Rural Australian shooting deemed "Christian terror attack"

[FireDragon76]

This is a bit older piece of news but I never found any discussion here about it, even though I think it's relevant and pertinent:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1626063179435618304

The Guardian and several Australian news outlets reported a gun attack in rural Australia as a "Christian terror attack". I am curious if they would similar report on Muslim sectarians engaged in similar violence as an "Islamic terror attack".

This kind of reporting risks portraying religious people, especially Christians, as extremists prone to violence. It sounds to me like the real culprit here is the importation of American-style political cults and conspiracy theories, not Christianity per se.

 

[Bradskii]

This is a bit older piece of news but I never found any discussion here about it, even though I think it's relevant and pertinent:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1626063179435618304

The Guardian and several Australian news outlets reported a gun attack in rural Australia as a "Christian terror attack". I am curious if they would similar report on Muslim sectarians engaged in similar violence as an "Islamic terror attack".

This kind of reporting risks portraying religious people, especially Christians, as extremists prone to violence. It sounds to me like the real culprit here is the importation of American-style political cults and conspiracy theories, not Christianity per se.

It was reported that they were premillennialists and that that fact governed a lot of their beliefs and hence motivated their actions. If they had been Muslims and held radical and fundamentalist beliefs which had prompted similar actions, then the reports would have been the same, swapping out Christian for Muslim.

In 2015, a young Muslim kid shot and killed a police officer in Sydney. What the PM said at the time is applicable to any religiously/politically motivated crime: Australian PM urges unity after Sydney police shooting

“This appears to have been an act of politically motivated violence, so at this stage it appears to have been an act of terrorism,” Turnbull told reporters in Melbourne.

“We must not vilify or blame the entire Muslim community for the actions of what is, in truth, a very, very small percentage of violent extremist individuals.”

The same applies in the Queensland case.

 

[FireDragon76]

It was reported that they were premillennialists and that that fact governed a lot of their beliefs and hence motivated their actions. If they had been Muslims and held radical and fundamentalist beliefs which had prompted similar actions, then the reports would have been the same, swapping out Christian for Muslim.

Premillenialism isn't especially associated with violence (historically, it was associated more with political apathy and disengagement, in fact, though it doesn't have a long history, only going back to 19th century Britain and the US). It also isn't the dominant Christian belief, either. Which seems strange to single it out as "Christian".

It sounds to me more like these people were the victims of American-style conspiracy theories, and that motivated alot of their paranoia. Religious extremism was more of a symptom than a cause.

 

[Bradskii]

It sounds to me more like these people were the victims of American-style conspiracy theories, and that motivated a lot of their paranoia. Religious extremism was more of a symptom than a cause.

Political and religious fundamentalism are not exactly strangers to one another. But I can't see political beliefs leading someone to faith based solutions. However, religious beliefs quite often lead to political action. That's so common in the US it hardly needs to be pointed out. And if those religious beliefs are extremist, then the political action might likewise be the same.

When you have both, then it spells trouble. But only one leads to the other.

 

[Gene2memE]

The Guardian and several Australian news outlets reported a gun attack in rural Australia as a "Christian terror attack".

That's because they were reporting what the police themselves had said. The police said this was an attack motivated by a particular sub-set of a Christian ideology.

From the Guardian:

​

Queensland police deputy commissioner, Tracy Linford, told reporters ....​

​

“Our assessment has concluded that Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train acted as an autonomous cell and executed a religiously motivated terrorist attack,” she said.​

​

“The Train family members prescribed to what we would call a broad Christian fundamentalist belief system known as premillennialism.​

​

“I’m not an expert in that but, in its basic interpretation, is that there was a belief that Christ will return to the Earth for a thousand days, provide peace and prosperity, but it will be preceded by an era, or a period of time of tribulation and widespread destruction and suffering.”​

​

Linford said the Covid pandemic, climate crisis, global conflict, anti-vaccine and anti-government sentiment and social disparity had seen the Trains spiral into increasingly radical theological beliefs.​

​

“Christian extremist ideology has been linked to other attacks around the world, but this is the first time we’ve seen it occur in Australia,” she said.​

From the ABC:

​

"We don't believe this attack was random or spontaneous," Deputy Police Commissioner Linford said.​

​

"We do believe it was an attack directed at police.​

​

"There was significant evidence of advanced preparation and planning."​

​

...​

​

"What we've been able to glean from that information is that the Train family members subscribe to what we would call a broad Christian fundamentalist belief system, known as premillennialism," she said.​

​

Deputy Police Commissioner Linford said the trio saw police "as monsters and demons".​

​

I am curious if they would similar report on Muslim sectarians engaged in similar violence as an "Islamic terror attack".

Sure. Check the local versions of the Daily Mail and various regional Murdoch papers (Herald Sun, NT News, Courier Mail, Daily Telegraph) for varying stories blaming Muslims/Islam for local violence.

This kind of reporting risks portraying religious people, especially Christians, as extremists prone to violence. It sounds to me like the real culprit here is the importation of American-style political cults and conspiracy theories, not Christianity per se.

I don't think political cults and conspiracy theories perceive police as supernatural creatures without some religious influence. And, Australia is more than capable of producing its own violent cults, thank you very much.

 

[FireDragon76]

That's because they were reporting what the police themselves had said. The police said this was an attack motivated by a particular sub-set of a Christian ideology.

From the Guardian:

​

Queensland police deputy commissioner, Tracy Linford, told reporters ....​

​

“Our assessment has concluded that Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train acted as an autonomous cell and executed a religiously motivated terrorist attack,” she said.​

​

“The Train family members prescribed to what we would call a broad Christian fundamentalist belief system known as premillennialism.​

​

“I’m not an expert in that but, in its basic interpretation, is that there was a belief that Christ will return to the Earth for a thousand days, provide peace and prosperity, but it will be preceded by an era, or a period of time of tribulation and widespread destruction and suffering.”​

​

Linford said the Covid pandemic, climate crisis, global conflict, anti-vaccine and anti-government sentiment and social disparity had seen the Trains spiral into increasingly radical theological beliefs.​

​

“Christian extremist ideology has been linked to other attacks around the world, but this is the first time we’ve seen it occur in Australia,” she said.​

From the ABC:

​

"We don't believe this attack was random or spontaneous," Deputy Police Commissioner Linford said.​

​

"We do believe it was an attack directed at police.​

​

"There was significant evidence of advanced preparation and planning."​

​

...​

​

"What we've been able to glean from that information is that the Train family members subscribe to what we would call a broad Christian fundamentalist belief system, known as premillennialism," she said.​

​

Deputy Police Commissioner Linford said the trio saw police "as monsters and demons".​

​

In general, Christianity doesn't teach that police officers or the government are demons.

Sure. Check the local versions of the Daily Mail and various regional Murdoch papers (Herald Sun, NT News, Courier Mail, Daily Telegraph) for varying stories blaming Muslims/Islam for local violence.



I don't think political cults and conspiracy theories perceive police as supernatural creatures without some religious influence. And, Australia is more than capable of producing its own violent cults, thank you very much.

Why attribute it to Christianity, though? It seems unfair to do so, and reflecting ignorance, prejudice and animus.

 

[Bradskii]

In general, Christianity doesn't teach that police officers or the government are demons.



Why attribute it to Christianity, though? It seems unfair to do so, and reflecting ignorance, prejudice and animus.

You might as well complain that they were described as being Queenslanders. And that that fact would reflect badly on all Queenslanders.

 

[Bob Crowley]

It's past history now.

Christianity in general was not the culprit. The three of them were mixed up in a free for all relationship and had gone right off the rails on conspiracy theories, no doubt influenced by internet conspiracy sites.

Female teacher married cop killer and had kids before she left him

Married couple Gareth and Stacey Train were shot dead by police, alongside his brother Nathaniel Train, at the home they all shared in Wieambilla, west of Brisbane, at 10.30pm on Monday.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Some people in our parish knew the young policeman Mathew Arnold who was killed in the shootout as their kids had grown up together with him. For some locals it came close to home.

When I was at primary school a Polish refugee shot another young policeman who was stationed across the road from the school. I didn't recognise him when it was announced but some of the other students did.

He went to handle a complaint. The front door was flung open and he was shot with a .303 rifle.

https://www.police.qld.gov.au/police-memorial/gregory-j-olive

It was about a hundred yards from the school grounds. It was a Monday and possibly we were in the school at the time.

 

[Bob Crowley]

To get back to the OP's comment that "The Guardian and several Australian news outlets reported a gun attack in rural Australia as a "Christian terror attack"", that kind of distortion happens all the time.

If a priest commits pedophile acts, you can bet your bottom dollar that somewhere along the line the Catholic Church will be portayed as being implicit in the offence, in the headlines at least, despite the fact that it boils down to a single individual carrying out the acts.

The fact that pedophile priests were apparently somewhere between 2 and 4 percent of the total number of priests, with the other 96-98 percent having nothing to do with it will be ignored.

At the same time the majority of pedophile cases will involve other relatives, friends of the family or people known to them, which of course could include priests.

Typing in "Journalists who have been accused of pedophilia?" brought up a few links - Former Channel 9 Report Ben McCormack, James Gordon Meek of Rolling Stone Magazine(?), Hasan Suroor, Peter Bright, Jimmy Saville ... etc.

Maybe the next time a media personality gets caught as a pedophile the media might play fair and start their headlines with "Another Media Personality named as Pedophile."

 

[Bradskii]

To get back to the OP's comment that "The Guardian and several Australian news outlets reported a gun attack in rural Australia as a "Christian terror attack"", that kind of distortion happens all the time.

Their actions were based on their religious beliefs. If they had been Jewish, Muslim or Hindu the report would have reflected that specific religion. No-one said or suggested that because of some murderous thugs who happened to be Christian that all Christians are evil.

 

[Bob Crowley]

When I was at primary school a Polish refugee shot another young policeman who was stationed across the road from the school. I didn't recognise him when it was announced but some of the other students did.

He went to handle a complaint. The front door was flung open and he was shot with a .303 rifle.

I often wondered if the refugee had his own background fears.

I found this on the net -

Gregory James

On 19 February 1962 Constable Olive went to premises at Kelvin Grove to make a routine investigation into wilful damage to property. The suspect was a naturalised Australian named Piotr Michalewicz…

npm.org.au

The suspect was a naturalised Australian named Piotr Michalewicz who had spend 11 years in the Polish Army many of which had been spend in Stalag Camps during World War II as a prisoner of war. Michalewicz was terrified of persons in authority or anyone in uniform as a result of inhuman treatment in the concentration camps.

In a sense the shooter Piotr Michalewicz and Constable Gregory Olive were both victims of Nazi brutality seventeen years after the war ended. Constable Olive was shot and Michalewicz died in Boggo Road Jail (now closed) 23 years later, having already endured years of imprisonment as a prisoner of war under the Nazis.