A man is driving through County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, when he finds the road is blocked by a tree. Before he knows what’s happening, masked men have shoved a gun in his face and signal to lower the window.
“Are you a Catholic or a Protestant?” the masked man shouts. The wrong answer could be fatal.
“I’m an atheist.” the man replies.
“Yes, but are you a Catholic atheist or a Protestant atheist?” the masked man retorts.
Just like in Northern Ireland, a lot of these people aren’t actually particularly religious.That should be obvious by their behaviour and the behaviour of the leaders they support. They don’t actually believe in the tenants of the New Testament. They are using Christianity and the bible as a signifier of sectarian and ethnic allegiance.
What you’re witnessing in the US, is in large part not religious fundamentalism. It is ethnic sectarianism.
It’s fundamentally no different to Northern Ireland or the Balkans. The Butcher of the Bosnia identified himself as Serbian Orthodox, and claimed to be defending Christian Serbia from Muslims. He had been a loyal communist for decades before that, and as far as I know wasn’t particularly religious at all.
TLDR: good luck America. And perhaps consider voting this time round.
A man is driving through County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, when he finds the road is blocked by a tree. Before he knows what’s happening, masked men have shoved a gun in his face and signal to lower the window.
Just like in Northern Ireland, a lot of these people aren’t actually particularly religious.That should be obvious by their behaviour and the behaviour of the leaders they support. They don’t actually believe in the tenants of the New Testament. They are using Christianity and the bible as a signifier of sectarian and ethnic allegiance.
What you’re witnessing in the US, is in large part not religious fundamentalism. It is ethnic sectarianism.
It’s fundamentally no different to Northern Ireland or the Balkans. The Butcher of the Bosnia identified himself as Serbian Orthodox, and claimed to be defending Christian Serbia from Muslims. He had been a loyal communist for decades before that, and as far as I know wasn’t particularly religious at all.
TLDR: good luck America. And perhaps consider voting this time round.