“The “Ismail Ax” reference to getting rid of idols comes from a MUSLIM story, NOT an Israelite story.”
Perhaps I shouldn’t have called it “Israelite.” I meant the Abrahamic story, where the Patriarch and the family(Israelites, Ishmaelites) going on against the sinners.
Cho certianly believed that his murders were religious in nature. Which religious branch, who really knows. But he makes it clear about his religious motive and refers to Jesus and Ishmael.
“Cho criticized Christians in his rant”
Criticizing(and killing) Christians has nothing to do with whether or not he was justifying his acts using religion. He obviously saw the people he was killing as sinners and oppressors who had to be killed, not oppressed .
“and said that he himself was tantamount to Christ in that he was being crucified and would be looked up to by future generations of the weak and the defenseless. To a Christian that is BLASPHEMY. Cho was no follower of Christ.”
True, but to himself, it WAS NOT blasphemy. In fact, that was exactly what he believed in.
“Based on what has been released so far, the only realistic suggestion that Cho was religious and that religion that motivated his actions is that he repeated the islamist rant about America being “hedonist and degenerate.” But again, I very much doubt that he was a real muslim.”
Again, who knows what religious branch he was following. Probably nothing because he was a loner and psychopath, not exactly your typical mainstream religious person. But, his motives — his inspiration — are religious and mythological/historical in nature. He drew inspiration from the religious accounts of the destruction of the hedonists and the degenerates.
“His rants are a mishmash of much evil things, but the closest thing I would compare him to would be a radical leftist such as a Maoist or Shining Path.”
Perhaps. The maoist/Commie rhetoric is similar to a loner psychopath’s religious rhetoric in a sense they are claiming to do something good, and kill people en masse.
Furthermore, this guy was an English Literature major. In English Literature, writers employ the name "Ishmael" to signify an outsider. This is done, for example, in what many students of English Literature consider to be the finest American novel, a book called "Moby Dick." So an English Literature major making reference to "Ishmael" does not necessarily mean it is a religious reference. And if it IS a religious reference, it would be Muslim, because Ishmael is only an important name in Islam, not for Jews or Christians.
The references he makes to Jesus Christ are the following:
"Because of your actions the ground you stand on and you that harbor its principles will forever be known (unintelligible word) the world as Holy Ground of Terrorism, Lovers of Terrorism and Sadism, Rapists of Souls, (unintelligible word) Christian Nazis, Apostles of Sin, Crucifiers of the Innocent, Kim-Jong II's of the West, American (unintelligible word) and Osamas of America."
"Christian Nazis" is not being used as a sympathetic term here. No reasonable person would think Cho was a Christian because of his reference to Christ in this way.
The other reference he makes to Christ is this:
“Thanks to you,” he writes, “I die like Jesus Christ to inspire generations of the weak and defenseless — my brothers, sisters and children — that you f---ed.”
This happens to be the Marxist interpretation of Christ - that he was a man who died to inspire the downtrodden people of the world. On the other hand, Christians believe that Christ as the Son sacrificed himself to make sinful man acceptable in the sight of a perfect and holy God the Father.
It appears he is comparing himself to the historical character of Christ (in particular as interpreted by Marxists). There is absolutely NO reason to think from this he considers himself a Christian.
Further, while he does rail against the hedonism and degeneracy of those he considers is enemies, he makes absolutely NO reference anywhere to "religious accounts of the destruction of the hedonists and the degenerates." I don't know where you get that from.
The guy did use religious-sounding terminology at times (e.g., the "holy ground of terrorism") but based on everything else he says there is no reason to believe this isn't just language used for dramatic effect as opposed to coming out of an actual religious belief.
I will concede to you this point, however: They have not made public either the note or most of his package to NBC. It may well be the case that if we saw those materials, it would be clear that he WAS in fact motivated from a religious belief, perhaps an islamist belief.