[Milton-L] Samson as suicide bomber

[Salwa Khoddam]

Jeffery wrote: "The expression "Suicide Bomber" refers to anyone who blows himself or herself up to kill others, usually in a terrorist act." Is Samson a "terrorist"? Or a "freedom fighter," or "God's champion" elected (he was a Nazarene) to avenge the tribe of Judah? Religion and Politics were not separate for Samson nor for Milton (as supported by his political pamphlets).
Salwa Khoddam
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Horace Jeffery Hodges 
  To: John Milton Discussion List 
  Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 1:00 AM
  Subject: Re: [Milton-L] Samson as suicide bomber


        Carrol Cox wrote:

          "'Suicide Bomber' refers, of course, to Arabs, who have replaced 'dirty commies' in the mythology of u.s. politics. But that is not the elephant but merely the context. The elephant is that, through discussing Samson in theological terms, one implies that the suicide bombers of the daily newspaper are acting or claiming to act from theological motives -- that they are religious fanatics. But they are acting from strictly secular motives, as a study of a year or so established: they represent frustrated nationalism!"

        The expression "Suicide Bomber" refers to anyone who blows himself or herself up to kill others, usually in a terrorist act. The bomber can be any ethnicity and any religion -- or even have no religion. Currently, most such bombers are Muslims radicalized by Islamism. They may act out of a combination of motives, but religion is certainly one of these. Moreover, regardless of the motivation, Muslims would be unlikely to engage in "suicide" attacks if these had not already been declared not acts of suicide and if these had not already been theologically justified by Islamists. According to such Islamists, the reward for the Muslim 'suicide' bomber is paradise -- which is why they are called by Islamists "martyrdom operations." Religion certainly plays a major role in the phenomenon, and it cannot be ignored.

        Jeffery Hodges 



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