Religious Views of Some Extremists May Fuel More Violence : Terrorism: Theologians say apocalyptic visions in Bible’s book of Revelation are being misinterpreted by some right-wing paramilitary groups.

America’s right-wing para military groups speak a language thick with urgency.

Their message: They must act now to counter an evil federal government that is out to crush Americans’ constitutional rights.

Much of their language is political. But guiding many of these groups is an apocalyptic religious perspective grounded in the New Testament book of Revelation and its vision of a final, violent confrontation between the forces of good and evil, between God and Satan.

The coming millennium only adds to the volatility of this reading of Scripture, leading some experts on right-wing extremism to warn that last week’s bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City may be a harbinger of more violence.

“We’re in for a rough ride,” said Stjepan Mestrovic, a sociologist at Texas A & M University and the author of a forthcoming book on apocalyptic religious movements at the end of the 20th Century. “When the millennium passes, things will get better again. But I think we’re in for a lot more of this extremism.”

James Wood, a professor of church-state studies at Baylor University, agreed. The university is in Waco, Tex., the site of the 1993 Branch Davidian shootout with federal officials that has become a rallying cry for paramilitary groups.

“It’s easy to see that this could be the beginning of a pattern,” he said. “Certainly, to a committed terrorist, (the Oklahoma City bombing) is an encouragement.”

Those familiar with paramilitary extremists say that not all are religiously motivated. But they note the frequency with which Christian terminology and symbols are mixed with the groups’ political identities.

In Idaho, a group known as Almost Heaven: a Christian Covenant Community teaches that white people are the masters of the earth. And the Michigan Militia, a right-wing paramilitary group, is led by a “general” who is a Baptist preacher.

“Our God is not a wimp,” said Norman Olson, the church’s lay pastor and “general” of the Michigan Militia. “He’s the God of righteousness and wrath. Our way of looking at God and country is not passive Christianity.”

Scholars and theologians say there is nothing in the book of Revelation to dictate an extremist view.

‘Nowhere in the text can we find a call to arms on the part of humans,” said Frank Flinn, an adjunct professor of religious studies at St. Louis’ Washington University. “Rather, the great symbolic events are brought about solely by God, his angels and other heavenly beings.”

But for many right-wing militarists, the book of Revelation foretells a battle between true Christians--as many of the militarists see themselves--and Washington, viewed as the devil’s city and the manifestation of the biblical Babylon.

Viewing themselves as Christian patriots, many extremists believe that the nation’s capital is controlled by satanic agents intent on establishing a one-world government that will destroy Christian faith and the white race, said John Helgeland, a religion professor at North Dakota State University.

They believe that “anyone who works for any government agency is a demon or a dupe of a demon,” which allows them to rationalize the taking of lives, Helgeland said.

Events such as the raid on the Branch Davidian compound, in which sect leader David Koresh--who also preached an apocalyptic vision--and about 80 followers died, are considered evidence of the federal government’s hostile intentions.

Apocalyptic theology is hardly new. It extends back to Jewish sources during ancient Israel’s exile in the enemy stronghold of Babylon about 2,500 years ago.

During the Cold War, Flinn said, Moscow was the modern Babylon and Communism was the earthly manifestation of Satan.

In Hal Lindsey’s 1970 religion best-seller “The Late Great Planet Earth,” the Soviet Union and its Arab allies were depicted as Satan’s agents resisting the restoration of Israel, a prerequisite for the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth.

Today many paramilitarists see the federal government as Satan’s agent, and apocalyptic beliefs carry an urgency previously unknown.

“For the first time, the death of the culture is scientifically possible, thanks to the Nuclear Age,” said Charles B. Strozier, co-director of the Center on Violence and Human Survival at John Jay College of the City University of New York.

“Before the Nuclear Age, it took an act of imagination to image the ultimate end. Only mystics, artists and psychotics could do that. Today you need to deaden a part of yourself not to consider the end of the world,” he said.

“For some people, that’s just further impetus to act. In that context, taking out the U.S. government is an apocalyptic act.”

To most of the nation, those responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing are part of a lunatic fringe.

However, Strozier and others warn against dismissing them in such simplistic terms without considering that they may have deeply held religious motivations.

“They are profoundly alienated, and their zealousness is extra-normal,” said Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at Scotland’s St. Andrews University.

“But not all terrorists are insane, and only a minority of the militia group members are willing to blow up buildings with babies inside,” he said. “But sometimes rational people reach conclusions that for the rest of us are irrational.”

Religious beliefs by their very nature often tend to defy rational explanation, said Hoffman, making religious-inspired terrorism all the more difficult to comprehend.

“For the terrorist believer--Christian, Muslim or otherwise--it’s a sacramental act, almost transcendental. It’s nearly incomprehensible to the non-fanatic.”

Dean M. Kelley, a religious liberties consultant to the National Council of Churches, said the government’s failure to adequately consider the Branch Davidians’ apocalyptic beliefs virtually guaranteed a bloody ending to their confrontation.

For Kelley, the way to head off further violence by paramilitarists is for mainstream religious groups to encourage the federal government to communicate with them.

“I’m not suggesting that it’s easy,” Kelley said. “We’ve gone so far down the other road that it may be pretty hard to go back to ‘go.’ But going further down the same road is not going to lead to anything but open warfare.”

But for Carl Rasche, such talk sidesteps a deeper religious issue: whether “certain religious beliefs might be toxic and pernicious.”

Rasche, a University of Denver professor whose 1991 book “Painted Black” predicted increasing acts of cult terrorism, blamed “religious liberals” for failing to condemn fringe religious beliefs that contain violent elements.

“We believe that truth is relative and anybody can believe whatever they want,” he said. “Then we’re horrified when somebody’s truth tends to become so militant and subjective that they bomb a federal building and kill innocent children.

“We are facing something rather momentous here. We are seeing violence erupt in this country because of religious beliefs and values that really are out of control. In our rage to respect religious diversity we’ve created a monster.”