Christian Terrorist Organizations

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_terrorism

Army of God

In 1998, letters were sent to news organizations and law enforcement claiming the Army of God carried out several of the attacks attributed to Eric Rudolph. The Army of God is considered a violent offshoot of Christian Identity[citation needed], a white supremacist religion considered anti-gay, anti- Semitic and anti-foreigner. An independent group utilizing a sort of leaderless resistance, not really an organization which holds meetings and large numbers of subscribers, the Army of God dates back more than 20 years and is linked to an underground movement whose members are trained to evade surveillance and to use violence as a method of protest including opposition to abortion.[71][72] Army of God members have records associated with numerous acts of violence including bombings, shootings, and killings.[73]

The Army of God is an anti-abortion terrorist organization which holds that their activity is lawful and theologically justified: using deadly force to end abortion in the United States.[74] In 1985 Rev. Mike Bray, the "chaplain" of the Army of God,[75] was convicted of destroying seven abortion facilities in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, causing damages of over $1 million. Rev. Paul Hill, an associate of the Army of God, shot and killed Dr. John Britton in Pensacola, Florida in 1994.[4]:11 James Kopp, a member of the Army of God, shot and killed Dr. Barnett Slepian in 1998.[76]

In 2001, at the height of the United States anthrax scare, more than 170 abortion clinics and doctors offices in 14 states received letters containing white powder and the message "You have been exposed to anthrax. We are going to kill all of you. Army of God, Virginia DARE Chapter."[77] In December 2003 Clayton Waagner was convicted for these attacks.[75] Waagner had entered the home of antiabortion militant Neal Horsley, tied him up and held him at gunpoint, and then made a taped confession. Ann Glazier, director of clinic security at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said that during the trial Waagner had "repeatedly bragged that he had been the most wanted man in America and that he was a terrorist. It was unbelievable."[75] Salon magazine reported that whilst the press had generally called Waagner a terrorist, they "studiously avoid use of the word 'Christian'".[75] Chip Berlet, senior analyst at Political Research Associates, said "If Waagner had been a self-identified Muslim terrorist instead of a Christian terrorist, he'd have been lynched by now...But if it's fair to say if we can see the religious motivations in the Taliban, we ought to be able to see them in Waagner or Eric Rudolph."[75]

A group which "is not so much an organization” but more of “a shared set of ideas and enemies,”[78] the Army of God utilizes “Leaderless Resistance” a tactic of irregular warfare used against the American government employed by some members of the radical right. The Army of God, whose ultimate goal is establishing a Christian theocracy through violence, claims that the murder of abortion doctors is "justifiable homicide,” exemplifying the group’s evolving philosophy from violence against property to violence against individuals.[79]

An Army of God manual found buried in the yard of Rochelle "Shelly" Shannon, an Oregon activist convicted of shooting Wichita doctor George Tiller, provides detailed and explicit instructions for home-brewing plastic explosives, fashioning detonators, deactivating alarm systems, cutting phone, gas, and water lines, and includes the statement: "Annihilating abortuaries is our purest form of worship." However, according to records compiled over a period of twelve years by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and besieged clinics which included 123 cases of arson, 37 bombings in 33 states, and more than 1,500 cases of stalking, assault, sabotage and burglary, a large portion of staff time was devoted to routine women's reproductive health care - pap smears, teaching and supplying birth control methods, and treating sexually transmitted diseases – not to abortions. Some of the clinics targeted did not provide abortion services but were subjected to violence nonetheless.[80]

Christian Identity

Christian Identity is a loosely affiliated global group of churches and individuals devoted to a racialized theology that asserts North European whites are the direct descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, God's chosen people.[81][82] Christian Identity includes such Christian terrorist groups as The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA), Phineas Priesthood and the Oklahoma Constitutional Militia, also known as the Universal Church of God. Christian Identity is also related to other groups such as Aryan Nations, Aryan Republican Army (ARA) and the Patriots Council.[citation needed]

Christian Identity has been associated with terrorist Eric Robert Rudolph, who carried out a series of bombings across the southern United States, which killed three people and injured at least 150 others, because he violently opposed abortion and homosexuality as contrary to Christian doctrine. His mother spent time with Nord Davis, a Christian Identity ideologue who wrote propaganda claiming that the world was controlled by Jews, and which advocated killing gays and those who engaged in mixed-race relationships.[81] Rudolph's sister-in-law claimed that he was a member of the sect, but Rudolph claims to have only been a member of a Christian Identity church for six months because he was dating the daughter of Identity Pastor Dan Gayman, and wrote "I was born a Catholic, and with forgiveness I hope to die one."[83] Idaho State University sociology professor James A. Aho said, "I would prefer to say that Rudolph is a religiously inspired terrorist, because most mainstream Christians consider Christian Identity to be a heresy."[82]

Christian Identity has been associated with Peter Kevin McGregor Langan and Richard "Wild Bill" Guthrie, founders of the Aryan Republican Army (ARA), a paramilitary gang which has been connected to hate fueled terrorist attacks involving train derailments, assassinations, bombings and a string of professionally executed armed bank robberies planned to finance an overthrow of the US Federal government.[84][82] Similar social, cultural, and personal motivations have linked the ARA to a loose network of extreme radical right paramilitary cells including the White Supremacy movement and Christian Identity.[84]

South African branches of Christian Identity have been accused of involvement in terrorist activity, including the 2002 Soweto bombings.[85]

Aryan Nations

Aryan Nations is a white supremacist group founded by Richard Butler, with headquarters listed as a Lexington, S.C. post office box. In 2007, a 36-year-old man, Jason Hamilton, who had ties to the Aryan Nations, fatally shot himself in a Presbyterian church after killing his wife, a police officer, a church sexton, and wounding three men.[86] Aryan Nations doctrine follows that of Christian Identity which claims that Europeans are the lost tribe of Israel, Jews are satanic, blacks are subhuman, and the Federal Government is illegal.[87]

In 1999, a member of the neo-Nazi organization, Buford O. Furrow Jr., confessed to FBI in the killing of a fill-in mail carrier, and the wounding of five other people in a Jewish community center. Aryan Nations followers admire Adolf Hitler and claim that minority group members are "mud people" and spawns of Satan. Authorities quoted Furrow as saying he wanted his act to be "a wake-up call to America to kill Jews." Furrow had also once told police that he often fantasized about suicide, while neighbors, associates, and court records stated that Furrow had a long history of mental illness and had interests in white supremacist religion and paramilitary. Furrow who was an officer of the internal security force of the Aryan Nations reportedly stockpiled weapons and ammunition, abused his wife, and once daydreamed about shooting people at random in a shopping mall near Seattle.[88] Less than an hour after opening fire at the Jewish community center and wounding three little boys and two female workers, Furrow gunned down Joseph Ileto, a U.S. postal worker. Furrow reportedly told investigators he considered killing the mail carrier a "good opportunity" because Ileto was nonwhite and worked for the federal government.[89] Furrow was reportedly second husband to Debbie Mathews, the widow of Robert J. Mathews, domestic terrorist who died in a shootout with Federal authorities in 1994 and the founder of a U.S. neo-Nazi group called the Order which was involved in a campaign of assassinations, bombings and robberies. The Order was supposedly broken apart by arrests, internal dissent and killings; however, some members vowed to strike at targets in small groups or alone, committing violent acts against Jews, blacks, homosexuals or abortion providers thereby earning membership in a loose-knit fraternity of racists who call themselves priests, the Phineas Priesthood. Richard Kelly Hoskins, author of many books about race and banking, one of which was found in Furrow's van, wrote, "As the kamikaze is to the Japanese, as the Shiite is to Islam, as the Zionist is to the Jew, so the Phineas Priest is to Christiandom." Interviewed from his home in Lynchburg, Va., Mr. Hoskins said the book found in Furrow's possession, "War Cycles/Peace Cycles," was about "the history of usury," including what he called "the traditional Jewish presence in banking," and wrote on his Web page that the book explains "the necessity for assassination of national leaders."[90] For the August 1999 shootings in which five people were wounded and one man killed, Furrow received two life sentences plus 110 years in prison.[91]

Christian Patriots

The anti-federalist, extremist tax-resistance movements, seditious beliefs, religious and racial hatred of the American militia movement and other contemporary white supremacist organizations in association with the broader Christian Patriot movement actively incorporate Christian scripture and biblical liturgy to justify and support violent activities.[92]:105–120 Timothy McVeigh who, along with his accomplice Terry Nichols, carried out the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, has admitted to a belief in Christian Patriotism and involvement in Patriot activities.[93]

Lambs of Christ

The Lambs of Christ is an anti-abortion terrorist organization which holds that their activity is lawful and theologically justified: using deadly force to end abortion in the United States.[94] James Kopp, who shot and killed Dr. Barnett Slepian in 1998, was a Lambs of Christ activist and a member of the Army of God.[94][76]

Nagaland Rebels

The Nagaland Rebels is a coalition of rebel groups operating in Nagaland, North-East India. The largest of these is the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM), which is fighting for the establishment of a "Nagaland for Christ".[95][96] The NSCN-IM have carried out numerous acts of terrorism against the Indian Army, other ethnic groups, and opponents within their own ethnic group.[95] The insurgency has been waged since the 1947 Indian declaration of independence, and has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.[95]

Baruah writes that "Christianity is an essential part of Naga identity"; the NSCN-IM estimate that 95% of Nagas are Christian.[97] According to Gordon Means "the religious issue cannot be overlooked... A great number of Nagas are Christians... the Naga Federal Government (NFG) could play upon the fear of many Nagas that within the Indian Union the religious freedom of a small Christian minority would be compromised. An independence movement that can cloak itself in the garb of both nationalism and religious righteousness has an initial advantage. And there can be no doubt that the rebel Nagas are a sincerely pious lot. By all accounts, hymn singing and prayers constitute an important part of their daily routine in their jungle hide-outs. The vice-president of the NFG, Mr. Mhiasiu, was a preacher before joining the underground. Serving as chaplains for the Home Guards are many Baptist ministers."[98]

Groups in the former Yugoslavia

According to Michael Sells, religious mythology played a crucial role in the Yugoslav wars and Bosnian genocide.[8]:backcover He wrote about the religious ideology of Christoslavism, "In the nineteenth century, the three myths - conversion to Islam based only upon cowardice and greed, stable ethnoreligious groups down through the centuries, and complete depravity of Ottoman rule - became the foundation for a new religious ideology, Christoslavism, the belief that Slavs are Christian by nature and that any conversion from Christianity is a betrayal of the Slavic race."[8]:36

Sells asserts that the genocide in Bosnia "was religiously motived and religiously justified. Religious symbols, mythologies, myths of origin (pure Serb race), symbol of passion (Lazar's death), and eschatological longings (the resurrection of Lazar) were used by religious nationalists to create a re-duplicating Miloš Obilić, avenging himself on the Christ killer, the race traitor, the alien, and, ironically, the falsely accused 'fundamentalist' next door. The ideology operated not only in speeches and manifestos, but in specific rituals of atrocity. Survivors of concentration camps report that during torture sessions or when they begged for water they were made to sing Serbian religious nationalist songs reworded to reflect the contemporary conflict."[8]:89-90

Norman Cigar asserts that, according to the world's respected fact-gathering organizations, the Serbs committed over 90% of the war crimes and 100% of the genocide in Bosnia. Together, Croats and Muslims committed under 10% of the atrocities.[99]

Tsar Lazar Guard

The Tsar Lazar Guard is the paramilitary wing of the Movement of Veterans of Serbia. Its president Željko Vasiljević called it the "first uniformed Christian militia squad, comprised of war veterans from all over Serbia".[100] The group was officially formed at a swearing in ceremony at the Lazarica Church in Kruševac on 5th May 2007. The group is said to have 5000 troops.[101] The United Nations and NATO have classed Tsar Lazar's Guard as a terrorist group.[101] Tsar Lazar's Guard have threatened to attack United Nations and NATO troops if Kosovo declares independence, and have stated their desire to detonate a nuclear bomb in Kosovo.[102]

White Eagles

The White Eagles were a Serbian paramilitary group which carried out a number of atrocities and massacres during the Croatian and Bosnian wars, and acts of terror over the non-Serb population.[103][104] Mirko Jović, leader of the White Eagles, called for a "Christian, Orthodox Serbia with no Muslims and no unbelievers".[8]:80

Group in Poso, Indonesia

On July 26, 2007, 17 Christians were convicted of religion-inspired terrorism under Indonesian law. A Christian mob attacked, murdered, and beheaded two Muslim fishermen in September 2006, reportedly as retaliation for the execution in 2006 of three Christian farmers, who were convicted of leading a militant group which killed hundreds of Muslims in Poso in 2000, an execution that attracted a plea for clemency from the pope, and accusations from Amnesty International that the trial was unfair.[105][106]

The convictions come in the context of seven years of violence between Christian and Muslim groups in the province, including the beheading of three Christian schoolgirls on the way to school and the deaths of hundreds of Muslims and Christians, and campaigns of religious cleansing on both sides.[107]

God's Army

God's Army is a Christian revolutionary group in armed rebellion against the military government of Burma. God's Army consists of around 100-200 veteran fighters, and is led by two twin brothers, who are believed by their followers to be immune to bullets.[108]

Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan are proponents of a fundamentalist Christian theology strongly influenced by Christian Reconstructionism, hoping to "reconstruct" the United States along biblical (primarily Old Testament) lines and establish a white-dominated theocracy.[109][110] They have often used terrorism, violence, and acts of intimidation, such as cross burning and lynching, to oppress African Americans and other social or ethnic groups. Hundreds of indictments for crimes of violence and terrorism have been issued against them, and many Klan members have been prosecuted.[111]

The Ku Klux Klan consists of many subgroups who have individually carried out terrorist acts. One example is the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, who in 1998 were found guilty of burning a 100-year-old black Baptist church to the ground.[112]

National Liberation Front of Tripura

Allegedly funded by the Baptist Church of Tripura, it is accused of ethnic cleansing[113] and bombings that have killed hundreds, as well as forcing gunpoint conversions. They were declared a terrorist organization under the Indian Prevention of Terrorism Act in 2002. And their stated goals include the overthrow imperialism, capitalism and neo-colonialism by way of armed struggle so they can form a distinct and independent Borok civilization in Twipra.[114] They state that they have been completely marginalized by the immigration of nonnative peoples, been oppressed socio-politically, and economically exploited. They believe they are facing an identity crisis due to chauvinism and imperialism from what they call the so-called Aryan descendants of Hindustan(India).[115][114]

Sons of Freedom

Sons of Freedom are a sect of religious anarchists who believe man owes allegiance only to God, part of a Russian nonconformist movement called the Doukhobors (literally "spirit wrestlers") who came to Canada in 1899. Until 1962, the capital of the Sons of Freedom was a village in British Columbia, Krestova (which in Russian means "City of the Cross", to which, in 1966, the Sons of Freedom returned. The Sons of Freedom have used violence, terrorism, arson and explosives in their defiance of all "worldly" authority including the Canadian government, rebelling against laws requiring their children to attend school, government efforts to force relinquishment of their squatters' rights, and Canadian taxes. In 1961, the Freedomites' violence peaked as they bombed towns from Nelson to New Denver, blaming the government for the 1924 murder of Peter Lordly. As signs of protest the Sons of Freedom have marched nude, blown up power pylons, railroad bridges, and set fire to homes, often targeting their own property.[116]

Lebanese groups

Guardians of the Cedars

The Guardians of the Cedars is the paramilitary wing of the banned Lebanese Renewal Party, and one of several Christian militias active in the Lebanese Civil War.[117] From 1973 their slogans have included "No Palestinian will remain on Lebanese soil" and "A good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian".[118] According to Judith Tucker, "the Guardians of the Cedars played an important role in terrorist strategy throughout the wars in Lebanon... They are best known today for the numberous attacks and cold-blooded murders of Palestinian civilians in the Sidon region."[118] In an interview carried out by the Jerusalem Post, leader Abu Arz said that Palestinians should be ethnically cleansed from Lebanon "We shall drive them to the borders of 'brotherly' Syria and tell them to keep walking. Anyone who looks back, stops or returns will be shot on the spot. When I suggest that such harsh procedures might put the Christian world against them, he simply says: 'We are the Christian world.'"[119]

Lebanese Forces

The Lebanese Forces (also known as the Christian Phalangist Militia) is a right wing group who drew their ideological support from Maronite monks, and were one of several Christian militias active in the Lebanese Civil War.[120][121] The group carried out the Sabra and Shatila massacre, in which an estimated 700-3500 refugees were murdered. Leader Samir Geagea and Deputy Commander Fu'ad Malik have been convicted for acts of domestic terrorism and war crimes.[122]

Groups in Northern Ireland

According to Mark Juergensmeyer, religion was a contributing factor to terrorism in Northern Ireland; he wrote "Like residents of Belfast and London, Americans were beginning to learn to live with acts of religious terrorism: shocking, disturbing incidents of violence laced with the passion of religion - in these cases, Christianity"[4]:19 and "The violence in Northern Ireland is justified by still other theological positions, Catholic and Protestant."[4]:20 and "The ferocity of religious violence was brought home to me in 1998 when I received the news that a car bomb had exploded in a Belfast neighborhood I had visited the day before.[4]:4

Sweeney also argued that the Irish cause was religious in nature "in the eyes of many ordinary Irish people... The martyrs and their cause became sacred".[12] Martin Dillon also asserts that religion was a factor in Northern Irish terrorism - he interviewed paramilitaries on both sides of the conflict, questioning how they could reconcile murder with their Christian convictions.[47] His interviewees included Kenny McClinton, a convicted murderer who once advocated beheading Roman Catholics and impaling their heads on railings, and who is now Pastor of the Ulster/American Christian Fellowship Ministry, and Billy Wright, a Born again Christian preacher who became one of the most feared paramilitary figures in Northern Ireland, and who accepts that, although his faith calls for him to defend his people, his own actions in this defense could lead to damnation (see Notable individuals).

The conflict was also cast in religious terms by some of its more notable leaders, for example First Minister of Northern Ireland The Revd. and Rt. Hon. Ian Paisley, who preached that the Roman Catholic Church, which he termed the "Popery", had deviated from the Bible, and therefore from true Christianity, giving rise to "revolting superstitions and idolatrous abuses". Paisley once said "The Provisional IRA is the military wing of the Roman Catholic Church"[123] and has claimed several times that the Pope is the Antichrist, mostly famously at the European Parliament, where he interrupted a speech by Pope John Paul II, shouting "I denounce you as the Antichrist!" and holding up a red poster reading "POPE JOHN PAUL II ANTICHRIST".[124][125]

Organized paramilitary crime, including drugs and racketeering, have threatened civil society in Ireland as gangs with both Catholic and Protestant ties have engaged in activities such as "drug dealing, counterfeiting and forgery, money-laundering, benefits fraud, car theft, arms trading, extortion and cross-border smuggling" and influencing employment.[126] The Loyalist Volunteer Force, a Protestant paramilitary group which makes large sums of money trafficking in drugs and death, have a reputation for humiliating women and often hire themselves out as assassins. The gang has been linked to a string of murders including an 18-year-old Catholic girl who was killed as she slept next to her Protestant boyfriend, and the only murder of a journalist during the Troubles, reporter Martin O'Hagan in 1999.[127] Martin O'Hagan, a former inmate of the Maze prison, was a fearless reporter on crime and the paramilitaries. His death is attributed to loyalists and the revival of religious fundamentalism.[128]

Although often advocating nationalist policies, these groups consisted of and were supported by distinct religious groups in a religiously partitioned society. Groups on both sides advocated what they saw as armed defence of their own religious group. For example, amongst their supporters the IRA were widely regarded as defenders of Roman Catholic people against aggression.[129]:134-135 Two main loyalist paramilitary groups, the Ulster Volunteer Force, formed in 1966 to combat nationalists and responsible for more than 500 deaths, and the largest loyalist paramilitary organization in Northern Ireland, the Ulster Defence Association, banned in 1992, and estimated to have killed more than 400 people, have been involved in violence and attacks not only on Catholics, but during riots involving attacks against the police and army in September 2005, the worst street violence in Northern Ireland for 10 years. [130]

Catholic groups include:

* Provisional Irish Republican Army.
* Official IRA
* Irish National Liberation Army (also known as the Catholic Reaction Force)
* Irish People's Liberation Organisation
* Continuity IRA
* Real IRA

Protestant groups include:

* Ulster Volunteer Force
* Ulster Defence Association
* Loyalist Volunteer Force
* Red Hand Commandos
* Ulster Resistance

The Lord's Resistance Army

The Lord's Resistance Army is a guerrilla army engaged in an armed rebellion against the Ugandan government, and is accused of many acts of mutilation, torture, rape, abduction, the use of child soldiers and a number of massacres. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium, primarily of the Christian Holy Spirit which the Acholi believe can represent itself in many manifestations.[131] The group aim to establish a Christian state by replacing the Ugandan constitution with the Bible's Ten Commandments.[132][131] The LRA has been known by a number of different names, including the "Lord's Army" (1987 to 1988) and the "Uganda Peoples Democratic Christian Army" (1988 to 1992).[133]

The LRA insurgency has displaced nearly two million people and more than 10,000 have been killed in massacres, while twice that number of children have been abducted by the LRA and forced to work as soldiers, porters and sex slaves.[134] LRA fighters wear rosary beads and recite passages from the Bible before battle, but some Islam is mixed into their beliefs as well.[135] The LRA uniform pips contain a white bible inside a heart.[136] Joseph Kony has justified murdering his own Acholi people with biblical references[137] and has named one of his children "George Bush" in honour of U.S. Christian president George W. Bush.[138][139]

The LRA have been noted for cutting off the hands, lips, breasts and noses of their victims. Leader Joseph Kony has claimed this is justified by the Bible, "If you pick up an arrow against us and we ended up cutting off the hand you used, who is to blame? You report us with your mouth, and we cut off your lips. Who is to blame? It is you! The Bible says that if your hand, eye or mouth is at fault, it should be cut off."[140] (referring to Ezekiel 23:25-34, Matthew 5:29-30, Matthew 18:8-9 and Mark 9:43-47)

Groups in Russia

Many Russian political and paramilitary groups combine racism, nationalism, and Russian Orthodox beliefs.[141] "In Russia, on the other hand, even extreme nationalism was always coloured by Orthodoxy, and, consequently, was to be considered traditionalist".[142]

Alexander Verkhovsky writes:[141]
“ National-patriots accuse the contemporary society of total lack of spirituality. Thus, the concept of spirituality and, accordingly, the concept of religion are very important for them. In most of the cases, the religion in question is Russian Orthodoxy...

... Anti-Semitism, in principle, is not a requisite feature of each and every national-patriot, but practically all of them are Anti-Semites nevertheless. The idea of a 'Jewish-Masonic' conspiracy in its various versions pervades nationalist thinking. It is also closely correlated with anti-Western attitudes. In the extreme, Jews are perceived as the age-old enemies of the Russian people and Russian Orthodox faith who direct all the other enemies, such as the United States, the Pope, Chechnya, etc...

...The Catacombs Church of the Truly Orthodox Christians headed by Archbishop Amvrosy proclaims racist convictions on the theological level... For the majority of national-patriots, nevertheless, Russian Orthodoxy still serves as an ideological basis... Russian Orthodox national-patriots who are close to the Church in their faith naturally maintain immediate ties with the Russian Orthodox fundamentalists within the Church, whose ideology is also national-patriotic. It is actually impossible to draw a clear distinction between these two groups. The Patriarchy itself had been trying for a long while to draw such distinction within the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods but did not succeed.
”

At the murder trial of Russian National Unity leader Igor Semenov, Vladimir Gusev, a Russian Orthodox priest, testified that "Judaism does not have any positive conception in the Christian sense", and he identified Hasidic and Ashkenazic Jews as members of totalitarian sects that "kill children, gather their blood, and use it to make matzah" (the Blood libel against Jews). He added that "The Jews should not celebrate Chanukah because it can insult the religious feelings of the Christians."[143]

Russian National Unity

Russian National Unity is an outlawed far right party responsible for several terrorist attacks, including murders on religious grounds, and the bombing of the US Consulate in Ekaterinburg.[141] In their manifesto "Bases of social conception of RNU" they advocate an increased role for the Russian Orthodox Church in all areas of life:[144]
“ The Russian orthodox traditions are the main principals of RNU's activity. The members of RNU are orthodoxy Christians and are basing on the old medieval forms of the Russian Orthodoxy, which were serving as spiritual base for our ancestors during creation of the Russian State...

...RNU is opposite to membership of Russian Orthodox Church in WCC, against the it's taking part in ecumenical movement, closing to Catholicism and Judaism....Activity of religious confessions, communities and sects, hostile to Russian Orthodox Church and other traditional confessions (Islam, Buddhism) must be forbidden in the legislative order...

...The concept of personality's rights has become one of the main principals in present sense of justice. The idea of such rights is based on Bible's doctrine about the human being as image and likeness of God, as ontologically free being..The Christian social-state ethics demanded to keep some autonomous sphere for the man, where his conscience is absolute host, because rescue or death, way to Christ or way from Christ finally depend on free will...At the same time for RNU's members' sense of justice the idea of freedom and human rights is connected with idea of serving. Christian needs rights because having them allow to execute his high mission to "image of God", performance his debt to God and Church, to nation, family and state...

...RNU considers that all the representatives of non-native communities of Russia without exception are foreigners. It doesn't depend on the place of their birth and time of their living on the territory of Russia and must be deprived the Russian citizenship. All foreigners must be exposed to investigation with the purpose of determination of the measure of their loyalty and usefulness to Russians and Rossiyane...

...The main reason of escaping of our contemporaries in alcoholic and narcotic illusions is spiritual emptiness, loss of life meaning, degradation of moral orientations....

...RNU considers as the main state aim the defense of genetic purity of Russian Nation. Any forms of compulsion to mixed marriage or affair, doing the harm to genofund of Russian Nation must be prosecuted in law order. Any propaganda of mixed marriages must be forbidden....The major criteria is a spiritual condition of a man born in a mixed marriage. Man born in mixed marriage and having one Russian parent is considered as Russian if he has Russian spirit, brought up on Russian national and cultural traditions, is patriot of Russia and orthodox Christian.
”
Russian National Socialists

The Russian National Socialist Party bases itself on four principles: Orthodox Christianity, a strong state, aggressive Russian nationalism and non-Marxist socialism. Party leader A. Barkashov has advocated "a Hitlerite racial biology, and proclaims the need for creating an armed resistance movement against the supposed Jewish dictatorship in Russia."[142]:7 In August 2007, a 23 year old member of the group was arrested for distributing a video on the Internet that showed two Muslims apparently being beheaded and shot by a militant wing of the RNSP.[145][146][147]

Hey barneyfart aka Blanchemonge aka tech diver .....you are highly hypocritical for you always impersonate Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu etc to slander and insult Islam and Muslims but I know who you are so you send me messages to insult and slander me because you are immoral. Your insult and slander do not affect me for I will expose more truth!

So what's the point of this article? And why do you think the IRA are terrorists?

1. There are Christians and Christian websites etc that like to slander Islam and Muslims by inventing fairy tales and slanders to link Islam and Muslims to terrorism so I have to show that there are Christian terrorist organizations that terrorize Christians, Muslims etc. And the Christian terrorist organizations do exist!

2. The provisional Irish Republican Army [IRA] is an outgrowth of a group that fought for and won independence from Britain during the years 1916-1921, when Ireland was partitioned and the six northern counties reconstituted as the British province of Ulster or Northern Ireland. The provisional IRA emerged during the late 1960s styling itself as the defenders of the Roman Catholic minority in the North whose efforts to win civil rights peacefully were met by force by the Protestant "unionist" majority. Well into the 1990s, the organization employed sniper attacks, bombings and assassination in a quest to end British rule in Northern Ireland and unify the province with the neighboring Republic of Ireland. Sinn Fein, which means "Ourselves Alone" in the Gaelic language, is the IRA's political wing.

Since the late 1960s, the IRA has killed about 1,800 people, including about 650 civilians. The IRA’s primary targets were British troops, police officers, prison guards, and judges—many of them unarmed or off-duty—as well as rival paramilitary militants, drug dealers, and informers in Ulster. Major IRA terrorist attacks include:

* the July 1972 bombing spree known as Bloody Friday, in which downtown Belfast was rocked by twenty-two bombs in seventy-five minutes, leaving nine dead and 130 injured;
* the 1979 assassination of Lord Mountbatten, Queen Elizabeth II’s uncle;
* the 1984 bombing of a Brighton hotel where then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet were meeting, which wounded several British officials and killed four other Britons;
* a 1993 car bombing in London’s financial district that killed one person and caused $1 billion of damage;
* mortar attacks on the British prime minister’s 10 Downing Street residence and London’s Heathrow Airport in the early 1990s;
* and high-profile bombings of civilian targets, including pubs and subway stations, in Northern Ireland and mainland Britain throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

In July 2002, on the 30th anniversary of the 1972 “Bloody Friday” bombings, the IRA startled its sympathizers and enemies alike by offering “sincere apologies and condolences” to the families of its civilian victims. The IRA does still consider itself an armed force opposing an illegal foreign occupation of its country; jailed members called themselves “political prisoners.” And two IRA splinter groups, the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA, still practice terrorism.

My own opinion:

The people of Ireland have suffered so much from the IRA-British war. Both IRA and British soldiers kill each other and they also terrorize and kill civilians and politicians. The British government should give independence to Ireland and allow them to determine their own future after they have suffered so much under the British imperialism.

Even so, I don't really consider the IRA as "terrorists"; they were fighting for Ireland and were just labelled as terrorists by British unionists.

And I don't consider the Taliban and Iraqi people as "terrorists"; they are Afghan and Iraqi patriots fighting for Afghanistan and Iraq respectively and are just labelled as terrorists by the terrorist US regime, the Israeli regime of terror and their allies because the Muslims want to liberate their countries from the US-Zionist imperialism.


Islam is a perfect and complete way of life and I practice Islam very frequently.

Despite what you think, the situation in Ireland is very different than the situation in Afghanistan or Iraq. Firstly, what the IRA did was not in the name of Christianity. Secondly, the Taliban are terrorists in every sense of the word, just look at the atrocities they committed against thousands of other Afghans. As for the Iraqis, they are shooting, mass-murdering and killing each other and PLEEEEEEASE don't give me the weak "Zionist propaganda" thing since I've been to Iraq and seen Iraqis fatally assaulting each other; I've sat down with plenty of lower class Iraqis and asked them about many issues and from what I see, there is an astonishing level of ignorance and blind hatred - believe me they've hated Americans looooooooooooooooooooong before they've ever committed the atrocities in Iraq. And that's in one of the better-off Arab countries too.

I've noticed far too often that many practicing Muslims in the West and rich practicing Muslims in the East regularly cover up the atrocities that Muslims commit since they can't get their mind around the fact that the ignorance and hatred in ghettos here is unreal. It's just crazy, man.

And btw, don't ever trust extremist "Islamic" political parties since the truth about these people is that the majority of them are hypocrites. BELIEVE ME, I'VE SEEN AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF THESE PEOPLE FIRST HAND; they're not exactly Islamic to say the least.

In conclusion, yes, there are myriads of non-Muslim terrorist groups, but it doesn't change the unfortunate reality that the majority of terrorists nowadays are Muslims :S

Oh, and also you should know that nationalism is haram anyway in Islam... so "patriotic" acts of violence and hostility are actually banned in Islam since it's just stupid that anyone can take so much pride in something that they didn't even choose to be!!!

The people of Ireland and Muslims are fighting the British and the American forces (including NATO) in order to liberate their countries from British and US imperialism the respectively. We know that British and Americans have illegally attacked, invaded and occupied Ireland and Muslim countries so the people of Ireland and Muslims have their right to fight the invaders in order to fliberate the countries. The British have seized the land etc in Ireland so the people of Ireland become so poor. The Americans have seized the land and robbed Afghan people of their rights and freedom by establishing the US puppet regime that serves the interest of the US regime not the Afghan people in Afghanistan.



IRA is a Catholic organization that fight the Protestants and British in Ireland.



The US has illegally overthrown the Taliban government by attacking, invading, and occupying Afghanistan and terrorizing or massacring millions of innocent Afghan people so Taliban has its right to fight and kill the American and NATO soldiers and their collaborators.



The US forces and their allies and collaborators are terrorizing and mass-murdering innocent Iraqi people.



Zionist media and propaganda always condone the war crimes committed by the US soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia etc by downplaying or hiding the news about the war crimes and atrocities committed by the US forces and their allies and collaborators while exaggerating the news about a car exploding on the Iraqi streets by accusing falsely that Iraqi people have committed suicide-bombings to kill Iraqi people even though the car is hit by a mortar shell fired by an American.



Iraqi people hate the US regime, the US forces and their allies and collaborators so much because the US regime and its allies had imposed economic sanctions and food embargoes on Iraq that caused millions of innocent Iraqi babies, children etc to die of starvation. The US regime and its allies also attacked and destroyed civilian targets that killed so many innocent Iraqi people. Then the US regime and its allies invented fairy tales as a pretext to attack Iraq. The illegal US-Zionist invasion of Iraq have caused unnecessary countless destructions and deaths in Iraq so now the people of Iraq hate the US forces and their allies and collaborators so much! They are fighting and destroying the US forces and their allies and collaborators in Iraq and so many American soldiers are returning to USA in the body bags!



It is the duty of a Muslim to help and support his or her Muslim sisters and brothers who are suffering. You basedas2 claim that you are a Muslim but your behavior is contradictory for you are condoning the crimes that are committed by American soldiers, defending the Zionist media that are sladering and insulting Islam and Muslims and supporting the American genocide of Muslims and you always blame and frame innocent Muslims. Who are you basedas2?



Hypocrites claim falsely that they are Muslims while supporting the Zionist media, serving the interest of the US regime and facilitating the illegal American invasion of Muslim countries. And the hypocrites help the enemies of Islam and Muslims to oppress and terrorize innocent Muslims. Muslim fighters are not hypocrites for they are defending their countries, Muslims and non-Muslims against the aggressors such as the US regime and the Israeli regime of terror.



Who are you basedas2? You basedas2 are for defending the Zionist media that are slandering and insulting Islam and Muslims, supporting and condoning the US-Zionist terrorism and saying falsely that the majority of terrorists nowadays are Muslims. The fact is Muslim countries are being invaded and occupied and Muslims are being terrorized and massacred by the Americans, Zionists and their allies so Muslims have their right to fight and kill the enemies so that Muslims can liberate their countries according to the Geneva Convention, Nuremburg Principle, International Law and Islamic Law. Therefore, you are wrong for slandering Muslims.

"When they meet those who believe, they say: "We believe"; but when they are alone with their evil ones, they say: "We are really with you: We (were) only jesting." (Al-Baqarah 2:14)

Islam allows Muslims to defend themselves and their countries by fighting and destroying the enemies of Islam and Muslims. Muslims had fought the pagans and Jews who were trying to destroy Islam, conquer Medina (Yathrib) and terrorize and kill the prophet Muhammad and Muslims.

In Islam, Jihad is ordained to uphold right, repel injustice and establish justice, peace, security and clemency, with which the Prophet (peace be on him) was sent to take mankind out of darkness into light. More specifically, Jihad has been ordained to eliminate all forms of terrorism, and to defend the homeland against occupation, plunder and colonialism.

Jihad is waged against those who support others in driving out people out of their homes, as well as against those who are in breach of their covenants. Jihad is meant to avoid tempting away Muslims from their faith or restricting their freedom to conduct peaceful propagation of their religion.

Allah said:

"Allah forbids you not, with regard to those who fight you not for your faith, nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them: For Allah loveth those who are just. "

And:

"Allah only forbids you, with regard to those who fight you for your faith, and drive you out of your homes, and support others in driving you out, from turning to them (for friendship and protection). !t is such as turn to them in these circumstances that do wrong." (Qur'an 60:8-9).

Allah did not only enact deterrent punishment against terrorism, aggression and corruption, but considers these acts tantamount to waging war against Allah and His Messenger.

Allah says in the Qur'an:

"The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: That is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the hereafter. " (5:33)

And now the US regime and its allies are the terrorists that are terrorizing Muslims and invading and occupying Muslim countries illegally. Why do you basedas2 support the terrorists and aggressors if you are a Muslim?

So a majority of groups of people who terrorize others, from Africa to Asia to South America to even the western world, are Muslim? Who is a terrorist? Someone with an extreme stance on an issue and who kills or harms those in his way?

World population is over 6 billion. Muslims are around 1.2 - 1.7 billion. Are you honestly saying that there are more terrorists in that smaller group than there are in the other 4+ billion?

Salam.

Why can't you guys handle a little bit of criticism (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

As I said before, yes, the US and Israel are committing myriads of horrible actions against some countries, but I was just saying that I hate how people here always portray Muslims as 100% innocent; it's just ridiculous that EVERYTHING is ALWAYS either the fault of the Zionist media or of the US government. Muslims do make up the overwhelming majority of terrorists nowadays; even in news in the most conservative Islamic countries, when you hear "dozens have died in a suicide bombing..." you can bet your life it's most likely to have happened in an Islamic country. BELIEVE ME, it's not for a noble cause of getting imperialist troops out of their countries, but rather it's because of the crazy hate I've been talking to you about. When I went to Iraq, a lot of people told me "those damn Shias, I hope the lot of those b******* die and rot in hell forever..." - I don't think this has anything to do with US troops!!!

I cannot tolerate both slander and fairy tales.



The fact is Sunni and Shia are cooperating to fight the American forces and their allies in Iraq thus this cooperation has refuted your claim that they hate each other.

There are very few Sunni and Shia who have become the US puppets and rule Iraq on behalf of the US interest. The fact is Iraqi people who are Sunni and Shia hate the Iraqi traitors and I am sure the US puppet regime will most likely fall as soon as the US forces leave Iraq for good. Therefore, I am not surprised to see the US puppets begging the US regime to occupy Iraq for a long time to ensure that nobody would overthrow them. The Iraqi traitors are the US whores who have sold their honour and dignity to their Zionist masters in the White House!

Even Muslims in Iraq call the traitors the unbelievers! It seems to me that you basedas2 are supporting the US regime that is terrorizing Iraq and innocent Iraqi people. And you like to condemn, blame, frame and slander the Muslims who are the victims of the US-Zionist imperialism. Are you basedas2 a traitor too? A true Muslim will always support, defend and help Muslim sisters and brothers wo are being terrorized by the enemies of Islam so I would like to ask you a question: What kind of Muslim are you?

Definition of Traitor:

One who violates his allegiance and betrays his country; one guilty of treason; one who, in breach of trust, delivers his country to an enemy, or yields up any fort or place intrusted to his defense, or surrenders an army or body of troops to the enemy, unless when vanquished; also, one who takes arms and levies war against his country; or one who aids an enemy in conquering his country.

Highly hypocritical Traitors always sing the same song that support the invaders and blame the victims of the invaders:

"those damn Chinese, I hope the lot of those b******* die and rot in hell forever..." - I don't think this has anything to do with the Imperial Japanese troops who are terrorizing Chinese and occupying China illegally!!!

"those damn French, I hope the lot of those b******* die and rot in hell forever..." - I don't think this has anything to do with Nazi troops who are terrorizing French people and occupying France illegally!!!

"those damn Vietnamese, I hope the lot of those b******* die and rot in hell forever..." - I don't think this has anything to do with US troops who are terrorizing Vietnamese people and occupying Vietnam illegally!!!

"those damn Korean, I hope the lot of those b******* die and rot in hell forever..." - I don't think this has anything to do with US troops who are terrorizing Korean people and occupying Korea illegally!!!

"those damn Afghan people, I hope the lot of those b******* die and rot in hell forever..." - I don't think this has anything to do with US troops who are terrorizing Afghan people people and occupying Afghanistan illegally!!!

"those damn Shias, I hope the lot of those b******* die and rot in hell forever..." - I don't think this has anything to do with US troops who are terrorizing Iraqi people and occupying Iraq illegally!!!

"Treason, which begins by being cautious, ends by betraying itself."



I challenge you basedas2 to show me all the concrete evidence that support your baseless allegation above.

Published on Friday, May 14, 2004 by the lnter Press Service

Sunnis and Shias Uniting Against U.S.
by Dahr Jamail

Imam Muad Al- Adhamy says:

”From the nature of the people, any action has a reaction,” Imam Muad Al- Adhamy told IPS at his office at the Abu Hanifa mosque in Al-Adhamiyah in Baghdad. This mosque is the center of the country's Sunni power. ”With the Americans attacking Najaf and Kerbala (holy cities of the Shias) there is resistance, and we support this.”

BAGHDAD - The number of Iraqi dead in Fallujah last month in the so-called Sunni triangle is estimated by doctors to be more than 800. Fighting involving Shia Muslims in the south has claimed the lives of hundreds as well.

What is happening is happening to all of Iraq. There is no difference now between Sunni and Shia, Arab and Kurd. We have all been invaded.

Asked about divisions between Sunnis and Shias in the past, Imam Al- Adhamy said ”what is happening is happening to all of Iraq. There is no difference now between Sunni and Shia, Arab and Kurd. We have all been invaded.”

The Imam believes his followers share this feeling. ”The feelings of the people of this mosque are the same as all Iraqis -- Iraqi blood is precious and should not be shed. But freedom needs this blood if we cannot obtain it by peaceful means.”

This sentiment echoes that of Sheikh Abdul Hadi Al-Daraji, a deputy of the embattled Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr. On Friday last week when Shias from across Iraq attended prayers at Sunni mosques, Sheikh Al-Daraji delivered a strong sermon at the Abu Hanifa mosque.

”We have come here to prove that the forces of evil will never be able to detract from Sunni-Shia unity,” he said. ”Your enemy has come to sow the seeds of social chaos among Sunnis and Shias, but he has failed because Islam is one.”

Members of the congregation echoed these sentiments.

”I have given my blood for the people of Fallujah in April,” said Abdul Aziz after the sermon at Abu Hanifa. ”I will do the same for the people in Najaf, because we are all Iraqi. There is no Sunni or Shia now, we are all together against the Americans.”

As the fighting in Kerbala continues to rage into the weekend, in Baghdad another Sunni Imam at the Nidal Islam Mosque, Imam Kutaibia Ama'ash, said that ”the actions of the U.S. are uniting the Sunni and Shia. The U.S. actions via the Governing Council are an attempt to divide us, but the result has been the opposite.”

Expressing solidarity with embattled Iraqis throughout his country, he said ”all of the people of this mosque are supporting the people of Fallujah, Najaf, and Kerbala. We give full support to the people resisting the Americans.”

A member of the mosque, Sheikh Haji Abdul Majit, said ”they brought us a Governing Council that loves Israel more than Iraq.”

While the firebrand cleric al-Sadr has caused some rifts within the Shia population of southern Iraq, he is said to have a large following.

After a battle in the sprawling slum neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad last Sunday, the U.S. military used air support to destroy the headquarters of al-Sadr there. At the destroyed building children chanted, ”Live, live for Sadr! Americans and the Governing Council are unbelievers!”

Sheikh Mahmoud Zaidi, a cleric who is an al-Sadr supporter, said: ”You see the people here? They will not stop fighting the invaders, no matter what happens. They are fighting the people. That is why they will never defeat us.”

All of the clerics interviewed seem to agree that the only solution to the ongoing violence in Iraq is a complete withdrawal of the U.S. military.

”If the invaders would treat people better, this would never happen,” said Imam Muad Al-Adhamy. ”We have been put in a worse position than Saddam Hussein's time. Nothing is worse than being invaded.”

Now that the United States has achieved the goal of removing Saddam Hussein, and seen that there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the Imam said he sees no need for the U.S. troops to remain in Iraq. ”The invaders should pull out, 100 percent.”

© 2004 IPS - Inter Press Service

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Quite an extensive list. I will, however, only accept the idea that the various ''Christian Identity'' groups are ''Christian Terrorists'' if I can have a clear confirmation that such groups as the ''Nation of Islam'' are actually Islamic.

Nationalism and Racial theory have no place in actual Christianity, just as it is with Islam.

Peace everyone
Terrorism and extremists are not related to a one specific religion. Actually, any pure and divine religion stands firmly against all forms of terrorism.

The deadliest threat to humanity and world peace over history comes, not from individual crazy extremist groups, but from the much worse state terrorism, as performed all over history, from British and European imperialism, to today's world terrorism leaded by the US army and their zionist allies. And those do not worship religions, they worship stuff like oil, money, greed and lust for political supremacy. So, religions shouldn't be associated with terrorism. This topic is now closed.