Do More Christians Than Muslims Blow Up People Every Single Day? Tavis Smiley Weighs In
Indeed, Tavis Smiley has weighed in and have been found wanting.
Whilst in Israel for two months, I recall sitting around telling Jewish jokes with some friends and a Mormon woman who was with us could not believe we were doing so but we said, “Hey, we’re Jewish, we can tell them.”
Well, jokes are one thing but just because Tavis Smiley is a Christian does not mean that he can make such shockingly jejune statements and not get called out on it.
Now, knowing pop culture and the sorts of atheist who define “atheism” as “anti-Christianity” the real problem is not that he is stunningly mistaken but how many people will come to his defense and besmirch Christianity.
I previously posted Richard Dawkins – Rare Moment of Clarity, wherein I quoted him as having stated:
There are no Christians, as far as I know, blowing up buildings. I am not aware of any Christian suicide bombers. I am not aware of any major Christian denomination that believes the penalty for apostasy is death.
I have mixed feelings about the decline of Christianity, in so far as Christianity might be a bulwark against something worse.1
Someone commented stating, “US bombers over Falluja and Baghdad blew up a lot of buildings. Most of the chain of command, going all the way up to the president, were Christians.”
Yet, this is missing the point in that it is uncontextual as the US military does not do that which it does because they are Christians and not due to Christian doctrine.
Now, Tavis Smiley mentions Columbine and yet, there is no indication in the least bit that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were Christians and very much evidence that they were not.
On the day of the massacre Harris wore a t-shirt which read, “Natural Selection” and this was no mere t-shit but indicative of their atheistic/Darwinian worldview. Eric Harris wrote, “YOU KNOW WHAT I LOVE??? Natural SELECTION! It’s the best thing that ever happened to the earth. Getting rid of all of the stupid and weak organisms.” Dylan Klebold wrote the following in reference to a football player, “He doesn’t deserve the jaw evolution gave him. Look for his jaw. It won’t be on his body.”
It is also reported that Harris described how he and Dylan Klebold “would enforce natural selection in their school” and Harris wrote that they would “kick natural selection up a few notches…Show them who is god.”
Also, note that these—according to Tavis Smiley—Christians, entered the Columbine High School library and asked “Does anyone here have a faith in Christ?” They specifically asked Cassie Bernall, “Do you believe in God?” and she answered “Yes, I believe in Jesus.” They then asked her “Why?” but they murdered her before she could respond.
For details and more likewise examples see Atheism on Meaning and Purpose
Some people, such as Dan Barker, have asked questions such as, “Why is no one calling the Oklahoma City bombing suspects ‘Christian terrorists’?” he asked this because of his assertion that Timothy McVeigh was “a God believing Catholic.” Well, I do not know why except, perhaps, that McVeigh was an agnostic—see Was Timothy McVeigh a God Believing Catholic and a “Christian Terrorists”? – Part 1 of Dan Barker and the Alien Rape Voyeurs. As per usual, Dan Barker ends up discrediting himself.
Lastly, it appears that a lot of people reporting on this do not realize that he was interviewing Ayaan Hirsi Ali who knows Islam from the inside and out and who has been persecuted variously. For example, she wrote the script for Theo Van Gogh’s movie “Submission” which brought attention to the plight of Muslim women a movie for which Van Gogh paid with his life as he was stabbed to death by a Muslim.
Info on the Qur’an and women is found at this link.