread of religion around the planet

• increased missionary activity

• The “Global Village” - the planet as a single community linked by telecommunications = computer links, the Internet, “God on the Web,” cyber-religion???

Religion in the 21st Century:
Global Processes

3. Exclusivism: a reaction to the “culture shock” of modernization and globalization

• Reactionary “Fundamentalism”

• Political Use of Religious Identity

• Group Identification

• Racism

Religion in the 21st Century: Global Processes

4. Humanism and Scientific Inquiry: the questioning or rejection of religion

• “scientific atheism”

• human ethics over supernatural concerns

• rational human thought over awe and mystery - “how” v. “why?”

Religion in the 21st Century: Global Processes

5. Postmodernity: the “crisis of modernity”

• environmental degradation

• social violence

• disparity between rich and poor

• unemployment and homelessness

• over 24 million people in 107 countries take the drug Prozac to control depression and anxiety - YIKES!!

Christianity and Violence

• Theological justifications:

• “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have come not to bring peace but a sword.” Jesus, Matthew 10:34

• The “just war” = 4^th century, stated by Cicero, then developed by Augustine and Ambrose

The “Just War”

Military force may be justified under two conditions:

n Proportionality = more lives would be saved by the use of force than lost;

n Legitimacy = the war must be approved by an established authority

Christians may fight to combat “social injustices”

Soldiers for Christ

• Rev. Michael Bray = destroyed abortion facilities; may have authored Army of God which provides detailed instructions for violence

• Rev. Paul Hill = kills Dr. John Britton and escort in Pensacola, Fl in 1994

• These men are “at war” against evil in society and will kill for Christ

Reconstruction Theology

Theonomy = Cornelius Van Til, a 20^th century theologian

Key points:

• God has authority in all worldly matters

• The U.S. Constitution should be replace by the Bible

• Democracy should become a theocracy

Reconstruction Theology

• Key figures = Rousas John Rushdoony and Gary North

• Separation of church and state is wrong

• American society must be “reconstructed”

• The Bible will be the basis for the nation’s law and social order

Christian Identity

• British Israelism

– 19^th century book, Lectures on Our Israelitish Origin by John Wilson

– Jesus is an Aryan, not a Jew

– Blue-eyed Aryans are God’s “chosen people”

– Other “races” conspire against God’s people

– Racial supremacy & biblical law are key

Christian Identity

• Christian Identity ideas influence Timothy McVeigh

• The Turner Diaries, by William Pierce, describes guerrilla warfare against the “Jew-UN-liberal conspiracy” U.S. government

• Includes the bombing of a federal building with a truck bomb

Christian Identity

• McVeigh visited Elohim City, an CI compound in Oklahoma shortly before the bombing in 1995

• CI activists – including Matt Hale’s World Church of the Creator – promote revolution

• Objective: an Aryan, theocratic society governed by religious law

THE MILLENNIAL MYTH

….THE END OF THE WORLD!!!

THE MILLENNIAL MYTH

Myths = paradigm-laden narratives

• answer profound life questions

• guide individual and collective behavior

• engender self-esteem and empowerment

• order existence (good v. evil, etc.)

• provide reverence for the past and hope for the future

THE MILLENNIAL MYTH

Types of Myths:

• origin/creation myths

• alienation myths

• myths of salvation or liberation

• eschatological myths = millennial myths; myths about the end of the world.

ESCHATOLOGY

• Eschatology = the study of last things, the eschaton, the end of the world

– beliefs about the individual soul following death including divine judgment, heaven, hell, and resurrection

– larger concerns about the fate of the cosmos, including divinely guided renewal of the world and the destruction of evil

APOCALYPTICISM

• Apocalypticism = a belief that God, through visions to chosen prophets, reveals future cosmic disasters hearlding the end of human history and the ultimate defeat of evil

– roots in Zoroastrianism

– impacted prophetic Judaism

– influenced early Christianity (Revelation)

APOCALYTPICISM

Characteristics of apocalypticism:

• catastrophic - the end time will be chaotic and violent

• deterministic - the future is resolved into deterministic scripts or scenarios; history is predetermined

• historicist - salvation is tied to history; it is this-worldly and collective

APOCALYPTIC DUALISM

• Chronological dualism = history is divided into the current evil age and the coming good or heavenly age

• Ethical dualism = humanity is divided into opposing camps

– the damned - usually a persecuting majority

– the saved - the righteous remnant who suffer and are faithful to the Lord

APOCALYPTIC DUALISM

• Cosmic dualism = the universe is divided into 2 opposing forces, for example, God rules the Heavens, Satan rules the Earth

• Exclusivism = anyone outside the faith community is evil and dehumanized

• Symbolic visions of violence and suffering - the tribulation, Dragons, demons, evil precede the end time!!!

MILLENNIALISM

Millennialism = a type of apocalypticism based on biblical predictions of a 1000 year reign of Christ on Earth

• Progressive or postmillennialism envisions Christ’s reign transpiring after a gradual Christianization of culture; humans play a positive role in this end time scenario

MILLENNIALISM

• Catastrophic or premillennialism sees humanity as incapable of creating the kingdom

– a time of terrible tribulation hearlds the end time

– Christ must arrive with a heavenly host to vanquish the Anti-Christ at Armageddon before the millennium can unfold

THE MILLENNIAL MYTH

• MESSIAH: a Hebrew term meaning “anointed one.” The covenant of King David (O.T.) links the messiah with a deterministic, historical end-time myth.

• Prophets and Prophecy: the divinely inspired ability to predict eschatological events - creates credibility if the “prophet” seems accurate.

THE MILLENNIAL MYTH

• Theodicy = a worldview that attempts to explain how an all powerful, all good God can permit the existence of evil and undeserved suffering in the world.

• Future, This-Worldly Theodicy: the suffering of the present time is linked to a realized future on this earth!! Like it or not, “you’re invited to the party!!!”

MILLENNIAL MYTH

• THE MILLENNIAL MYTH IS A SUB-FORM OF ESCHATOLOGICAL MYTH THAT CONTAINS AN APOCALYPTIC, THIS-WORLDLY THEODICY.

AMERICA’S MILLENNIAL MOVEMENTS

• RELIGIOUS MILLENNIAL MOVEMENTS: rests on supernatural elements; the apocalypse will be engineered by God and the millennium will be ushered in the the Second Coming of Christ; mostly catastrophic but can be progressive.

AMERICA’S MILLENNIAL MOVEMENTS

• SECULAR MILLENNIAL MOVEMENTS: lack supernatural elements; the apocalypse will be human-created brought about by social, economic, or industrial collapse, Y2K, environmental degradation, race war, civil/nuclear war - the messiah becomes survivalist leaders or groups.