Tavis Smiley on Christian Violence
John
Verum Serum
5/28/2010
Am I surprised that someone on PBS believes this? No. Am I surprised that they would say it? Yeah, a bit.
Here’s the transcript:
Ayann Hirsi-Ali: Somehow this guy got in his mind that killing other people would be a great thing to do and he would be rewarded for it in the hereafter…
Smiley: But Christians do that every single day, in this country.
Ali: Do they blow people up…
Smiley: Yes, Christians, every day…people walk into post offices…people walk into post offices, they walk into schools, that’s what Columbine was. I mean, I could do this all day long. There are so many more examples of Christians — and I happen to be a Christian, that’s back to this notion of your idealizing Christianity in my mind, to my read — there are so many more examples, Ayaan, of Christians who do that than you could ever give me examples of Muslims who have done that inside this country in which you live and work.
Ayaan Hirsi-Ali’s stunned reaction says it all, but let’s tease this out a bit.
First, you’ll notice that despite assuring us he could “do this all day long” he offers but one concrete example of Christians killing in the name of religion. And that example is Columbine.
I’m not at all sure where Tavis got this idea, but I can assure him that, while there was a specific religious belief that appears to have motivated Eric Harris, that belief was not Christianity. On the contrary, it was a type of atheism that explicitly despised Christianity.
The article continues at Verum Serum.
