Can a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, be a Terrorist?

A Salafi—a Muslim who adheres to the version of Islam of Prophet Muhammad’s time—wrote to me, “Speak out against the Oslo attacks, you terrorist!” I have had discussions with this gentleman on a wide range of topics. Since I haven’t been writing a lot lately, he was probably trying to get me into the discussion about terrorism.

I responded to the Salafi Muslim, “Do you consider Oslo mass murderer a Christian?” He wrote back, “I’m being facetious! Just kidding! And no, I don’t…so long as you don’t think the 9/11 terrorists were Muslims. ; )” While everyone who carried out 9/11 was a Muslim, Anders Behring Breivik wasn’t a Christian. (Unless he has now accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and repented.) He wrote in his manifesto that his posted online just hours before the killing spree, “If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God then you are a religious Christian. 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.”

This mass murderer professes to have no “personal relation with Jesus Christ” and yet he has been called a Christian. A Christian is someone who professes and then adheres to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Breivik was not one of them.

If Breivik were following the teachings of Jesus Christ, he would not have hated anyone, let alone kill them. Jesus said, “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” On the contrary, what the mass murderer in Oslo did was exactly what the Qur’an teaches. Whereas Jesus taught about doing good to those who persecute or oppress his followers, the Qur’an has the opposite message with, “And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is all for Allah” and continues, “And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter.”

Muslims are called to fight and even kill those who persecute them while a Christian is called to “Love and pray” for his or her enemies. What a contrast! There is no such thing as a Christian terrorist because those who follow the teachings of Jesus Christ would not do harm even to their oppressors. On the other hand, the Qur’an shows how Muslims are justified to harbor hatred and anger toward people who cause them hardships (deliberate or implied) and when Muslims muster the resources, fight and even kill them. After all, the Qur’an justifies the slayings of these oppressors, which is better than the persecution of Muslims.

The bottom line, there is no such thing as a Christian terrorist because Jesus teachings prohibit terrorism. My initial thought was a Muslim had carried out these attacks, of which I apologize.