Last week, I questioned why people fight until the very end even when they know it won’t make a difference. What is the point of one last act of violence when peace is just one step away? In this week’s readings I found an answer, or so I think. In the essay by Charles B. Strozier, “The Apocalyptic Other”, Strozier says that those who commit those actions do so because they believe that they are part of a bigger cause that will somehow make the world better, whether it is the entire world or an individual’s world.
The world is not full of Jokers causing acts of violence for no particular reason other than the thrill of it. There are always motives, and in the case of the End of the World, the motive is to bring Salvation closer and to give God one more reason to save him or her, or them. It reminds of an episode of a TV in which a character wanted his girlfriedn to make him a beautiful hat so that God would take notice of him on Earth. This acts of extremism is that big hat that is there to attract God. Every act of terrorism in the name of God is trying to achieve what the hat is trying to achieve, except it doesn’t create attention it destroys humanity. It makes humanity less worthy of saving. Precisely because of this personal notion, I am not a big fan of A Glorious Appearing, because I think that war until the End should not be rewarded. Who is the real worshipper of his or her God: the one who kills people in God’s name or the one who one good deed without looking for any credit? Ghandi once said, ““I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” He admired Christianity and the idea behind it, but throughout the last two millenia, very few Christians have lived the true spirit of Christ. Christianity has become an excuse rather than a way of life, as have other religions for those few extremist that look for a “cause” to their latest acts of violence or intolerance.
