Some common sense amid the ongoing demonization campaign (with a few PC myths thrown in, not reproduced below). “Why Islamist terror dwarfs Breivik’s brand: Almost nobody supports ‘Christianist’ violence,” by James Kirchick in the New York Daily News, August 2 (thanks to Twostellas):
In the wake of the mass murder of 77 people in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik, there is a new chorus of voices eager to create a simple equation between “Christianist,” anti-Muslim violence and the Islamist terrorism that targets America, its allies and, indeed, Muslims around the world, including most spectacularly on 9/11. […]
Breivik’s ideology does not represent the same sort of threat that Islamism does because it is not shared by nearly as many people, governments or institutions. Aside from a handful of anonymous Internet postings, there have been no avowals of support for Breivik’s mass murder. No influential Christian preachers have praised what he did. There were no celebrations in the streets, nor has any government applauded his attempt to “save” Europe from “Islamization.” The only organizational backing for Breivik’s massacre appears to have come from a 12th century crusader outfit called the “Knights Templar,” which, as far as we know, exists nowhere but in his own deranged head. […]
And by contrast:
A poll published this year by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found that 68% of Palestinians support suicide bombing, and that, while support for terrorism among Muslim populations has declined over the past decade, 15% of Jordanians, 22% of Indonesians and 21% of Egyptians have a positive opinion of Al Qaeda. […]
Violent extremism of all religious hues must be combatted. But to pretend that “Christianist” ideology represents anywhere near the same menace as Islamism does is a dangerous illusion.
Ah, but a useful one in many quarters.