Why Are There No Christian Suicide Bombers?

OhhJim · Mar 8, 2007

Samson was the Old Testament equivalent of a suicide bomber.

I realize that he was an exception, and if we have to go back 3,000 years, it doesn't mean much, but still.

I also realize he was a Jew, not a Christian. But hey, some of us Christians today don't realize there's a difference! Like the ones who think the Ten Commandments are part of Christianity.

Smidlee · Mar 8, 2007

cavell said:
The Muslim suicide bomber like the Japanese Kamikaze air pilot in Word War II have believed a lie.

Muslims suicide bombers are not the same as Japanese Kamikazes. First Japan was at war with us at the time. Second AFAIK after the war was over, there hasn't been a single Japanese flying planes into American ships even though they had totally lose their military and we dropped the bomb on them.
Japan realize too late how important it was to save experience pilots. At first their planes didn't even have ejection seats. America done everything to save their pilots which gave us the advantage in the long run. So it wasn't Japan was deceiving their pilots as much as bad military tactics. Of course hind sight is 20/20.

Now the Sept.11 attack was more like a military strike as it was aimed at our government and to destroy our economy. These men was also older and had families as well than the usual suicide bombers.

cavell · Mar 8, 2007

Smidlee said:
Muslims suicide bombers are not the same as Japanese Kamikazes. First Japan was at war with us at the time. Second AFAIK after the war was over, there hasn't been a single Japanese flying planes into American ships even though they had totally lose their military and we dropped the bomb on them.
Japan realize too late how important it was to save experience pilots. At first their planes didn't even have ejection seats. America done everything to save their pilots which gave us the advantage in the long run. So it wasn't Japan was deceiving their pilots as much as bad military tactics. Of course hind sight is 20/20.

Now the Sept.11 attack was more like a military strike as it was aimed at our government and to destroy our economy. These men was also older and had families as well than the usual suicide bombers.

The Japanese kamakase pilot, and the Muslim suicide bomber have this common factor.......the promise of eternal life, having died for their country/belief

That is the comparison I was making.

Main point being that the Christian teaching affords no such promise, in such circumstance.

Smidlee · Mar 8, 2007

I would say Japanese kamakase pilots have more in common with the first wave of soldiers who land on the beach of Normandy than suicide bombers.
Suicide bombers are more like someone who take a gun and kills his whole family then turn around and kills themselves. They believe in take others with them in their suicide.

horuhe00 · Mar 9, 2007

OhhJim said:
I also realize he was a Jew, not a Christian. But hey, some of us Christians today don't realize there's a difference! Like the ones who think the Ten Commandments are part of Christianity.

Some Christian think that the Levite laws still apply!

horuhe00 · Mar 9, 2007

Japanese Kamikaze in WWII are something like American troops in Iraq. They can't win, yet thet die for their country.

cavell · Mar 9, 2007

Smidlee said:
I would say Japanese kamakase pilots have more in common with the first wave of soldiers who land on the beach of Normandy than suicide bombers.
Suicide bombers are more like someone who take a gun and kills his whole family then turn around and kills themselves. They believe in take others with them in their suicide.

Cannot argue with that

cavell · Mar 9, 2007

horuhe00 said:
Japanese Kamikaze in WWII are something like American troops in Iraq. They can't win, yet thet die for their country.

It fills all with sadness. Were it not for those brave men holding things in check. The West would be under threat from such suicide bomber

cavell · Mar 9, 2007

horuhe00 said:
Some Christian think that the Levite laws still apply!

I have not met any!

soblessed53 · Mar 9, 2007

Because Christianity is not a religion 'based' on works,where martyrdom is the ONLY assured way to attain paradise,(otherwise they are never assured they did enough),plus Christianity does not promise a harem of 72 virgins to fornicate with on reaching paradise!Talk about a marketing ploy!

The Christian religions would have BILLIONS of male converts too, if this was preached!

Chastity demanded in this life with dire consequences if you violate this,but an eternity of fornication,makes sense,hmm!

soblessed53 · Mar 21, 2007

Vandhiyathevan · May 5, 2007

Patzak said:
Suicide bombings and terrorism in general seem to be much more dependent on the culture and the local situation than on religion. While Muslim suicide bombers are definitely in the majority, consider that they mostly come from and operate in extremely volatile regions such as the Middle East. Look away from stable places such as Europe and Africa and you can find Christian militants. If anyone recalls the Christian/Muslim riots in Africa (I think it was either Kenya or Ethiopia) last year (around the time of the Muslim cartoon riots, if I recall), Christians were responsible for most of the bloodshed there. Also, consider the Lord's Resistance Army that operated in Uganda in the past decade - while not using suicide bombers, they were (and to some extent are) fond of hacking off people's arms, conscripting 10 year old children into their ranks, etc..

My point is, I don't think religion has much to do with suicide bombings at all; it can be used as a justification (i.e. "martyrdom operations"), but I think suicide bombings are mostly the result of the political situation and the general mentality of the people in a certain region. Perhaps Islam and Hinduism (Tamil Tigers) make it easier to justify such things than Christianity, but I don't think religions are the root cause and I wouldn't be surprised to find out about Christian suicide bombings occurring for example in certain African regions.

errr?? excuse me?

Tamil tigers are not entirely Hindu.There are Christians in that organization as well. There have been Tamil Christian suicide bombers too. It would be nice if you got ur facts straight before you post

Sycophant · May 5, 2007

Quijote said:
It's a different world view. Suicide bombing of the Muslim persuasion see their actions as being 'good' and 'reedeming'. Not knowing much about Islam, I don't know if this belief is an actual teaching of Islam or a corruption of it. I do know that Christianity teaches against harming of innocents by any means.

I believe Islam has pretty similar precepts about doing harm.

However all that's really required is to convince someone that taking that sort of action is righteous and just.

It is no different that Christians being willing to fly bomber planes. They have teachings in their faith against harming innocents, but at the same time dropping a bomb is pretty much assured to do that. They just have to believe that what they are doing is right.

That convincing is perhaps not that hard to do when people are deeply religious and are conditioned to respect those with more 'authority' than them. People with that authority can then manipulate those people.

'Evidence' to support this indoctrination isn't hard to come by in the places where these actions occur.

Patzak · May 5, 2007

Vandhiyathevan said:
errr?? excuse me?

Tamil tigers are not entirely Hindu.There are Christians in that organization as well. There have been Tamil Christian suicide bombers too. It would be nice if you got ur facts straight before you post

You're right. I apologize. However, I only mentioned them in passing and if I wanted to check the facts on everything I don't think I'd ever get around to actually posting anything. I was also wrong about the Christian-Muslim riots; it was neither Kenya nor Ethiopia but Nigeria.

Sycophant · May 5, 2007

cavell said:
The Japanese kamakase pilot, and the Muslim suicide bomber have this common factor.......the promise of eternal life, having died for their country/belief

That is the comparison I was making.

Main point being that the Christian teaching affords no such promise, in such circumstance.

I don't believe that Kamikaze pilots had any expectation of eternal life in exchange for their sacrifice.

I believe it was about honour and sacrifice for their country.

Much more like the fist wave at Normandy than Suicide Bombers.

I also don't think Suicide Bombers are much like a murder/suicide either. The attackers didn't want to commit suicide as such, they want to commit an attack, and are willing to die in the process. Like the Kamikaze in that respect.

Vandhiyathevan · May 5, 2007

Patzak said:
You're right. I apologize. However, I only mentioned them in passing and if I wanted to check the facts on everything I don't think I'd ever get around to actually posting anything. I was also wrong about the Christian-Muslim riots; it was neither Kenya nor Ethiopia but Nigeria.

No probs; just clarifying your post i didn't mean it in a negative way

Sycophant said:
I don't believe that Kamikaze pilots had any expectation of eternal life in exchange for their sacrifice.

I believe it was about honour and sacrifice for their country.

Much more like the fist wave at Normandy than Suicide Bombers.

I also don't think Suicide Bombers are much like a murder/suicide either. The attackers didn't want to commit suicide as such, they want to commit an attack, and are willing to die in the process. Like the Kamikaze in that respect.

I totally agree with you on this man

The japanese did not have any promise whatsoever but did it because it was the "way of the warrior"; (Bushido). It was self sacrifice Without any rewards.

Thats the same case with the Tamil Tigers in Srilanka too.
Also its interesting to note that both the Japanese and Tamils both have/have had a strong martial tradition heavily influenced by the notions of self sacrifice and honor .

So unlike the Islamic suicide bombers; and other religiously (not to mention the 72 virgins...and heaven and all the trappings supposedly made available for a religiously motivated sucide member) motivated ones; the Japanese and Tamils are motivated by their ancient tradition .They do not have heaven or any other rewards on their minds when they do it other than their concern for their fellow comrades/cause.hence i would say that one cannot compare the religious suicide carders who do it For purely Selfish(heaven.lol) reasons with those who do it for the greater good as one.

micbmac · May 5, 2007

Probably because murder is a sin. If you kill yourself you've commited murder. We honor God thru our actions and to murder is not honoring God.

Ave Maria · May 5, 2007

What about Ireland? Were there ever any Christian suicide bombers there? I know there were Christian terrorists. And that is incredibly sad. I have to wonder about the Christianity of those who do commit terrorist attacks.

ACougar · May 5, 2007

http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=4223

And consider the 19-year old Loula Abboud, a dark curl kissing her forehead and a golden cross around her neck. A Lebanese Christian, she was one of the first women to earn the title of istishhadiyah when she blew herself up in 1985 as Israeli troops moved in to capture her guerilla group near the town of Aoun in southern Lebanon.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/821425/posts

On Jan 10, 2003 the ex spokesman of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, Atta Allah Hana, praised the suicide bombings of organized Palestinian terror against Israeli citizens. He also called for the establishment of an Islamic-Christian union that will work together to foil the "American offensive" against Iraq and "to release Palestine from the river to the sea".

The following is a translation of the article as published on the official Hamas website on Jan. 11, 2003:

"He [Attah Allah Hana] indicated [at a convention in Haifa] that when his passport would be returned to him, he would stand at the head of a Christian delegation that will depart for Iraq to act as a human shield facing the American oppression of Iraq.

The spokesman of the Orthodox Church praised suicide activities carried out by Palestinians deep inside the Hebrew State [Israel] in the name of religion (Ist'sh'had).

http://www.alternet.org/audits/35815/

But these arguments fall short. At present, bombers are primarily Muslim, but this was not always so. Nor does indoctrination play a strong role in growing today's selfselected global jihad networks. Rather, militants and bombers are propelled by social ties. And even when jihadis use the Qur'an and Sunna to frame their struggle, their justifications for violence are primarily secular and grievance-based.

Morcova · May 5, 2007

PeaceLover02 said:
What about Ireland? Were there ever any Christian suicide bombers there? I know there were Christian terrorists. And that is incredibly sad.

I don't know. I do know they were fond of blowing up women and children tho.

PeaceLover02 said:
I have to wonder about the Christianity of those who do commit terrorist attacks.

I don't, there are people who see the world and hate what it's become, they see the political process as being corrupted, they see society as a whole as being against them so they see only one way to rectify things.

Violence.

Incidently people who make claims of a "Culture War" aren't too far away from what I've described above.

Why Are There No Christian Suicide Bombers?

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