The following, which I am quoting exactly as it was posted, appeared on the "Spirituality" board of a question-and-answer website called Answerway after the terrorist attacks in London on June 7, 2005.  Is this what Christians believe?  Is this what Jesus taught?  With this type of thinking among people who consider themselves to be "religious" and "spiritual," is it any wonder that world peace is unattainable?

A guiding light…Yes, and I offer this wisdom…for you have seen for a long time the great disorder in the world caused by these crimes and, from the confines of Jerusalem, a horrible tale has gone forth and very frequently has been brought to our ears, namely, that a race derived from the kingdom of the Persians, an accursed race, a race utterly alienated from God has sworn to remove us from the face of the Earth. Let the deeds of your ancestors move you and incite your minds to great achievements; the glory and greatness of the Christian World who have destroyed the kingdoms of the pagans, and have extended in those lands the territory of the holy church. If in olden times the Maccabees attained to the highest praise of piety because they fought for Justice, it is also justly granted you, and Christian soldiers, to defend the liberty of your country by armed endeavor. And you ought, furthermore, to consider, if by your work and, God working through you, it should occur that the Mother of churches should flourish anew to the worship of Christianity, whether, perchance, He may not wish other regions of the East to be restored to the faith against the approaching time of the Antichrist.

What's even more distressing than this hate-mongering rhetoric in the name of Christianity is that so far not one of the responses to this post (except mine) has taken it to task for being inflammatory and bigoted – and this is on a board whose participants profess to be pursuing the spiritual life and where many piously state that Christian principles are the basis for their lives.

This is no "guiding light."  It is a creed that says, if you disagree with what I believe, I will kill you.  If you come from a part of the world where Christianity is not the dominant faith, I will send armies to wipe you and your neighbors out.  Indeed, if you come from there, I will assume that you are my sworn enemy.  I will do this for the glory of my church.

As an "unbeliever" myself, I am not surprised by rhetoric such as this.  It is precisely the type of unadulterated bigotry that poisoned me against organized religion in the first place many years ago.  I have, over time, acquired more tolerance and an awareness that not all members of organized churches (be they Christians, Muslims, Jews, or whatever) are as bigoted and hostile as this poster.  Only the fanatics are.

Yet those who hold to Christian principles should be alarmed at the fanatics in their midst.  They should censure them and drive them out of their company, lest all become contaminated by their venom.  The Christian who advocates the annihilation of all nonbelievers is as hateful, dangerous, and immoral as the Muslim who advocates death to all infidels.