Killing in the name of

I'm reading Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven: an instigative book about Mormon Fundamentalism. I'll withhold my verdict until I'm done but then you'll all hear about it in detail, I'm sure.

The book has got me thinking though.

I was thinking about the book, in fact, this morning while riding to work. What I thought about is this:

There is a difference between radical and extremist religious thought. For example, anyone who believes the Bible also believes that God can talk to Man. Mainstream Christians no longer believe that God talks to prophets. Latter-day Saints do. Therefore: the LDS view of continued revelation is radical to the Christian orthodoxy, even though Christians all believe in revelation.

Another concept contained in the Bible is religious genocide. Abraham was commanded to kill Isaac, Joshua was commanded to kill the Canaanites, and Saul was commanded to kill the Amalekites. Were their actions righteous? According to Judeo-Christian thought they were. In fact, Saul lost his kingdom because he spared the Amalekite king.

However, the 9-11 attacks were thoroughly condemned by Jews and Christians and many Muslims the world over. No one even paused, for a moment, to consider whether or not the attackers might have been inspired by God. Similarly I am Mormon and, therefore, believe in modern revelation...and yet, when I hear about a man like Jim Jones or David Koresh -- each self-proclaimed prophets -- ordering mass suicide or murder... I don't even consider it. I don't wonder if they might be correct. I don't pray about it.

We are only prepared to believe so far. There comes a point where we say: "Sorry, I can't believe that. I won't even consider it."

I really can sympathize with atheists who are turned off by religious zeal. To an outsider, religion is superstitious at its best and, at its worst, atrocious. But just remember that the Nazi movement was secular, as is Communism. Between Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin and Hitler, that's quite a few deaths to lay on the secular altar.

I will admit that revelation is a radical thought to anyone who still actually believes in it (as opposed to believing it happened thousands of years ago). But there's a difference between radicalism and extremism. Extremists kill for their religion.