For God's Sake by Antony Loewenstein

Author:Antony Loewenstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Published: 2013-05-26T00:00:00+00:00

Does religious conviction provide a powerful reason for killing? Undeniably it often does. It also often provides the sole compelling reason for refusing to kill, or for being merciful, or for seeking peace; only the profoundest ignorance of history could prevent one from recognising this. For the truth is that religion and irreligion are cultural variables, but killing is a human constant.113

I can’t let Jane get away with the claim that no one has killed in the name of atheism. Presumably this stems from her idea that atheism is merely a lack of belief with no positive entailments. The millions killed at the hands of the twentieth century’s worst dictators might beg to differ. To say that Mao, Stalin and Pol Pot’s murderous totalitarianism had nothing to do with their atheism is to completely misunderstand them and the ideologies on which their actions rested.

But on the question of religion and violence – and especially Christ­ian history and violence – I think Yale theologian Miroslav Volf is especially helpful, with his idea of ‘thin’ and ‘thick’ religion. Have Christians been guilty of terrible violence over the centuries? Indeed they have. But it is abundantly clear that the story of Jesus gives absolutely no warrant for this violence. Anyone behaving that way is disobeying the one they claim to be following.

The Apostle Paul wrote that people who follow Jesus are to imitate his life in the here and now. As Christ died in self-giving love for the godless, Paul urges Christians towards non-violent engagement with the world. According to this teaching, to seek to conquer evil with evil is to be conquered by evil; evil can only be overcome with good.114

Christianity will only be violent, says Volf, if it is stripped of its content – thinned out – and infused with a different set of values. This is often what happens when Christianity is employed to legitimise violence. God is declared to be ‘on our side’ and people see themselves as soldiers of God. Faith is commandeered for ambitions and conquests that are extraneous to the faith, and it’s a lethal combination. Volf writes:

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