Militant Christianity

{{christianity}}
'''Militant Christianity''' is one of those ideas that requires a great deal of [[cognitive dissonance]], considering how much Jesus went on about forgiveness and turning the other cheek. The more vociferous the followers of the [[religion]] are, the more likely they are to turn to violence [[Religion of peace|to prove how peaceful their religion is]], so militant Christianity takes many forms. To sum it up, this type of theology is a catalyst for terrorism.

==Christian message on guns etc.==
One of the more odd forms of militant Christianity is Trijicon, a small company in [[Michigan]] that inscribes [[gun]]sights with scriptural quotations.<ref>[https://archive.is/http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2010835014_bibleguns20.html Who would Jesus shoot?]</ref> Militant Christianity has a long history probably going all the way back to the Emperor Constantine, whose supposed Road to Damascus type conversion to Christianity took the form of a vision in which he saw a vision of the cross inscribed with the words to "Conquer by This", inspiring him to paint crosses on his men's shields —the better to slaughter the enemy.

==Ron Luce==
Below are examples of the violent language [[Ron Luce]] likes:
#"No souls can be saved without the shedding of blood. Blood must be shed!"<ref>Sunsara Taylor, [https://archive.is/1HEy Ron Luce's Holy War]. Archived from the original at rwor.org, 28 May 2006.</ref>
#"This is war. And Jesus invites us to get into the action, telling us that the violent—the 'forceful' ones—will lay hold of the kingdom."<ref name="liberal debutante"/><ref>Kathryn Joyce, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150907040908/http://www.onislam.net/english/back-to-religion/religion-and-violence/455341-americas-youth-and-the-holy-war-.html America’s Youth and The Holy War]. Archived from the original at onislam.net, 26 March 2013.</ref>
#"I will keep my eyes on the battle, submitting to Your code even when I don’t understand."<ref name="liberal debutante">[https://archive.is/M7uoP Ron Luce is like Jesus Camp… only he didn’t shut down.] Archived from the original at liberal-debutante.com, 18 July 2007.</ref>

Austin Cline wrote that it is only a matter of time before some crazy character takes the call to violence and bloodshed literally and acts on it.<ref>Austin Cline, [https://archive.is/Gwvvk Militant Christians: Where's the Criticism? Where's the Hand-Wringing?] about.com, 17 April 2007. {{quotebox|You can't use such militant language, all the while denying that you mean it in a metaphorical way, and not end up with some violence at some point.}}</ref>

==Positive Uses==
Militant Christian is also used to describe dedicated people who fight for Christianity in a nonviolent manner. Examples include Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who opposed the Nazis in Germany, and G.K. Chesterton, an influential Christian writer.

==Further examples==
Further examples include, famously, the [[Crusades]] and the Chinese "Heavenly Kingdom" of [[Hong Xiuquan]]. More recently, see [[Hutaree]], the violent [[Christian Identity]] splinter movement called the "Phineas Priesthood",<ref>[https://archive.is/http://www.jewishdefense.org/pin.htm Domestic Terrorism:Phineas Priests]</ref> and [[Pat Robertson]]'s apparent Ayatollah Khomeini-like fatwa against [[Hugo Chavez]] and [[Islam]].

==See also==
*[[Christian pacifism]]
*[[Militant atheism]]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

==External links==
*[https://archive.is/http://atheism.about.com/b/2007/04/17/militant-christians-wheres-the-criticism-wheres-the-hand-wringing.htm Militant Christians: Where's the Criticism? Where's the Hand-Wringing?]

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[[Category:Christianity]]

Categories: Christianity