| Was Samson the
Nazarene the first terrorist? by Bahija Réghaï |
|
'Let
me die with the Philistines!'
|
 October 14,
2004"He cried out, 'Let me die with the Philistines!' And then he leaned forward with all his strength, and the temple fell on the chiefs and on all the people who were in it. He killed more people at his death than he had killed in his life." (Judges 16:23-31) According to the legal US definition of 'terrorism' - "premeditated, politically motivated violence against non-combatant targets" - Samson was a terrorist. However, John Milton found that "... as he had first duly prayed to God to be his help, it follows that he counted it no wickedness, but a duty, to kill his masters, his country's tyrants, even though the greater part of his country-men refused not slavery." (Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio - The First Defence - 1651). Was he a hero then for committing the ultimate sacrifice to free his people from foreign tyranny, having first prayed to God? More recently, when in 1985 a group of bearded and turbaned men - the Afghan Mujahedin who worked with Bin Laden - met with Ronald Reagan in the White House, Reagan stated that they were "the moral equivalent of America's founding fathers" because of their fight against Communism. Nelson Mandela was at that time still in prison, and was considered a terrorist by the US government terrorist because he was fighting to free his people from apartheid. Who is vilified or honoured is determined not by principles but by interests and politics. No wonder politics has become such a dirty word and voters incredibly cynical. Bahija Réghaï is a writer and well-known peace activist in Ottawa, Canada. Samson image from Biblica.com |