Hate. Crime.

I am troubled by what happened in Norway and have been corresponding with a friend of mine named Howard. He's a great guy. Probably one of the best and most knowledgeable computer and video nerds this planet has produced. And he worked for a religious organization, keeping really antiquated computers running with new software—despite all odds.

He is bothered by what is being said about Anders Behring Breivik, the norwegian killer who has caused so much grief in Norway this past week. Apparently, Breivik is a "Christian," though I don't know what kind of Christianity condones what he did. Problem is, I can see that my friend, Howard, is really troubled by this, as his faith is being challenged.

Here's what I wrote my friend, Howard, about this hate crime:

Howard, you see the world through a lens of Christianity and I understand that. You are a devout man and your devotion obviously has its rewards.

You will get prickly replies because, frankly, everyone in Norway is pissed off at what is happening in the United States and what happened here after September 11, 2001, when Bush decided he, then, had a right to go after an adversary that was not involved. And some of the same people who were "with" Bush and not "against" Bush (as was Norway) are, right now, threatening the entire world with a deeper recession or another recession by saying that the United States does not need to raise its debt limit and does not need to worry about those consequences.

About the only thing Americans can and should offer Norway is our heartfelt condolences with no explanation.

This is a Norwegian September 11 and everyone in Norway believed that their country would be spared any of this because of the kind of society they are and because of their tolerance for all people.

Howard then sent me something that Craig L. Parshall, Sr. VP & General Counsel for the National Religious Broadcasters here in the US wrote, trying to distance his Christians from this "Christian."

Here is what I wrote back:

As regards the "Christian Fundamentalist" message you sent. I don't forget that Dr. George Richard Tiller's murderer, Scott Roeder considers himself a "Christian," even though he murdered him in his church, after the Doctor had just finished his duties as an usher there. I do note that it used to be considered an absolute mortal sin to cause someone's death, to lie, to steal or to disobey any of the ten Commandments on holy ground, such as in a church. In fact, The idea comes from the original Judeo-Christian concept of Sanctuary, where persons fleeing the law could go to places of worship and be protected.

In the Old Testament, God commanded Moses to set aside cities and places of refuge in Canaan where the persecuted could seek asylum. This concept can also be found in ancient Roman law, medieval canon law and British common law.

For a good source of the legal justification of this (in the 1980s), please see: http://www.newsanctuarymovement.org/build-tradition.htm

So one could honestly argue that Roeder isn't a Christian, really. But he did participate in "Operation Rescue" which is a Fundamentalist Christian-run organization, mostly out of California, who literally moved to Wichita to run 24-hour protests. He was associated with the Montana "Freemen" movement, which is what you would have to call extremist right-wing.

Here is where the similarity begins between Scott Roeder and Anders Behring Breivik: Heated rhetoric. "Operation Rescue" and other anti-abortion groups would frequently post "hit lists" on the Internet, as well as create signs and wanted posters for specific individuals who were involved in clinics they didn't like. There is substantial evidence that Roeder participated with these groups, listened to their rhetoric and did his best to amplify it. He also acted on it.

Breivik participated with a group called QFF.

In 2002, he stated in his journal that he was "ordinated as the 8th Justiciar Knight" with them. Part of the reason why nobody suspected that he was a problem is because he formed and ran his conspiracies on the Internet. By July, 2010, he stated that he had "successfully finished the 'armour acquisition phase' and [had] created an armour cache" that he buried in the forest.

Breivik was a frequenter of various websites all dealing with right-wing hate groups who are xenophobic racists. He contributed to these sites. and his mass murder was as frightening as Timothy McVeigh's attack on the Federal office building in Oklahoma City. These xenophobic groups all consider themselves as Christians and use Christian labels for their status in their society.

Problem is, here in the United States, we have less supposedly radical groups taking over our Republican party. I call your attention to Sharron Angle, with her "Second Amendment solutions" to losses in the ballot box, to Sarah Palin's "Don't retreat, reload!" exhortations and the connection that Arizona's SB-1070 has to The Immigration Law Reform Institute (ILRI), a racist hate group. They, in turn, are affiliated with a group called the Federation for American Immigration Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR's founder, John Taunton is an avowed racist and key members are members of white supremacist groups, spreading racist conspiracy theories. The less-extreme help the extremists by giving them cover through rhetoric. And they get the more extreme all set to justify their manifesto of intolerance and violence.

So don't look to Norway and Europe as the only place this arises. It has happened here and will probably happen again here if we fan the flames of this intolerant rhetoric.

Howard, I think it would be absolutely illegal for me to specifically campaign against and single out one religious group for it's specific destruction. Especially were I to get together with co-conspirators and publish photos of the principal people in the organization as "Wanted," paint bulls eyes on them, put them on a list of people who would be better dead, follow them home, publish their addresses and phone numbers, take photos of the outsides of their homes, along with any children they had, threaten all employees who worked for them—even part-time—and call them nightly to let them know they are being watched (all of this is what the groups who were in Wichita were doing leading up to Dr. Tiller's death).

The beginning of this kind of behavior is a decision—that a group, a person, an ethnic variation, someone who does not believe as you do—is something external, outside and to be not appreciated for the basic humanity that inhabits them.

Listen to those who speak to you and listen for speech that excludes others as "apostates," "non-believers," "infidels," "unholy," "un-righteous." Don't trust that speech because, as a matter of fact, we're all on this planet, this fragile blue orb, this spaceship Earth—together. And nobody has any right to take away anyone else's rights. And nobody gets to say that all people cannot be happy just as they are at the level of consciousness they have, thus far, attained.