Take it or leave it, terrorism is a religious global threat to humanity, irrespective of race and nationality.
Reportedly, Uganda is the latest (and so far the 33rd) country to get hit by terrorists, that’s if indeed the 7/11 Kampala bombings were carried out by the Al-Shabaab – an Islamist militant group – that expressed delight and claimed responsibility saying it’s a message to the Ugandan government to withdraw its troops from Mogadishu, Somalia. The bomb blasts killed at least 76 people and injured many others that were at Kyadondo rugby ground and the Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala, on the unfortunate night when virtually everyone’s attention was on the 2010 World Cup final match between Spain and Netherlands or Paul the octopus!
Now the country is on a high security alert because the Al-Shabaab threatened to carry on with more attacks on Kampala and Bujumbura (Burundi) if the respective governments do not heed the message. Understandably, in the wake of the attack, Uganda’s President Gen.Yoweri Kaguta Museveni took time off his countrywide assessment tour of the Prosperity-For-All program in Ntungamo district and convened an emergence press conference to address the country on the security threat. Predictably, being the soldier he is (‘once a soldier, always a soldier’), Museveni vowed to deal with (“crush”) the Al-Shabaab in the biblical Moses’ an-eye-for-an-eye style by deploying more 20,000 troops in addition to the ones already in Somalia.
While addressing the AU summit in Kampala, Museveni again urged his fellow African leaders to join hands in getting rid of terrorists in Somalia and Africa, and so they agreed to deploy more 2000 troops. At the risk of sounding unpatriotically cynical, the war against terrorism is a tricky one that I reasonably doubt can be defeated through conventional warfare, especially in Africa. The USA, with all its military might and resources, tried this approach and failed, though they can’t admit it. That poor Africa may succeed with the same costly approach is simply unrealistic. Question is, Which approach or counterterrorism idea is more effective than an-eye-for-an-eye?
Well, to get a solution to a problem, one ought to understand its cause. And, let’s face it; blind belief/faith is the root and breeding ground of terrorism, of which Africa is pretty vulnerable with plenty of potential terrorists (a.k.a conservative believers).
Because, according to the holy scriptures (both the Bible and Qur’an), a true believer in the supernatural Almighty ‘God’ of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) will do whatever it takes, including (and not limited to) killing or dying to appease God or prove his/her strong belief in Him (Yahweh or Allah), like Abraham ("the great grandfather of all believers") who was willing to sacrifice his own son; after all he/she would be abundantly rewarded for it in the hereafter (heaven). That explains a lot about the terrorists’ spirit and actions such as suicide bombings. So terrorists believe they’re fighting a holy war (jihad) in the name of ‘God’, the ‘God’ of Abraham or Ibrahim of the Bible and Qur’an!
It’s such shared and unquestioned beliefs that sustain evils like terrorism because terrorists use them to recruit other gullible believers, and Africa is full of believers of the kind.
Unfortunately, religion enjoys worldwide untouchable privilege or "undeserved respect" as Richard Dawkins calls it in his conscious-raising (indeed!) book ‘The God Delusion‘. An extract of the brilliant late Douglas Adam’s impromptu speech at Cambridge puts it well:
“Religion… has certain ideas at the heart of which we call sacred or holy or whatever. What it means is, ‘Here is an idea or a notion that you’re not allowed to say anything bad about; you’re just not. Why not? – because you’re not!’…Yet when you look at it rationally there is no reason why those ideas shouldn’t be as open to debate as any other,”
…that’s what makes terrorism even more tricky!
Otherwise, in a nutshell, since prevention is better than cure, the most viable approach for curbing terrorism would be ensuring safety of the citizenry through security alert measures and mass sensitization against the deadly blind faith or beliefs that encourage it. That is, religion should be subjected to questioning so as to curb possible recruitment of the ignorant or gullible and vulnerable believers; for all we know, the Al-Shabaabs and Al-Qaeda may have already recruited many Ugandans and Africans.
Hassan Higenyi
6 comments
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August 9, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Henry
Again this is the ‘ gun and the shooter ‘ all over again!
true as it may be, Religion may have, as you put it, undeserved respect.. you cant blame terrorism on them!
a weapon usually has its master!
terrorism is not related to religion… even in your article its clear that there are two different things!
Kind regards
August 9, 2010 at 4:55 pm
9/11 epic poet
“Because, according to the holy scriptures (both the Bible and Qur’an), a true believer in the supernatural Almighty ‘God’ of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) will do whatever it takes, including (and not limited to) killing or dying to appease God or prove his/her strong belief in Him (Yahweh).”
Actually, this is not a true statement about most forms of Christianity, even conservative, fundamentalist Christianity.
Let me clarify what fundamentalist Christians believe.
They believe that God is sovereign and that we should obey Him always. We believe that during the times of the Old Testament, God did legitamately command the Jews to kill certain other tribes, like you say. Many of us also believe that in the future battle of Armaggeddon, Christ will return and kill unbelievers who have raised up an army against Him with the antiChrist.
Having said that, we do not believe in war for religious reasons at this time. We believe in patriotism-fighting for ones country-but not for our religion. Instead, our “battle” today is a battle of words and ideas. Christ Himself, whom we believe is God, set the example for us by allowing Himself to be killed rather than kill. We are to do the same. We are supposed to so love to our enemies instead of vengeance, so that they can become our brothers, even if they kill us in the process. Only a few rogue groups of Christians endorse religious militancy at this point in time. Many Christians have supported religious militancy in the past (I.E. the crusades) but they were clearly disobeying the new testament.
John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
August 9, 2010 at 6:49 pm
Cosmic
Mathew 10:34
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” — Jesus
1. Why would a just all forgiving God command Jews to kill other tribes. The sheer irony in that statement is almost repulsive. Just for a moment think about it, If God is really God:
a) He is a God for everyone, not just a certain select people.
b) He does not need to employ you to do his killing for him, it is so important for him to kill other tribes, he would not even have created them.
2. The idea that Christ will return to kill humans. I think God should be able to kill from up above quite easily right? Why does he have to descend all the way to do such a menial task.
3. Again, the your conflict yourself. You can kill for the country but not for Christ? So it is okay to kill after all. What kind of laws are these that are so conflicting. Also if you study some history you will see that Christians killed for many 100s of years in the name of God, in fact it was a holy duty. Many years after Christ had ascended… what has changed? Are we now using a different Bible?
4. Of course the cursaders were not disobeying anything. Mathew 10:34
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” — Jesus, plus many other verses.
5. If the old testament does not make sense. cut it out completely.
August 10, 2010 at 5:33 pm
James Onen
@ 9/11 Epic Poet
You said:
Ha ha ha ha..this is hilarious. So Jesus is coming back to kills us?
*Sigh* ….to think I used to believe this nonsense.
August 19, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Hassan
holy molly…Cosmic, damn you you’ve blown even the soft spot i had for moderates who want to think the Old Testament and the Koran had it wrong, even in the New Testament (Matthew)…gosh! There’s Cosmic truth for believers, i guess!
Now, Henry and 9/11 epic poet, quit contradicting yourselves; disagreeing to agree with reality huh?
Anyway, for argument’s sake let’s say Henry has point that religion is the ‘gun’ or weapon (and i partially agree, by the way) and terrorists are the shooters: now then, would a shooter be called a shooter without a weapon (gun i.e religion)?! Wake up to reality… oh, a good case in point (if it’s anything to go by) are the 7/11 Kampala bombing suspects’ accounts/confessions, among other things.
September 3, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Keith
Killing in the name of God and killing because of God are not the same things at all. People should stop mixing the two.
For example, if I came up to you with a gun and claimed I’m killing you in the name of God, doesn’t mean God or my belief in him compelled me to do it. It just means I’m an aspiring murderer who has deluded my self into absolving my own guilt at committing the crime by laying the blame for my own actions and decision process on external things other than myself. It’s not my belief in a God or what he has told me but my own desire to use what I’ve been told as I see fit, to suit my own ends that would lead me to all that. Yet, if I got caught after my crime, the law wouldn’t put my beliefs on the electric chair. Its me who would be there instead.
Thus blame the believer not what he claims to believe in. For not all claims stems from truth.
@ Cosmic:
1. Don’t quote things out of context. It distorts the discussion needlessly.
When Jesus said this ”“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” He wasn’t talking about real war. He was talking about the fact that any belief in him would spread divisions through out the world. From the home to the nation state. A division between those who choose to believe and those who choose not to. Even this website alone is a fulfillment of that statement.
2. ”The idea that Christ will return to kill humans.”
Christ won’t be returning just to kill humans. He will be returning firstly to finally end a war against an old enemy, taking place on an Earthly battlefield, and secondly, to protect that which he promised to protect. Any claim that he will return just to kill humans is as bad as the fundamentalist nonsense invading Christianity and Islam to day.
” I think God should be able to kill from up above quite easily right? Why does he have to descend all the way to do such a menial task.”
Of course he could. Yet if he did, he’d not be staying true to his own word. He said he’d return the same way he went back. If he doesn’t then he isn’t God. God can not disobey himself.
3. ”Again, the your conflict yourself. You can kill for the country but not for Christ? So it is okay to kill after all.”
That is a very misleading statement. You are trying to equate murdering for the faith to defending the rights of your country which is wrong. They a rent really the same thing. the same way actively committing murder and killing in self defence are not the same thing. Even though they both result in death.
Never forget that as a christian, like very citizen a person is required to obey the laws of his country. Which includes protecting it from harm when called upon when the cause is 100% just. If one has to go to war to protect it from actual (not perceived) harm and evil being done to it. So be it. You are not allowed to stand aside and let evil prosper over those you should protect and over your duties to society.
Secondly, as a christian, no one is allowed to kill for the faith. For it is forbidden to murder anyone who doesn’t believe in God as you do. For we are forbidden to judge anyone when we ourselves are not sinless. Sadly too many of my brethren break that spoken rule.