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Norway, July 22nd 2011:  A self-described “Knights Templar” and “Freemason”, Anders Behring Breivik murdered 68 people in a combination explosion and shooting spree in Utoya and Oslo respectively.

More important (for the purpose of this blog) than the crimes themselves, is the motive.  Breivik posted over 1500 pages of his “manifesto” in which he describes the ”deconstruction of Norwegian culture and mass-import of Muslims“, encourages Christians to “embrace martyrdom” and calls for others to see him as “the savior of Christianity“.

In my years of study, I can’t remember a single time I’ve seen Christian crusaders cast as heroes.  Even in the oldest, most fundamental sects of Christianity, do you rarely even hear a mention of the crusades as they are almost universally an embarrassment to the church.  But that certainly didn’t stop Breivik from idolizing them.  In a twisted propaganda video he posted to YouTube just before the attack you can begin to see the depth of his devotion and eventual madness.

There can be absolutely no doubt that religious fundamentalism, weather Christian, Islamic or otherwise leads to murder, torture, and the continued suffering of the entire human race.

Thousands of years have passed in which we spend countless time, monies, and effort in effectively eradicating each other based on which “God” we believe in.  Haven’t we, as a human society had enough of pointless murder?  Isn’t it clear yet that genocide doesn’t “solve” any problems?  Why can’t we see that RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM is the cause of all of this pain and loss?

This is awesome.  It’s about time we started taking the “driver’s test” training seriously.

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=45286

Make sure you read the actual recommendations too.

I spent a week (actually, we’re still here if you count some unexpected car trouble, but that’s another post…) in Georgia’s smallest, deepest, bible-belt-i-est towns.  We stayed in Cleveland, Helen, and Demorest to name a few.

Small towns are often subject to inbreeding and redneck jokes, but for good reason: Often, as they say, reality is stranger than fiction.  And this vacation proved to be no exception.

But beyond the quite literal “living cliche” representation of the locals we met, you couldn’t help but notice the constant repetition of “American owned” and “Christian owned” signs attached to the hotels, restaurants, and gas stations.  At first, this just seems like a joke;  maybe it would make for a funny photo posted to your Facebook page.

But with more thought, it opens a pandora’s box of questions and commentary.  Try to imagine what the outrage would be like if a Miami Publix mounted an “American owned” sign on their building.  Maybe a Shell gas station with a great big Christian fish on the sign, imagine the photo on the front page of the Sentinel that weekend.  Imagine the picketing, the calls for boycott, and the news commentary.

Yet, here we have hundreds, if not thousands of that exact occurrence and no one bats an eye.  It’s amazing to consider the complete lack of religious and racial tolerance in a country literally founded on it;  especially when you consider the average southerner’s claim to American life and patriotism.