"Triablogue: Is Breivik a Christian?"

For those of you who were thinking about Norway: Triablogue: "Is Breivik a Christian?"

The first comments on the issue I would leave are the following:

That there are Christians who have done evil is easy to admit, because it’s true. On the other hand, since pragmatics (in a non-linguistic sense of the word) is all about what “works” for an individual--what suits his ends, whether good or bad--there is no special reason to believe that Anders Behring Breivik believes the tenets of Christianity and believes in Christ.

If you’re someone who in any way judges the veracity of something on the basis of admissibility of on-going tests and trials, then any foregoing profession of belief in that thing is necessarily delusional falsehood at best. And if you’re someone who judges the utility of something on the basis of admissibility of on-going tests and trials--well, in that case there is no necessity of the existence of faith in that case.

Therefore, even apart from a consideration of the likes of 1 John 3.15 and John 3.36, the mass killing that just took place in Norway does not add very much to the idea that Christianity has a track record of getting lots of people killed as a matter of theological duty.