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From Race to Religion

By François Blumenfeld-Kouchner / September 8, 2007

A post in Foreign Policy’s blog this week entitled “Here come the blonde, blue-eyed terrorists?” makes much of the “Aryan”-looking German converts to Islam making it into the terrorists’ ranks. I don’t know that it’s such a new phenomenon (plenty of Caucasian-like terrorists in the past, and indeed if you look beyond Islamic terrorism, plenty of Caucasian terrorists), but I must say that for this anti-racist atheist, this new focus heralds a hope that attention will be shifted from ethnicity (e.g.: “Arabs”) to religion (e.g.: “Islam”) as the excuse for terrorism. Not that I think like some of the anti-religious crowd that religion necessarily breeds violence -I actually get on better with many religious moderates than with a number of fellow atheists; and I’m only too aware that I must be compensating for the lacking irrationality of religion in many ways- but I do think that it’s a bad excuse, since its premises are wholly mistaken.

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  • By vazalt 10/10/07 at 4:23 p.m. UTC

    I like this tune:

    "This is not us"

     

  • François Blumenfeld-Kouchner
    By François Blumenfeld-Kouchner 9/10/07 at 10:57 a.m. UTC

    Ah, all irony is lost.

  • By jez 9/10/07 at 8:29 a.m. UTC

    Euh,François, how is your take on the Bourne Supremacy a logical rebuttal of my pointing out that the US practises terror? I am not stating an opinion. I am merely point out what can be observed in the media (unless the media show nothing but lies): innocent populations all over the world being massacred, terrorised, tortured by the US army and other armies armed by the US. All this has been well documented by one of the, if not the, most experienced western journalists in the middle east: Robert Fisk, particularly in his lates book. Par pitié, don't just dismiss Fisk out of hand.

    I think the word terrorism defines it's self very well: Terror.  

  • François Blumenfeld-Kouchner
    By François Blumenfeld-Kouchner 9/10/07 at 12:16 a.m. UTC

    Shimson and Jez -

    Shimson -I agree with you and, no, I’m not suggesting that the problem is Islam. I’m only arguing 1) that any kind of religion serving as an excuse for violence is a bad idea: so I’m not saying that religion is either necessary or sufficient to engender terrorism (you can have religion without violence or violence without religion), but since I believe that religions are fundamentally erroneous, I think it’d be good to do away in particular with any religious justification of violence. 2) that “racism” -as in: he’s not white, he must be a terrorist- is not a useful interpretation of the terrorist phenomenon, including as a prevention measure (Islamic terrorism uses converts was the topic of the FP post), and it can lead to huge “blunders” that should not be tolerated in a democracy (e.g.: de Menezes’s assassination by the British police, which I mentioned in another post). I doubt that a shift away from ethnicity towards religion would help prevent this “racism” (or xenophobia, or whatever), but why not hope?

    Jez – The definition of terrorism is an interesting point (although the introductory chapter on this point in Hoffman’s “Inside Terrorism” is borderline tedious, it is useful in this case). Of course, we’re in disagreement as to the US practicing terror: I just watched the Bourne Supremacy, and it didn’t seem to me that it was a documentary, sorry.

  • By jez 9/9/07 at 4:39 p.m. UTC

    is terrorism. Or more specifically terror. Terror is practised by various entities regardless of religion: Separatist, fundamentalist, state, fascist, xenophobic, anti-capitalist…The US and Israel are not muslim let alone islamist, yet they practice terror. The same goes for
    the Rote Armee Faktion or the republican and unionist paramilitaries and the british army in Northern Ireland.

  • By shimshon123 9/9/07 at 4:15 p.m. UTC
    Are you suggesting that Islam is the reason behind current terrorist activities?  WHile it certaintly is a part of the problem i think that by itsself it is too simplistic an explanation.  Suicide, whether for the purpose of taking ones life, or as a part of fighting in jihad, is strictly forbidden under traditional interpretations of Islamic law.  It's status as completely prohibited has only changed in the last 20 years.  but with almost 1500 years of a consistant interpretation prohibitig suicide, even in jihad, it is hard to argue that the recent change in this position is based on Islamic sources.  (See Bernard Lewis's The Crisis of Islam pg 33) Also there are other suicide terrorist that are not Islamic.  for example the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.  THere is more to the problem that relgion.  But then of course we must ask what is the problem.  I would have to focus on culture and indoctrination as well as religion.
  • François Blumenfeld-Kouchner
    By François Blumenfeld-Kouchner 9/9/07 at 10:04 a.m. UTC

    Point well taken -thanks for the correction. But indeed my argument was against racial classifications to start with.

  • By Anonymous 9/9/07 at 3:52 a.m. UTC

    If you’re going to use outdated racial classifications you should at least know that Arabs are Caucasians.

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