Spanking is for sissies

Abraham: spanking is for sissies

There are those who argue that religious violence stems from a misinterpretation of Judaism, Christianity or Islam, that when properly understood these religions are inherently peaceful. Even if the murderer claims to kill in the name of religion, these people respond: False, you are mistaken, you are deluded, you misunderstand your religion. In the face of murderous acts they say - this is not Islam, this is not Christianity, this is not Judaism.

At the LHG we think this is a mistake. It's a mistake because it overlooks the fact that violence is inscribed in these religion's sacred texts. When a Jewish extremist uses the Hebrew Bible to justify the razing of Arab households it's too simple to say that he's just misreading scripture, when a rightwing Christian uses scripture to justify persecuting Jews it's too simple to say he's just misreading the New Testament, and when Bin Laden turns to the Qu'ran to justify terrorism it's simplistic to say he's merely misinterpreting his sacred book. In his Is Religion Killing Us? Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer identifies three "violence of God traditions" - exodus, exile and apocalyptic - that pervade the main Western religions.

The posts that follow will explicate these traditions.