C. E. Chambers

On July 22, 2011, blond-haired, blue-eyed Anders Breivik committed terrorist acts in two locations in Norway that resulted in 77 deaths and many wounded.  Labeled “the worst mass killer in peacetime Europe,” extreme shock and justifiable outrage swept the globe and hard questions are still being asked.  While psychiatrists debate whether Breivik is insane, there is one label he definitely does not deserve.  He is not a Christian.

Contrary to world media headlines that screamed for days that Breivik is a “Christian fundamentalist” and even a “Christian terrorist,” the killer’s own words in his 1,507-page manifesto prove otherwise.  The document was posted on the internet the same day as the carnage that occurred in Oslo and on the island of Utøya.

Breivik openly stated on page 1307 that he did not have “a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God.”

“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.”

On page 1344, he confessed:

“I’m not going to pretend I’m a very religious person as that would be a lie.”

Also on page 1344:

“As this is a cultural war, our definition of being a Christian does not necessarily constitute that you are required to have a personal relationship with God or Jesus.  Being a Christian can mean many things.” [Breivik deconstructed the very core of Christianity by excluding Jesus.]

On page 1360, Breivik adamantly stated that he didn’t want a “Christian fundamentalist theocracy”:

“It is not required that you have a personal relationship with God or Jesus in order to fight for our Christian cultural heritage and the European way….It is therefore essential to understand the difference between a ‘Christian fundamentalist theocracy’ (everything we do not want) and a secular European society based on our Christian cultural heritage (what we do want).”

“So no, you don’t 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 (an atheist who wants to preserve at least the basics of the European Christian cultural legacy (Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter).”

On page 1307 he also stresses that he believes in “Christianity as a cultural, social, identity and moral platform. This makes us Christian.”  [Again, he excludes the very cornerstone of Christianity: a personal relationship with Christ.]

Breivik even wrote:

“Religion is a crutch for weak people. What is the point in believing in a higher power if you have confidence in yourself!? Pathetic.”

Anyone who reads Breivik’s manifesto and still calls him a Christian is disingenuously ignorant, and maybe guilty of an agenda-based, gross bigotry against Christianity.

However, Breivik refers many times to something he calls “cultural” Christianity, a type of utopia that exists only in his mind and one he plans to impose by force.  In fact, on page 1115 he resembles the dreaded Marxists that many of his diatribes are directed against and states that certain types of people “will have their property and funds expropriated by the new cultural conservative regime.”  He goes on to name them: “Politically active cultural Marxists, multiculturalists, capitalist globalists and suicidal humanists….”

After Breivik’s arrest, he admitted to his attorney that he does not believe in democracy, but rather in dictatorships.  He praised Vladimir Putin in his manuscripts.

His goal is to overthrow western Europe’s entire political and religious structure, including the European Union, and dispel all Muslims.  He wants to usher in something he calls “Christendom.”

More than once, he expresses a fascination with “Christendom.”  However, it’s only a nebulous social concept that he wants to force — unChristian-like — upon society.  He wants to “preserve” Christmas and Easter holidays because they’re just part of what he calls a “cultural legacy.”  He could care less about the Christian creed or cornerstone:  God’s plan of salvation through Jesus.  The teachings of Jesus would remove all justification for his diabolical mission.

Breivik actually expresses a clear dislike for Protestantism.  On pages 1129, 1130, and 1131, he longs instead for the “high liturgy,” ”symbolism,” and “communion” of the Catholic church.   In fact, he refers to “The Pope” as “the ultimate Knight of Christendom.”  However, in another passage, he writes that it’s “necessary to overthrow the Protestant and Christian hierarchies; after which a ‘Great Christian Congress’ would set up a “new European church.”

Clearly, Andes Breivik appears to be in conflict with religion as a whole…except for Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews, whom he praises.

Breivik refers several times in his manifesto to what some people are calling a “reconstituted” Knights Templar.  These were the men from the 12^th century whose original function was to protect pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land.  On page 1110, Breivik instructs noviates in their ordination and blood oath.  Candles are mandatory because they “symbolize the light of God, or specifically, the light of Christ….”

He’s dependent on symbolism again to impart an aura of spirituality to his mission since he has no relationship with Christ.  He admits that he doesn’t even have a prayer life.

No, Brevik’s true love is not Jesus Christ.  He has no desire to submit to a Savior whom he knows would instruct him not to commit murder (Luke 18:18) and who would have admonished him to love his neighbor.  He wore a policeman’s uniform to obtain access to the island of Utoya where he cold-bloodedly killed 77 people, many of them teenagers – but he was not a policeman

 No, his ardor is for religious symbolism, a “cultural Christianity” without committing to Christ or adhering to his commandments.  When he declares that he is “100% Christian,” it’s because his  mission is so heinous he has to hijack the name of Christ to delude himself into sounding noble.

Note:  “The Lord Jesus Christ” is used three times in Breivik’s manifesto but not as a personal declaration of faith – and they’re not even his own words.  Regarding the first two occurrences, John from Verum Serum.com (“Sally Quinn Should Reconsider the Facts on Anders Breivik,” July 27, 2011), discovered that Breivik had borrowed “an entire section…from this online Coptic encyclopedia article published in 2001”:

Despite persecution, the Coptic Church as a religious institution has never been controlled or allowed itself to control the governments in Egypt. This long-held position of the Church concerning the separation between State and Religion stems from the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, when he asked his followers to submit to their rulers: ‘‘Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” [Mathew 22:21]. The Coptic Church has never forcefully resisted authorities or invaders and was never allied with any powers, for the words of the Lord Jesus Christ are clear: ‘‘Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Mathew 26:52). The miraculous survival of the Coptic Church till this day and age is a living proof of the validity and wisdom of these teachings.

John’s research also uncovered this interesting information: “The third and final appearance of ‘Lord Jesus Christ’ in Breivik’s manifesto appears on page 1101 – but it, too, is the work of another writer.  The paragraph was taken from “this 2006 web posting”:

By tradition the Labarum was ordered to be carried before the legions of Constantine after he had a vision in the heavens of a “cross of light” and the Greek words EN TOUTO NIKA (conquer by this) and a subsequent nocturnal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ who told him to conquer under His sign.

As John concludes:  “So all three of the mentions of “Lord Jesus Christ” are cut and pasted from elsewhere. This is not Breivik expressing faith in Jesus as Lord, this is Breivik stealing bits of historical minutiae from others who did express such faith.”

[Photograph of Anders Breivik is from http://www.troll.me/2011/07/25/oslo-bomber/anders-breivik/%5D