UNDERSTANDING CHRISTIANITY

A monthly forum on the third Saturday of each month from 6:30 to 7:30 P.M. following Evening Prayer at 6

Forums with Dr. Richard T. Nolan

Retired Honorary Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, and Retired Philosophy Professor and Writer

Editor of www.philosophy-religion.org

Saturday, November 16, 2002

Guide to a Forum on

When Relition Becomes Evil

About the Author
Charles Kimball is professor of religion and chair of the department of religion at Wake Forest University. An ordained Baptist minister who received his Th. D. from Harvard University in comparative religion with specialization in Islamic studies, Dr. Kimball is the author of three books about religion in the Middle East. A frequent lecturer and expert analyst on the Middle East, he has been interviewed by more than one hundred television and radio stations as well as newspapers and magazines throughout the world since the events of September 11.

“Religion is an extremely powerful force,” says Kimball. “It can inspire people to their highest and noblest, but religion has also been used as justification for some of the worst events in history.”

"Whatever religious people may say about their love of God or the mandates of religion, when their behavior toward others is violent and destructive, when it causes suffering among their neighbors, you can be sure the religion has been corrupted and reform is desperately needed," Kimball says about religion being used for evil.

No religion is free from the possibility of corruption, Kimball says, but all have the ability and means to overcome it. He hopes When Religion Becomes Evil will stimulate constructive discussion on religion’s function in the world.

“We need to recover what is best and healthy in all religious traditions,” says Kimball, chair of Wake Forest’s religion department. “As flawed as they can be, religious traditions and institutions are absolutely necessary in an increasingly interdependent world community.”

Using cults and sects to illustrate blind obedience, Kimball recalls the hundreds of Jim Jones followers who became victim to a mass murder-suicide in the late 1970s.

I believe we can discern five major warning signs, predictable indicators that dangerous corruption of the heart of the religion is likely. These include: absolute truth claims; blind obedience; efforts to establish the "ideal" time; when ends justify any means; and declaring holy war.

Kimball describes five warning signs of a "corrupt religion."

1. Claims of absolute truth. "Major problems arise when exclusivist sources of authority and logic are joined with a missionary fervor designed to bring conformity," Kimball writes. Truth claims, for example, are central for religions. But, when people pronounce absolute truth claims, when they believe they know what God wants for them and everyone else, you've got a recipe for disaster. We need a more humble and honest "human" view of truth, one that recognizes we are all in a process of growth, change, learning and unlearning. The body of the book contains numerous examples across traditions and through the centuries.

2. Blind obedience. Examples, Kimball said, range from cult followings such as those of David Koresh and Jim Jones to the absolute adherence demanded by mullahs of today's Iran.

3. Establishing an "ideal" time. "When any group determines what God wants for them and everyone else and this vision connects with powers of the state, you have a recipe for disaster," Kimball writes. "Examples include Muslims seeking an Islamic state, Jewish settlers and extremists in Israel, and the Christian Reconstruction movement in America."

4. The end justifies any means. "Religious people are capable of unspeakable evil when they can justify the end result," Kimball says. Examples go beyond the Sept. 11 hijackers: Hindu and Muslim violence in India; suicide bombers in the Middle East; ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.

5. Declaration of a holy war. The debate over the modern interpretation of jihad is an example.

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See also in www.philosophy-religion.org –

“Accountability of Rectors” and “Toxic Faith” in the “Constructive Criticisms …..” subsites.