At the age of 15, Breivik apparently chose to be baptized and confirmed into the state church. However, the writings left behind by the 32-year-old radical also stress that he does not hold traditional Christian beliefs or practice the faith. Instead, he carefully identifies himself as a “Christian agnostic” or a “Christian atheist (cultural Christian).” In his manifesto, Breivik emphasizes his identity as a Free Mason, his interest in Odinist Norse traditions and his role as a “Justiciar Knight” in a new crusade against Islam.
“If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God then you are a religious Christian,” he wrote, in a passage that found its way into a few media reports. “Myself and many more like me do not necessarily have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God. We do however believe in Christianity as a cultural, social, identity and moral platform. This makes us Christian.”
It’s interesting to lay Breivik’s religious references over some of the Nazi uses of religion. I see a lot of similarities in the perversion of the Message.
Hmm, kind of like being a cultural Jew. But that’s a stretch for Christianity.
We have perfect examples in the Catholicism of Pelosi, Sebelius and the late Ted Kennedy and the Christianity of Gene Robinson and KJ-Shori and a number of other TEC/ACoC/CoE bishops and priests who pick and choose where sexuality and doctrine are concerned.
While I have to acknowledge that people like the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and Gene Robinson are not among the most admired people of readers of this blog, I find it more than passing strange that someone would find some kind of connection between the addled theological musings of a Norwegian cold-blooded mass murderer on the one hand and Episcopal “bishops and priests” on the other. Does anyone really think that Breivik and KJS suffer from the same deficiencies? I could say the same for the reference to Pelosi, Sebelius and the late Senator Kennedy.
I continue to be amazed at the boogie man dimensions that many readers here ascribe to rather ordinary (too ordinary for the job or the times, I fear) folks like KJS. Surely there must be a sense of perspective and proportion applied.