thedriveintheatre

On July 22, 77 people died at the hands of one man. Anders Behring Breivik, a 32 year-old Norwegian, singlehandedly carried out his massacre through the bombing of government buildings in Oslo and a shooting spree at a youth camp of the Liberal-based Labour Party on Utøya. His deranged plot against what he perceived an Islamic invasion of Europe was outlined in his manifesto, 2083: A European Declaration of Independence, which was distributed through various social media sites hours before the murders.

In a July 11 entry from the 1500-page online manifesto, he wrote, “I explained to God that unless he wanted the Marxist-Islamic alliance and the certain Islamic takeover of Europe to completely annihilate European Christendom within the next hundred years, he must ensure that the warriors fighting for the preservation of European Christendom prevail.”

In a series of interviews by The Telegraph with individuals who knew the suspect, several intriguing details come to light. Lina Engelsrud, a neighbour of Breivik during his childhood describes him as “… a little cold… He used to spit in the basement and pee in the neighbour’s shed. He took great pleasure in killing ants.” He was one of Oslo’s “most notable” street dancers and later a famous graffiti tagger during his teenage years. Ironically, he mentions in his manifesto several of his friends were Muslims, one of the closest a Pakistani boy called Arsalan. Unfortunately, the pair fell out when they were 16 and Arslana’s father claims his son hasn’t seen Breivik for 25 years, and that his family has since integrated.

He didn’t pursue a university education, instead continuing it “informally”. He later established the Knights Templar, an anti-Islamic extremist society in London. Proudly declaring himself a committed Christian, he dabbled in the far-Right Progress Party but lost an Oslo City Hall election and quit politics. In 2009, he set up a biofarm company as a cover for his bomb-making factory. He then moved back in with his mother at the age of 30, selling his possessions to fund his terror attacks and playing video games such as Dragon Age II, World of Warcraft, and most notably, Modern Warfare 2 as training-simulation.

There has been speculation that his motive behind the attacks was in retribution against the Labour Party (which is led by the incumbent prime minister), who he felt were too accepting towards Muslims. Many people have also claimed that he performs this under some misguided interpretation of Christianity. While he identifies himself as “100% Christian” in his manifesto (p. 1403), he also adds the disclaimer that his “choice was based purely (on) pragmatism” (p. 1380), saying it had far more “mass appeal” than nationalism, white supremacy, or a revival of paganism, and so it is a more effective “banner” under which to build his movement (p. 1381). In fact, he even goes on identify himself a s “cultural Christian”, a term which he defines as the same as a “Christian atheist.” (p. 1360)

There are, of course, people who try to dismiss his horrific atrocities as merely the product of his delusional psyche. If you ask me what I think, I simply feel he is furthering his racist Islamophobic idealogy under the guise of religion, as he says so himself. But this doesn’t mean that we should try to sweep the massive elephant under the carpet - his xenophobic attitude is the byproduct of a specific European climate of economic decline, middle-class insecurity, and intolerance against ‘job-stealing’ foreigners. His hatred of those whose only crime is being different from him is an exact mirror of the murderous gunman Jared Loughner, who opened fire on U.S. Representative Gabrielle (who happened to be a Liberal and a Jew), rendering her mentally-disabled and killed 6 innocents. Or the four Islamic suicide bombers in the 7/7 London attack of 2005 (which Breivik managed to top by 20 deaths all on his own).

He may be narcissistic. He may be a psychopath. Or a sociopath. But he is most definitely a murderer. A simple Google search (which I think Breivik is capable of, considering how much of a following he has gained in his online legions of bigots) should turn up Exodus 20:13: “You shall not murder.” He is hiding beneath the cloak of one of one of the world’s most respected religions to perpetuate his prejudices. He even condemns the Pope himself for his dialogue with Islam: “Pope Benedict has abandoned Christianity and all Christian Europeans and is to be considered a cowardly, incompetent, corrupt and illegitimate Pope.”

As for his fear against a Muslim invasion, it may not be unfounded. Huge social problems have accompanied not just Muslims, but immigrants of other faiths in Europe in recent decades. He is also not alone; many Islamophobic right-wingers or people who simply had an unpleasant experience with others of a different ethnicity or religion share his narrow-minded views. But killing innocent people, some of which are not even Muslims, is by no means an intelligent way to go about discussing it.

We should neither use a coward’s exploitation of a religion to further his agenda as proof against said religion. But neither should we downplay him as a misunderstood loner nor condone his anti-Muslim racism for as long as people with hatred in their hearts are willing to jump to his defense. When Osama and his supporters slayed innocents under their ideological banner, many moderate, everyday Muslims were quick to denounce his twisted reasoning. Now is the time for the equally numerous average, well-meaning Christians to condemn this murderer’s crime, whether he truly believed he was doing it in their name or not.

I count myself fortunate to have Christian and Muslim friends. One of my best friends is in fact, a Christian, and I am sure he will find this villain’s acts abhorrent. We must stand united against religious fundamentalism (and I’m talking the extremist-crazy kinds), and intolerance against our fellow human beings. Let’s make his legacy be one whereby his simple-minded belief of hatred and fear doesn’t deserve a place in the 21st century.