Fundamental Breivik truths<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As journalists began digging into the who, what, when, where, why and how of Anders Behring Breivik, the deputy police chief of Oslo faced a media scrum\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2011\/08\/fundamental-breivik-truths\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fundamental Breivik truths\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As journalists began digging into the who, what, when, where, why and how of Anders Behring Breivik, the deputy police chief of Oslo faced a media scrum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2011\/08\/fundamental-breivik-truths\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Terry Mattingly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-08T15:19:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2011\/08\/fundamental-breivik-truths\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2011\/08\/fundamental-breivik-truths\/\",\"name\":\"Fundamental Breivik truths\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-08T15:19:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-08-08T15:19:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"As journalists began digging into the who, what, when, where, why and how of Anders Behring Breivik, the deputy police chief of Oslo faced a media scrum\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2011\/08\/fundamental-breivik-truths\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2011\/08\/fundamental-breivik-truths\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2011\/08\/fundamental-breivik-truths\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fundamental Breivik truths\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\",\"name\":\"Terry Mattingly\",\"description\":\"On Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. 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{"id":2317,"date":"2011-08-08T11:19:37","date_gmt":"2011-08-08T15:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tmatt.net\/?p=2317"},"modified":"2011-08-08T11:19:37","modified_gmt":"2011-08-08T15:19:37","slug":"fundamental-breivik-truths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2011\/08\/fundamental-breivik-truths\/","title":{"rendered":"Fundamental Breivik truths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cWhat we know is that he is right wing and he is a Christian fundamentalist,\u201d he said, the morning after the hellish attack on Norway\u2019s Labor Party and on the children that were its future.<\/p>\n

That was the English version of the quote that jumped into American news reports and wire service stories around the globe.<\/p>\n

Breivik was officially a \u201cChristian fundamentalist.\u201d He was also a \u201cChristian extremist\u201d in a New York Times headline, a \u201creligious conservative\u201d on an ABC newscast and a \u201cChristian terrorist\u201d in an Associated Press report.<\/p>\n

However, the pivotal \u201cfundamentalist\u201d phrase sounded a bit different in the context of the televised Norwegian press conference that ignited this media storm, said the Rev. Arne H. Fjeldstad<\/a>, a minister in the Church of Norway and a former senior editor at the major Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten. He is also one of my colleagues in the GetReligion.org project to study the mainstream media\u2019s coverage of religion news.<\/p>\n

Translating from the Norwegian<\/a>, Fjeldstad said the police claimed that Breivik was part of a \u201cChristian, fundamentalist, extreme-right environment in Norway.\u201d The key was his violent opposition to the political policies known as \u201cmulticulturalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not sure this police official knew what he was saying when he used the word \u2018fundamentalist,\u2019 \u201d said Fjeldstad. \u201cI think he was trying to say that this was a crazy, lunatic, radical guy on the political fringe and he is calling himself a Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s crucial to know, he added, that \u201cfundamentalist\u201d has literally been pulled into the Norwegian language from English \u2014 even if there is very little history of Protestant fundamentalism in Norway. <\/p>\n

During debates inside the Church of Norway, said Fjeldstad, the term is primarily used by liberals to describe conservatives who stress the Bible\u2019s authority as the \u201cinspired word of God\u201d and who defend traditional Christian doctrines on moral issues. While there are Christian groups in America who identify themselves as \u201cfundamentalists,\u201d this is not the case in Norway.<\/p>\n

As media around the world quickly reported, Breivik did identify himself as a Christian \u2014 period \u2014 on his Facebook page. He also added other details about his religious and cultural beliefs in his 1,500-page online manifesto, \u201c 2083 \u2014 A European Declaration of Independence<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

At the age of 15, Breivik apparently chose to be baptized and confirmed into the state church. However, the writings left behind by the 32-year-old radical also stress that he does not hold traditional Christian beliefs or practice the faith. Instead, he carefully identifies himself as a \u201cChristian agnostic\u201d or a \u201cChristian atheist (cultural Christian).\u201d In his manifesto, Breivik emphasizes his identity as a Free Mason, his interest in Odinist Norse traditions and his role as a \u201cJusticiar Knight\u201d in a new crusade against Islam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God then you are a religious Christian,\u201d he wrote, in a passage that found its way into a few media reports. \u201cMyself 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breivik explicitly separates himself from conservative forms of Christianity, at one point noting: \u201cIt is therefore essential to understand the difference between a
\n\u2018Christian fundamentalist theocracy\u2019 (everything we do not want) and a secular European society based on our Christian cultural heritage (what we do want). <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, no, you don\u2019t need to have a personal relationship with God or Jesus to fight for our Christian cultural heritage. It is enough that you are a Christian-agnostic or a Christian-atheist.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, noted Fjeldstad, for Breivik the \u201cChristian\u201d label is cultural or political \u2014 but not a statement of personal faith in his case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are going to use the word \u2018fundamentalist\u2019 it must be used to describe someone who is a very conservative Christian when he is talking about the Bible and the practice of the faith,\u201d he said. Thus, a fundamentalist Christian \u201cwould always place a heavy emphasis on having a personal faith in Jesus Christ. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cSo whatever Anders Breivik is, the last thing you can call him is a \u2018fundamentalist\u2019 Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"