Spring Break
Speakers discuss relationship between religion, terrorism
Interfaith Dialouge Student's Forum addresses misconceptions regarding Islamic extremism
By: Chris Hokanson
Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: News
Arslan said that many people link suicide bombings with the religion of Islam, but most incidents are carried out by nationalist groups like the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a militant group in Sri Lanka. While people in the West view the typical suicide bomber as a young Muslim male, he said, many bombings committed by the Tamil Tigers are perpetrated by women. The Tigers even pioneered the use of scuba divers as suicide bombers, Arslan said.
Sgt. Jackie Maynard of the Bryan Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division, said terrorism and violence affect everyone, and that people's response can help lessen the impact and work to prevent similar action.
"Not many of us come in contact with, or are affected by terrorism," Maynard said. "But we can still prevent violence and promote understanding by being kind and practicing the Golden Rule."
Maynard said gangs represent a local form of terrorism, but being a mentor or joining a group like the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America can help eradicate that problem in the Bryan-College Station area.
When it comes to a religious response to terrorism, Rev. David Elton said that Christians must take to heart Jesus' words about responses to violence. The Christian community's interpretations of its religious teachings varies greatly, but "turning the other cheek" needs to be put into practice, said Elton, a pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in College Station.
"When Jesus called for turning the other cheek, it was not a call to be passive or to accept violence, but rather a radically active response to violence and insult," he said.
That response entails a sincere compassion for victims, an active involvement in the healing and reconciliation process and the fight for equity and justice that prevents that kind of violence before it can start. Not a retaliatory justice, Elton said, but a situation that doesn't create the inequities that lead to terrorism.
"Jesus called us to respond, not with violence, naiveté, passivism or apathy," he said. "He called us to a proactive, human good will, that grows from a faithful response to a very proactive, loving God."
Sgt. Jackie Maynard of the Bryan Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division, said terrorism and violence affect everyone, and that people's response can help lessen the impact and work to prevent similar action.
"Not many of us come in contact with, or are affected by terrorism," Maynard said. "But we can still prevent violence and promote understanding by being kind and practicing the Golden Rule."
Maynard said gangs represent a local form of terrorism, but being a mentor or joining a group like the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America can help eradicate that problem in the Bryan-College Station area.
When it comes to a religious response to terrorism, Rev. David Elton said that Christians must take to heart Jesus' words about responses to violence. The Christian community's interpretations of its religious teachings varies greatly, but "turning the other cheek" needs to be put into practice, said Elton, a pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in College Station.
"When Jesus called for turning the other cheek, it was not a call to be passive or to accept violence, but rather a radically active response to violence and insult," he said.
That response entails a sincere compassion for victims, an active involvement in the healing and reconciliation process and the fight for equity and justice that prevents that kind of violence before it can start. Not a retaliatory justice, Elton said, but a situation that doesn't create the inequities that lead to terrorism.
"Jesus called us to respond, not with violence, naiveté, passivism or apathy," he said. "He called us to a proactive, human good will, that grows from a faithful response to a very proactive, loving God."
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