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 The Branch Davidians, a religious sect led by David Koresh, clashed with federal agents in 1993 in Waco, Texas.
April 28th, 2013
06:00 AM ET
When religious beliefs become evil: 4 signsBy John Blake, CNN (CNN) - An angry outburst at a mosque. The posting of a suspicious YouTube video. A friendship with a shadowy imam. Those were just some of the signs that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, accused of masterminding the Boston Marathon bombings, had adopted a virulent strain of Islam that led to the deaths of four people and injury of more than 260. But how else can you tell that someone’s religious beliefs have crossed the line? The answer may not be as simple you think, according to scholars who study all brands of religious extremism. The line between good and evil religion is thin, they say, and it’s easy to make self-righteous assumptions. “When it’s something we like, we say it’s commitment to an idea; when it’s something we don’t like, we say it’s blind obedience,” said Douglas Jacobsen, a theology professor at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. Yet there are ways to tell that a person’s faith has drifted into fanaticism if you know what to look and listen for, say scholars who have studied some of history’s most horrific cases of religious violence. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter “There are a lot of warning signs all around us, but we usually learn about them after a Jim Jones or a David Koresh,” said Charles Kimball, author of “When Religion Becomes Evil.” Here are four warning signs: 1. I know the truth, and you don’t. On the morning of July 29, 1994, the Rev. Paul Hill walked up to John Britton outside an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Florida, and shot the doctor to death. Hill was part of a Christian extremist group called the Army of God, which taught that abortion was legalized murder. Hill’s actions were motivated by a claim that virtually all religions espouse: We have the truth that others lack. Those claims can turn deadly when they become absolute and there is no room for interpretation, Kimball says. “Absolute claims can quickly move into a justification of violence against someone who rejects that claim,” Kimball said. “It’s often a short step.” Healthy religions acknowledge that sincere people can disagree about even basic truths, Kimball says. The history of religion is filled with examples of truths that were once considered beyond questioning but are no longer accepted by all followers: inerrancy of sacred scripture, for example, or the subjugation of women and sanctioning of slavery. If someone like Hall believes that they know God’s truth and they cannot be wrong, watch out, Kimball says. “Authentic religious truth claims are never as inflexible as zealous adherents insist,” he writes in “When Religion Becomes Evil.” Yet there’s a flip side to warnings about claiming absolute truth: Much of religion couldn’t exist without them, scholars say. Many of history’s greatest religious figures – Moses, Jesus, the Prophet Mohammed – all believed that they had discovered some truth, scholars say. Ordinary people inflamed with a sense of self-righteousness have made the same claim and done good throughout history, says Carl Raschke, a theology professor at the University of Denver in Colorado. The Protestant Reformation was sparked by an angry German monk who thought he had the truth, Raschke says. “Martin Luther’s disgust at the worldliness of the papacy in the early 1500s inspired him to become a radical revolutionary whose ideas overturned the entire political structure in Europe,” Raschke said. So how do you tell the difference between the healthy claims of absolute truth and the deadly? Scholars say to look at the results: When people start hurting others in the name of their religious truth, they’ve crossed the line. 2. Beware the charismatic leader. It was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Japanese history. In March 1995, a religious sect called Aum Shinrikyo released a deadly nerve gas in a Tokyo subway station, leaving 12 people dead and 5,000 injured. Two months later, Japanese police found Shoko Asahara, the sect’s founder, hiding in a room filled with cash and gold bars. Kimball, who tells the story of the sect in “When Religion Becomes Evil,” says Asahara had poisoned the minds of his followers years before. Asahara demanded unquestioned devotion from members of his sect and isolated followers in communities where they were told that they no longer needed to think for themselves, Kimball says. Any religion that limits the intellectual freedom of its followers, he says, has become dangerous. “When you start to get individuals who are the sole interpreters of truth, you get people who follow them blindly." Charismatic leaders, though, often don’t start off being cruel. Jim Jones, who led the mass suicide of his followers in South America, was a gifted speaker who built an interracial church in San Francisco that did much good in the community. Few people at the beginning of his ministry could predict what he would become. As time went on, though, his charisma turned cruel as he tolerated no questions to his authority and became delusional. “Charismatic leadership is important, but in healthy religions, there’s always a process where questions are encouraged,” Kimball said. Weaning followers away from corrupt charismatic leaders and bad religion can take years, but it can be done if one knows how to speak their language, says Ed Husain, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt will often deploy imams to reach out to young men in prison who have adopted “Islamism,” or extreme forms of Islam sanctioning violence against civilians, says Husain, who has written about Muslim extremism. These Muslim clerics know the Quran better than the extremists and can use their knowledge to reach extremists in a place that logic and outsiders cannot penetrate, Husain said. “The antidote to extremism is religion itself,” Husain said. “The problem is not to take Islam out of the debate but to use Islam to counter Islamism.” 3. The end is near. In 1970, an unknown pastor from Texas wrote a book called “The Late, Great Planet Earth.” The book, which linked biblical prophecy with political events like Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, predicted the imminent return of an antichrist and the end of the world. Author Hal Lindsey’s book has sold an estimated 15 million copies and spawned a genre of books like the “Left Behind” series. Many people are fascinated by the idea that the heavens will open soon because the end is near. That end-times theology can turn lethal, though, when a follower decides that he or she will speed up that end-time by conducting some dramatic or violent act, says John Alverson, chairman of the theology department at Carlow University in Pittsburgh. “A religious terrorist mistakenly believes that God has ordained or called him or her to establish the will of God on Earth now, not gradually and not according to the slow and finicky free will of other humans,” Alverson said. Yet this impulse to see God’s intervention in human affairs now and not in some distant future can also be good, he says. There are vibrant religious communities that teach that political and economic injustice must be addressed now. Liberation theology, for example, was a movement among pastors and theologians in Latin America that called for justice for the poor now, not in some future apocalyptic event, Alverson says. “Hope is a good breakfast but not much of a supper,” Alverson said. “We can’t just live on the hope that justice will happen; we have to actually experience justice from time to time so that our hope can continue.” 4. The end justifies the means. It was one of the biggest scandals the Roman Catholic Church ever faced, and the repercussions are still being felt today. In January 2002, the Boston Globe published a story about Father John Geoghan, a priest who had been moved around various parishes after Catholic leaders learned that he had abused children. It was later revealed that Catholic officials had quietly paid at least $10 million to settle lawsuits against Geoghan. Kimball says the Catholic scandal revealed another sign that a faith has turned toxic: Religious figures start justifying doing something wrong for a higher good. “The common theme was trying to protect the integrity of the church,” Kimball said of some Catholic leaders who covered up the crimes. “You get all of these rationalizations that we can’t let this scandal bring the whole church down, so we have to pay off this family and send the priests off to rehab.” Religion is supposed to be a force for good. Still, it’s common that everyone from suicide bombers to venal church figures finds ways to justify their behavior in the name of some higher good. Those rationalizations are so pervasive that religious movements that avoid them stand out, scholars say. Jacobsen, the theology professor from Messiah College, cited the civil rights movement. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his fellow activists renounced violence, even as they were attacked and sometimes murdered. “They were willing to lay down their lives for what they believed in, but what’s incredible is, they practiced not retaliating when they suffered violence,” he said. “Those people really believed that God created everyone equal, and they were committed to the point of death.” In some ways, it’s easy to say we would never adopt a form of religion that’s evil. But when we use the word “evil” to describe those who kill in the name of their faith, we’re already mimicking what we condemn, Jacobsen says. In his new book, “No Longer Invisible: Religion in University Education,” Jacobson writes that calling a religion evil is dangerous because “bad or wrong actions can be corrected, but typically evil needs to be destroyed.” CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories “To label someone or something as evil is to demonize it, putting it in a category of otherness where the rules of normal life do not apply, where the end often justifies almost any means,” Jacobson writes. And when we do that, we don’t have to read about radical imams or look at angry YouTube videos to see how easy it is for someone to drift toward religious extremism, he says. We need only look at ourselves. soundoff (3,810 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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The A&A's get all bent out of shape when their gubmint god stops workin'. They corrupted it.
Do you have any clue as to what the hell you're babbling about half the time? Tell the rest of us, because no one seems to know. Moron.
I have to disagree with point #3 and the referencing of best selling Christian books such as Late Great Planet Earth and Left Behind series. These books have been read by millions of people and last time I checked no one has resorted to violence after reading them. To the contrary, people have been inspired by the message and reality that Jesus may come back at any time prompting them to live a more holy and righteous life. A better example for point #3 would be Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who described his main mission in a speech on Nov. 16, 2005 to “pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance.” He believes that by triggering world chaos via a nuclear attack on Israel could hasten the Mahdi's return and bring about global dominion of Islam and the end of the world. This is by far a much more frightening reality.
Ah yes. "My religion is fine, but other religious people are just crazy."
#3 is a valid point because it shows that religions fanatics will believe even the impossible to satisfy their pre-existing beliefs... That's the definition of fanaticism.
So in other words, the warning signs of fanaticism are that someone is religious?
No. Read it again. Or maybe just the four big headings in bold. Take your time. Reading can be hard.
1. I know the truth, and you don't.
This is the cornerstone of all faith-based religions.
2. Beware the charismatic leader.
Also an attribute of most faith-based religions. Ever hear of the Pope?
3. The end is near.
Talk to a Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, Baptist, Pentecostal, etc. Or just listen to any mainstream preacher telling us that we're living in the end times.
4. The ends justify the means.
Look at the people who justify the bombing of abortion clinics and the intimidation of women going into them. Look at the people who send threatening letters to people who make art they disagree with. Look at the Muslims who riot when a cartoonist dares to draw a picture of Mohammed.
So yes, I did read. Maybe you should try the critical thinking bit that comes after reading.
Religion provides a fertile ground in which fanaticism can grow.
Atheism is a Religion, their first church is in Canada...they've alway being an under shadow religion hoping not to get notice so they can keep committing atrocities. pretty much like dark matter that goes undetected til its too late for every one involved.
Virginia, your statement is rife with misuse of language. A country is not a church, even when it has a state religion. Calling atheism a religion may be fun, but it is useless to do so. How does it change anything if there was an atheist religion?
Definition of 'religion' – A set of beliefs centered around the existence of a god
It's impossible for atheism to be a religion, but I'm not surprised that people who believe in talking snakes can convince themselves that it is.
This has already been debunked. Let's move on folks.
OK, so you're more ignorant and uneducated than I presumed based on your last post below. My bad.
What atrocities? Citations to some of them, or you are a liar. And just because a group of atheists meet does not make it a religion, you uneducated tard.
Radical Islam has less to do with Islam and more to do with radical. The same applies to those coward losers who use Christianity as an excuse to murder. Neither the Bible nor the Koran condones killing innocent people for the sake of the religion.
True, the problem is the line between the two is narrow and not straight.
Wrong and wrong. Both texts condone (and in some places encourage) the killing of people who are seen to violate their god's laws. The Koran is worse than the Bible for that, but it takes a special kind of willful blindness to ignore all the passages that directly call for bloodshed.
Pffft.. Of course they condone killing innocent people. Ever read the old testament where the Israelites would go and slaughter ever man woman and child and even the livestock of some city? Fvck, all I have to do to be more moral than god is drown everyone on the planet except for 9.
Actually, the Koran does at various points condone killing non-believers, and the Bible also leaves it up to interpretation, though one of the Commandments "Though shalt not kill" kind of clarifies it. Mohammed killed and ordered killed literally hundreds of non-believers, and took many slaves. Not such a good example to follow. That's History, and try as we might, we can't change any more than we can change our own History of legal slave ownership in this Country.
And there's a new religion called Americanist, the most terroristic and violent of all, which suppresses independent thought, and justifies the killing of those who can't even locate America on the map, and does preemptive wars and wars of lies and makes rigid, draconian laws, and breaks those laws when convenient. This stupid american nationalism was on display after the "capture" of Joker Tsarnaev in Watertown, MA.
Ugh, I wish there was an edit button....
Radical Islamic terrorists are following many of the commands issued by God when he set up the rules originally. It's all in the Bible.
These signs point to some truths folks embrace. It is all about response. For example, I may agree that abortion is legalized murder, however, I cannot justify my cause by murdering a doctor. I become guilty of my own cause. You cannot bring about rightgeousness by evil means.
"Beware the charismatic leader". Exactly why everyone needs to keep a close eye on Barrack O'bama. It seems that some people are ready to follow him off a cliff in that he can do no wrong. Dangerous
Retard.
I'm not an Obama fan, but the people killed on his orders are terrorists zapped by drones, etc. I'm for that.
NEWSFLASH!!... Liberals don't love Obama, we tolerate him.. We just think he's better than the alternative, which is the return of Bush's policies.
And some people are ignorant enough to believe everything the right lies about.
Hey .. Thanks for making my point
Very, very true, and the "news" media, who SHOULD be our "watchers" is far and away the most guilty. I sometimes feel the media is more responsible than Obama himself – after all, who WOULDN'T do anything they wanted if there were an entire group of people cheering you on?
Why not talking about when also Atheist takes an evil turn?????
That's like talking about those who do not play chess when they turn evil. Grow a brain.
Like Mao and Stalin
Atheism doesn't take a turn to evil its from the roots evil....it might depart to become good at one point but that's extremism for them...
Elena
Because not believing in something does not lead to extremism. I cannot be extreme in my not believing.
virginia, dear, posting drivel twice does not improve it.
He forgot to mention that,- noneReligious/atheist also claim to know all truth- and are extremist on their views...
You don't seem to know much about atheism. You might want to just start with the wiki page to get some basics that are obviously missing based on your claims as to the atheist claims involving knowledge versus belief.
Yeah, how many atheists have killed in the name of atheism? Defending atheism? Answer: NONE. Moron.
Incorrect. When I do not know something, I say I do not know. I do not jump to the unjustified conclusion of goddidit.
There are many things we do not know, but we are trying to learn. You will not find answers in religion. The simple reason is, that all religions are man made, and make no attempt to find actual information.
What utter bullsh!t, virginia. You're the idiots who insist you know that a god created the universe. I do not know how the universe came to be and I'm willing to live with that uncertainty. I find it preferable to blind acceptance that some invisible giant snapped its fingers and poofed the entire universe into being.
Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao, etc ring a bell?
Read Animal Farm or just type religious persecution in 21st century into google.
Why would anyone think that Animal Farm is something anyone HASN'T read, you bozo?
There are extremist atheists just as their are extremist religious.
We can argue about the historical details, but can we all agree that religion has been hijacked by many leaders over history for cynical reasons to consolidate their power. They preyed on good people who craved truth and used them to do terrible things. They rallied those people around a very attractive idea of everlasting love in heaven. I don't think many leaders would have been successful using atheism in that way, its not attractive at all. People didn't kill to defend atheism, they killed under atheist leaders to avoid being killed themselves.
his actions had nothing to do with Islam, but every thing with his secular ism, self center ism, one has to be biased by his atheism, self center ism to lay it on Islam.
BS
Your writings have nothing to do with intelligence, please get a brain scan, you may have a serious brain malady.
No so sure......seems like feel in line with the extreme side of Islam like many other modern day terrorists. If this translation were not in the Koran you wouldn't be seeing these types of evil demonstrations
Atheism self center ism of secular, self centered, denial of truth absolute, foundation of hinduism religion.
What a complete and utter load of bull cr P. EVERYTHING to do with Islam and it's evil teachings. It's not like these guys are alone. Keep repeating your lies – maybe someone will believe them.
What a ridiculous article. 1) Problems arise not from having sincerely held beliefs, but when individuals or groups try to impose those beliefs on others. 2) You write a piece about religious extremism and only include passing references to Islamic terrorism, reaching back several decades looking for examples while ignoring the 100s of violent acts carried out in the name of Islam.
That's not quite correct WW – with all due respect – the problem arises when an MINORITY of a religion take it to EXTREMISM beyond that of the everyday worshiper. The same could be said of political PARTISAN EXTREMISM taking ideologies to a foaming-at-the-mouth level of activity.
Some minorities are larger than others....as is the case with radical muslim. 49% is a minority..
TRUTH IS, the anger and hatred toward Christ, and Christianity is becoming VERY clear recently. Court rooms are filled with atheist attorneys trying to have Christ removed from every public place in America. TRUTH IS, you can talk about any other god but Christ in a public setting. Once the name Christ is mentioned, parties over. It just amazes me that people who embrace today's form of tolerance and love, prove themselves to be the most intolerant people the world has ever known.
"trying to have Christ removed from every public place in America"
Bwaaaaa. what a cry baby. no it's not. what an idiot.
Oh bullshit. You Christians have been forcing your cult's beliefs into our laws and into our schools, etc. forever and once non_Christians fight against becoming a Christian theocracy you fanatics claim persecution. How pathetic.
When you try to force your religious beliefs on others, they're going to push back... Keep your religion to yourself and others will keep to themselves... The only thing atheists are intolerant of is intolerance.
Word GOD means truth absolute, do not paste any name or figure on it, and face atheism on their own turf, because, atheist, self centered deny truth absolute in life, very ignorant point of view, because, a plane can not fly without to be on a constant, truth of its purpose, nor any one can live without constant, truth of his existence. They violate consti tution of USA and claim to be American to hind, fool every one.
Hugh... The rash of lawsuits and such you refere to could be an enevitable result of generations of ills catching up with Modern Christians. I was raised Catholic in the Protestant Bible Belt south in the 60s/70s...... Yes, I would say that Christians have a lot to answer for.
Hugh
Religion is like a penis. It's ok to have one, and be proud of it, but when you take it out and wave it in my face , we have a problem.
When I am in a courtroom, and I see the lie "In god we trust", or a bible to swear in on, or the 10 Commandments in OUR courts and OUR schools, the exclusionary statement "under god" in OUR pledge of allegience ( a clear case of christianity not only not bringing people together, but arrogantly excluding people), it is christianity waving itself in my face and we have a problem.
No Religion > Some Religion > Fanatical Religion.
All religion is man made baloney. Some just believe more passionately about baloney than others. Those people we call extremists. Get rid of the baloney and you will see an amazing reduction in baloney related violence.
To say, "Religion is good, but religious extremism is bad" is just as silly to say, "Poison is good, but A LOT of poison is bad".
Food is good. Too much food is bad. Water is good. Too much water is bad.
As for none, every empty vessel longs to be filled with something.
– You are 17,600 times more likely to die from heart disease than from a terrorist attack
– You are 12,571 times more likely to die from cancer than from a terrorist attack
— You are 11,000 times more likely to die in an airplane accident than from a terrorist plot involving an airplane
— You are 1048 times more likely to die from a car accident than from a terrorist attack
–You are 404 times more likely to die in a fall than from a terrorist attack
— You are 87 times more likely to drown than die in a terrorist attack
– You are 13 times more likely to die in a railway accident than from a terrorist attack
–You are 12 times more likely to die from accidental suffocation in bed than from a terrorist attack
–You are 9 times more likely to choke to death on your own vomit than die in a terrorist attack
–You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist
–You are 8 times more likely to die from accidental electrocution than from a terrorist attack
– You are 6 times more likely to die from hot weather than from a terrorist attack
and?
You are more likely to be killed by falling coconuts than by shark, but no one seems to be afraid of coconuts.
I haven't ever seen "Coconut week" on Discovery Channel either.
Yea, try living in the Middle East and then weigh your chances of survival.
It only takes one terrorist attack that you are involved in for you to die.
Saying that "the line between good and evil can be thin" is just political correctness to make people feel better. We all know evil when we see it.
No we don't...
why are we never taught in school how to observe our thoughts, and see how they cannot be trusted?
"Those who can get you to believe absurdities can get you to commit atrocities"
Voltaire
Unfortunately for us rational thinkers, "absurd ideology" is defined by popularity, not reasonability.
What is absurd is that many want to believe Atheism is not a religion. I guess Pol Pot was a firm believer then!
It's easy to believe that a stick is not a train. It's even easier to believe that atheism is not a religion. The facts are obvious.
You're an idiot, Atheist, Me? That made no sense.
Atheist, me?, do you even read what you type?
Atheism isn't a religion, dope.
What is absurd is that Atheist, me? doesn't know the difference between atheism, totalitarianism, and religion. Or any of the definitions thereof.
Atheist, me? – Anyone who believes atheism is a religion doesn't know what the word atheism means.
"You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means." ~Inigo Montoya
And Voltaire is right (as usual) because hey, they were dealing with the same crap in the 18th century!
Do you know you can study Atheism at a Theological Seminary?
So what? You could learn English at one, too, but it's obvious you never did, AM.
Atheist, me?..............go pound sand !
You GOD must be dead if you have to kill for him. He can make life but you have to take it away but innocent people die to soon and god needed them in heaven. YEAH IT SOUNDS LIKE CIRCLES MADE TO PROTECT YOUR RATIONAL THINKING FROM TELLING YOU THE TRUTH.
Read the Bible son!
Yep. Read the bible. Reading the bible honestly and critically made me an atheist.
Momoya
I am not sure you want to travel that road with me again, do u?