Religion gone wrong

“I just want to say that I love Allah.”

These aren't the words of one devotee of Islam peacefully whispering to a fellow follower during a quiet moment of worship. Instead it is a statement made by Amine el Khalifi---formerly Christopher Lee Cornell, an unemployed deejay---to the judge at his sentencing of 30 years in prison after pleading guilty for planning to detonate pipe bombs inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington and then gun down people as they fled the building.

El Khalifi, a 21 year old native of Ohio, has been labeled a lone wolf by the FBI but who nonetheless, posed a clear threat: "The difference here is not just the clear intent to strike us here, but the pursuit of the capability to be able to conduct that attack…," said FBI Assistant Director Andrew McCabe.

One of the undercover videos shows el Khalifi in a store buying nails--- shrapnel for his body bomb---and later bragging about the size of the nails, talking about the damage he can do.

“Thick ones, I got, thick ones, not thin ones. The ones that gonna make damage, right,” el Khalifi said on the secret recording.  

It’s chilling.

This is not the first time since 9/11 we have witnessed horrific acts or such planned attacks in allegiance to Allah.  

But, the years since 9/11 are not the only ones that the dark side of religion has cast a frightening shadow over certain people. Had I been a Jew in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, (Jews were given four months to convert to Christianity or leave Spain), I would not have been exactly at ease.  For years the Inquisition hounded dissenters, from Protestant Reformers to scientific thinkers like Galileo, and yes, Muslims too. It was all officially done in the name of God, in allegiance to and love for him, to save people from hell and protect the purity of the church.

Religion gone bad did not begin with The Inquisition, of course. The New Testament records Jews persecuting Christians. And it was a Christian leader, the brilliant Bishop of Hippo, Augustine (340-430) who at least legitimatized some methods for persecuting those deemed to be heretics, tactics which included fines, imprisonment, and mild floggings. In time, heretics would be burned. Augustine would have been horrified.

The dark side of Christianity wasn't confined to Western Europe. In the United States we've had the Salem Witch Hunts, preachers justifying slavery and racial discrimination by misusing the Bible, Jim Jones, David Koresh, and Westboro Baptist Church.

It almost makes you want to agree with Dr. Gregory House (House, TV series), “If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people.”

It’s fascinating how religion can be used by some on the one hand as a vehicle for experiencing the wonder of a loving God and expressing his love in selfless deeds of good will and peace to all and likewise, on the other hand, by people who use it as a motivation for destruction.

Dr. Charles Kimball, Presidential Professor and Director of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma, has written extensively on this subject in, among other works, When Religion Becomes Evil (2002), and When Religion Becomes Lethal (2011).

“When anybody believes that he or she somehow knows the mind of God and knows what God wants for them and for everybody else, then you have the potential for catastrophe because…they can justify anything. It’s not what I’m doing; it’s what God wants me to do.”

Hence, for example, el Khalifi believed God was telling him to seek revenge by killing Americans because of the U.S.’s war on terror.

“This is not about happiness. This is about Allah. This is not about, you know, us anymore. It's about Allah," el Khalifi said on the surveillance recording.

Misguided people displace their hatred and thirst for revenge onto God, justifying their actions with excerpts from sacred texts mainly taken out of context.

What can we do?

Kimball quotes renowned theologian, Harvey Cox: “The possibility of self-annihilation requires us to put all our questions not in the form, What will happen? But rather in the form, What must we do…We must take the initiative, not just to predict the future---including the future of religion—but to shape it.”

It’s a long shot, but I still believe there is hope as long as we have the courage to confront hateful rhetoric in our own faith traditions, as long as we speak up, refusing to resign ourselves to a deferential silence that gives the stage to the violent, daring to call evil what it is, and steadfastly speaking the truth with love. If we can do that, there is at least a chance for peace.  The future is uncertain and fraught with danger, but nonetheless I hope. And hope in due time can blossom into peace.

After all, it was Jesus of Nazareth who said on the night before his execution at the hands of religious extremists, “In me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Hoping in him, I seek peace.

And work to maintain it.