These are real people in the midst of a real tragedy and our first response must be compassion, weeping and empathy – not the kind of gratuitous interest or the too quick smart analysis so beloved of our media commentators.

Anders Behring Breivik has joined the ranks of Timothy McVeigh (the Oklahoma bomber), and Eric Harris (Columbine shooter). He has achieved fame and notoriety for an act of unspeakable cruelty and stupidity, all done in the name of his beliefs. The facts are simple – Mr Brevik placed a bomb in the centre of his home city, Oslo, which killed 8 people and then went on to kill another 76 young people who were attending a summer youth camp on the island of Utoya.

What can one say in the face of tragedy? Perhaps we should be like Ian Paisley, not normally noted for his tack and diplomacy, who when asked about the killing of children at Dunblane simply quoted Jeremiah 31:15 This is what the LORD says:

“A voice is heard in Ramah,
mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because her children are no more.”

We certainly remember the people of Norway and especially those most affected by the tragedy. This morning I received the following from a Christian youth worker in Norway

For us the tragedy is close to home. The only three kids from the whole west coast who were at the Labor Party camp were from this part of the city of Stavanger, Hundvaag, where we have our primary YL club. We knew all three students and they have all attended a YL camp in the last 2 years, and been a regular part of our club ministry here these last years.

One of the two girls is best friends with one of our jr leaders. She was running from the gun man hand in hand with another friend as her friend was shot through the head. She is still in shock. A young man I have been close with for several years, not the type to cry, was weeping on the phone as he called to tell his parents he was okay and that there were bodies everywhere as he ran for his life.

Lastly, the youngest girl who was a part of our YL confirmation club last year, attend regular club and our fall weekend, is still missing and no-one has heard from her since the incident. ”

These are real people in the midst of a real tragedy and our first response must be compassion, weeping and empathy – not the kind of gratuitous interest or the too quick smart analysis so beloved of our media commentators. As the news unfolded it was astonishing how quickly the press were quoting experts declaring ‘this has all the hallmarks of an Al Qaeda attack’.

In this respect the people and politicians of Norway have come across really well. Certainly the impression is of a people united by grief, with a deep sense of social compassion and coherence. This morning there was even a program on Radio Scotland asking why the Norwegians have reacted so well. Norway is a small country bordering the North Sea, with a population of around 5 million, with a strong Christian past and the vast wealth of North Sea oil. Just like Scotland.

But whilst Scotland’s oil wealth has been wasted by successive London governments in bailing out a failed British economy and bankrolling the City, Norway’s has been used to set up a huge fund which provides the most generous social welfare and state pension scheme in the world.

But much of the discussion has been about Anders Brevik’s religious views. Once it became clear that he was not an Islamic fundamentalist, given that religion is the cause of all evil, it was quickly declared that he was a Christian fundamentalist. After all didn’t his recently updated Facebook profile declare that he was a conservative and a Christian? His 1500 page ‘manifesto’ declared: “At the age of 15 I chose to be baptised and confirmed in the Norwegian State Church “I consider myself to be 100 percent Christian.”

Case closed. Stephen Prothero of Boston University declared that Brevik was a ‘Christian terrorist’.

But stop and consider. Firstly over 90% of Norway’s population claim to be Christian (one for those American liberals who cite Norway as a bastion of atheist secularism!).

To be Norwegian is in many people’s eyes to be Christian. Therefore it is hardly surprising that a rabid right wing Norwegian nationalist pronounces himself as Christian. It carries no more weight than the notion that just because Hitler called himself a National Socialist, that he was a socialist.

The question we must simply ask is ‘what is a Christian?’ The answer is not that difficult. A follower of Jesus Christ. Where did Jesus Christ ever commend or order mass murder? How does one know if one is a follower of Jesus Christ? Belief in his teachings, reading the Bible, prayer, being part of his church, all these are fairly standard. Brevik gives no indication of ever having met that standard.

He writes in his manifesto that he does not pray, doubts the existence of God and has no personal relationship with him.

“Regarding my personal relationship with God, I guess I’m not an excessively religious man,” “I am first and foremost a man of logic. However, I am a supporter of a monocultural Christian Europe.”

In other words for Brevik to be Christian is to be anti-Islamic and have some version of a white Aryan Europe. Classic neo-Nazi philosophy.

Writing in The Guardian, Andrew Brown wrote that “even in his saner moments (Breivik’s) ideology had nothing to do with Christianity but was based on an atavistic horror of Muslims and a loathing of ‘Marxists,’ by which he meant anyone to the left of Genghis Khan.”

I expected the atheist fundamentalists to jump with glee on the schadenfeude bandwagon, (watch out one minute your child is attending Sunday school, the next minute they will be massacring children at a youth camp) but it is more than a little disappointing that some Christians have failed to apply logic and scripture.

Last night I received an article from a Southern Baptist pastor based in England who was arguing that even though he may have been a bad Christian, Brevik was still a Christian and we must somehow carry the can. Doubtless his clumsy attempt at humility was well meant but it was just stupid. Unless you are prepared to discount any meaningful meaning for the term Christian.

However there is a lesson for the church over all – and especially those who would equate Christianity with right-wing politics. Don’t. (Likewise with equating Christianity with left-wing politics). Like Mr Brevik whose version of Norwegian nationalism includes being ‘Christian’, there are those in Britain, and especially the US, who equate a particular political stance or nationalistic viewpoint with being a Christian.

It is not that a Christian cannot have right wing views. It is just that we cannot assume that because someone has a particular political view, they can be classed as Christian.

There are people who have become mentally unbalanced and use Christianity as the reason for their insane actions. There are Christians who do things that are wrong – including murder. But this was not the action of some God believing cultist who just let things go a wee bit too far. The frightening thing about Brevik is that he is very much the product of a contemporary secular society.

Consider Brevik’s other interests – he listed True Blood and Stargate Universe as his favourite TV shows, along with Dexter which features a serial killer as its main character. His favourite books were Kafka’s The Trail and Orwell’s 1984. His only Tweet was an adaptation of John Stuart Mill “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests”. He had permits for an automatic rifle and a Glock pistol.

He ran an agricultural business including an organic farm for which he was able to order tons of fertilser. His interests included body building, hunting, freemasonry, stock analysis and Modern Warfare 2 video game. He also loved playing World of Warcraft. Just before he went on his killing spree he swallowed a cocktail of drugs known as an ‘ECA stack’ to make him ‘strong and efficient’. It included ephedrine, a powerful stimulant sometimes used by athletes to improve performance, and caffeine and aspirin.

This gives a completely different picture. A picture of a man who pumped up with steroids, fanatical ideas about the purity and power of his own culture and with no Christian sense of right and wrong, and no absolute authority other than his own fantasies, can then go on such a killing spree.

I would not want to argue that anyone who plays World of Warcraft is about to go on such a killing spree but surely it is worth asking whether there was that much difference in Brevik’s mind between the fantasy of shooting people on video and shooting them in reality?

And then let’s consider his philosophy. Ironically it is arguable that it was precisely because he did not accept Christian teaching but instead advocated a combination of pagan and neo-Darwinian philosophy, that Brevik was able to justify to himself his own actions. Again I would not want to say that all those who follow Darwin’s theory of evolution are inclined towards mass murder – that would just be foolish.

But it is significant that several of the lone killers in Western society in recent years have cited the theory of natural selection as a justification for their actions. Brevik hails Charles Darwin and declares “As for the Church and science, it is essential that science takes an undisputed precedence over biblical teachings.” Barry Arrington was the lawyer for the Columbine victims and declares the following:

I read through every single page of Eric Harris’ journals; I listened to all of the audio tapes and watched the videotapes, including the infamous “basement tapes.” There cannot be the slightest doubt that Harris was a worshiper of Darwin and saw himself as acting on Darwinian principles. For example, he wrote:

“YOU KNOW WHAT I LOVE??? Natural SELECTION! It’s the best thing that ever happened to the Earth. Getting rid of all the stupid and weak organisms . . . but it’s all natural! YES!”

The cocktail that Brevik imbibed was a dangerous one. If you believe that human beings are just a collection of chemicals evolving in an ever more progressive way, and that your culture is the height of that progression, and that your culture is under threat by ‘untermenshen’ (less developed humans like Muslims, and that the way to advance the species is to eliminate the weak; and if you combine that with a might is right philosophy, and a relativistic morality where each person has to work out their own morality; you then combine that with guns, steroids and the fantasy racism of the internet; the surprising thing is not that such events happen, but rather that in the mercy of God, they are so rare.

A couple of final thoughts. We really do need an absolute right and wrong. How can our secular relativists consistently speak of right and wrong, good and evil, if these are only social constructs? This week I was amused to hear of a new secular society being set up whose constitution includes as part of their purpose ‘to do good works’. Apparently they have had the integrity to add in brackets after this ‘once we have found out what good means’!

And we also need an absolute justice. I think Norway is a wonderful society, but I cannot help but feel that putting Mr Brevik into prison (prisons in Norway are of course the most civilised in the world – designer furniture, flat screen TV and no bars on the window in each cell) for 21 years (the maximum allowed by Norwegian law) is not compatible with justice – unless the Norwegian legal system is taking into account that one day God will judge us all.

Finally we need the love and mercy of God. Perhaps that is why Norwegians in their tens of thousands have been flocking to the churches – hardly the actions of a people who believed that Christian belief was at least partially responsible for this atrocity.

What better way to finish than these words from a leader of a political party in Norway

We are trying to support our leaders as best as we can. We are a small nation and a big family. So we are all involved some way. We have just come home from our local church. Packed with young people crying, lighting candles, praying. I think that is also the best you can do. Pray for these young people returning home. And for the nation to turn to God at this time of crises.

David Robertson is a minister in the Free Church of Scotland who serves as Pastor of St Giles Presbyterian Church in Dundee. This article appeared on the new website called ‘Solas’. The primary mission of Solas – Centre for Public Christianity is to increase the message of the gospel to culture. This article is used with their permission.