As a former reporter, I have lived long enough to not be easily shocked. I have covered murders and other crimes. Yet, I was surprised by the scale of death and suffering in the bombing in Oslo and the horrific shootings at Utoya in Norway on July 22nd.  As of now, the death toll stands at 86 people, eight dead in a bombing in Oslo and perhaps 68 dead at a Labor Party youth camp on the isle of Utoya. This tragedy can be likened to both 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing in that fanaticism led to the lost of innocent life.

Initially, some in the U.S. media attributed the attacks to Muslim terrorists as events unfolded. Conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin initially linked the attacks to Muslim extremists on her blog at the Washington Post as did conservative CNN commentator Erick Erickson. However, the attacks were the work of a man of Norwegian descent, Anders Behring Breivik, who issued a manifesto condemning Muslims, “cultural Marxists, and liberalism in general" for creating a Europe that he sees as becoming alien to traditional European cultures.  Indeed, many of the phrases in Breivik’s long manifesto were lifted from the manifesto of Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, who also opposed many of the changes in modern society.

What leads a person to choose to kill dozens of people? Hate. The phrase cultural Marxism is a popular one among the American neo Nazi movement. Chip Berlet, a noted observer of right wing extremism, addresses Breivik’s extremism in a recent post "Anders Behring Breivik: Soldier in the Christian Right Culture Wars":


Berlet in the article Updated: Breivik's Core Thesis is White Christian Nationalism v. Multiculturalism goes on to summarize Breivik's theories and major influences:


Paul Weyrich, who was one of the founders of the Moral Majority and the Heritage Foundation, is also remembered for this quote:




To my mind, what I read of Breivik’s manifesto seemed little different than what I would find on the site Stormfront, the website of the American Nazi Party. However, attacks on immigrants, fear of people of different faiths, and of different ideologies is no longer just part of the political fringe. It is easy enough to tune into cable television and find people attacking Muslims, liberals and others as not being patriotic.

I am reminded of what Samuel Johnson wrote about people who hid their agendas behind a flag and claim that they alone are true patriots. “Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.”

I have heard that during the Kennedy administration, John F. Kennedy and Barry Goldwater discussed being on the same train and visit different cities during the presidential election of 1964. Does anyone believe that such a thing is possible in an era when the birthplace and faith of a sitting American president have been questioned on the airwaves and by members of Congress? We have people who make a living off of spreading fear of the other, whether it is liberals, secular humanists, immigrants, or Muslims.

In a chart analyzing citations in Breivik’s manifesto, Think Progress notes that he cited several people on the right known for spreading fear of Muslims, including Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer.

None of this surprises Frank Schaeffer, author of Crazy for God and Sex, Mom and God. His father was Dr. Francis Schaeffer, whose writings greatly influenced the Christian Right. He has stated that the language his father used to question the legitimacy of a government that allowed abortion has been taken up by others.

In a recent article at Alternet.org, Christian Jihad? Why We Should Worry About Right-Wing Terror Attacks Like Norway's in the US, the younger Schaeffer says that there is a connection between people like his father, their political followers in office, and those who take the words of writers and politicians as a call to arms.


Currently, some of the pundits who initially blamed the attacks on Muslims are still trying to drag Muslims into the attacks, even though Brievik is opposed to Islam.

For example, in Erick Erickson’s own words:


I thought that this was inappropriate, but it pales in comparison to the words of former Fox News host Glenn Beck, who compared the Labour Party youth camp to Hitler Youth camps in Nazi Germany. (This is a man who has smeared George Soros as a Nazi collaborator, criticized Reform Judaism, and seems to have a mastery of hyperbole.)

As Beck stated:

Glenn Beck was associated, by the way, with a 9/12 Patriot camp for children. I suppose that Mr. Beck is trying to make the world safe for hypocrisy
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I believe that Erickson and Beck are being wrong and hateful. As someone familiar with Jewish and Christian Scriptures, I believe that Erickson is inaccurate and bearing false witness against others, to portray them as less patriotic, less religious and as lesser persons. NO one I know is glad that the killer in Norway is a Christian – we wish that this awful tragedy never happened. Yet, Erickson continues the pattern that has been previously cited --- accuse someone of being hateful to hide one’s own hate.

I was raised to believe in an America where people are judged by their actions. I would ask Erickson and others not to paint with a broad brush, as they do not like the thought that someone who calls himself a conservative Christian could commit terrorist acts. Indeed, Breivik is now being referred to in many media accounts as an attacker or a crazy person, not a terrorist. Timothy McVeigh was a terrorist who went to war against his own government. It seems that there are too many people in this world, like McVeigh and Breivik, who want to have political discourse replaced by violence.

During my life, I have known many Muslim Americans, Jewish Americans, and Christian Americans who proved to be compassionate people committed to democratic values. There are Muslim doctors, Muslim soldiers and others who want to feel that this is as much of their country as their neighbor’s America. Instead of painting people with a broad bush based on stereotypes, we need to have a dialog with one another, so that the stereotypes that too many espouse can be countered with exposure to facts and real

(Much of this blog originally appeared at Democracy Interactive, an online progressive community.)