Ernie: Well said, with sufficient qualifications to allow valid generalizations / conclusions. Even ( some % of ) pacifists will fight if pushed too far. This may be rare but it isn't anything like "beyond reason." So, the psychological dynamics work universally even if unevenly. In such cases, though, it is worth pointing out that ideology ( beliefs, faith, theology ) can make a great difference in how far most people will allow themselves to go. To put it in the form of an analogy, you really have to push a research librarian rather far before he or she will resort to violence. You don't have to push a security guard especially far And for some, like members of motorcycle gangs, it doesn't take much at all to provoke violence. We could make comparisons between occupations and propensity to violence on the part of members of religions, but maybe we can skip that for now. Billy -------------------------------------------------------------------- In a message dated 6/1/2009 2:00:53 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Hi Billy, On Jun 1, 2009, at 11:16 AM, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) wrote: For what it is worth, at least we can point out the fact that this apparently is the first Operation Rescue inspired murder in over 10 years and the corollary fact that probably less than 1 % of Christians approve. That's certainly true. However, while very few specifically approve of the killing, many more would argue that "he got what he deserved": _http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/01/AR200906010 2058.html?hpid=topnews_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/01/AR2009060102058.html?hpid=topnews) Antiabortion activist Randall Terry today added fuel to the debate over the killing yesterday of a prominent Kansas late-term abortion provider, saying George R. Tiller "was a mass murderer and, horrifically, he reaped what he sowed." Randall Terry is an intriguing data point in that he is now somewhat marginal, but has historically had strong ties to mainstream evangelical leaders: _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Terry#Activism_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Terry#Activism) This situation is uncomfortably similar to Islamic terrorists, where mainstream Muslims don't "approve" of terrorism but are still sympathetic with the extremists who are at least standing up for "what they believe is right." Again, the analogy is far from perfect, and the number of Christians justifying killing for abortion is orders of magnitude lower than Muslims justifying terrorism. Then again, if you polled Irish Catholics in the 1980's about the terrorism of the IRA (yes, I know that conflict wasn't primarily about religion), the numbers would be quite a bit closer. :-( My larger point is that because Christianity is (at some level) like Islam a religion of moral absolutes, we are also vulnerable to the temptation to self-righteously judge our enemies not fit to live. True, it is a far larger problem for Islam -- but not necessarily a completely different one. -- Ernie P. = _______________________________________________ Centroids mailing list: [email protected] http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com Archives at http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/
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