Comments on: They’re Not Mentally Ill… They’re Terrorists http://pursuingholiness.com/2006/10/theyre-not-mentally-ill-theyre-terrorists/ pursuing holiness, following politics Sun, 21 Mar 2010 05:14:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Laura http://pursuingholiness.com/2006/10/theyre-not-mentally-ill-theyre-terrorists/comment-page-1/#comment-6408 Laura Wed, 04 Oct 2006 20:02:50 +0000 http://www.pursuingholiness.com/2006/10/04/theyre-not-mentally-ill-theyre-terrorists/#comment-6408 That's a great point. I was so intrigued by the concept of the "banality of evil" that I did a little Googling on it and found <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Eichmann-Jerusalem-Report-Banality-Evil/dp/0140187650?tag2=gp04-20" rel="nofollow">this book</a>. I guess it is more comfortable for us to think of evil as being extraordinary and foreign to our nature, when of course that's about as far from the truth as you can get. That’s a great point. I was so intrigued by the concept of the “banality of evil” that I did a little Googling on it and found this book.

I guess it is more comfortable for us to think of evil as being extraordinary and foreign to our nature, when of course that’s about as far from the truth as you can get.

]]> By: pastor david http://pursuingholiness.com/2006/10/theyre-not-mentally-ill-theyre-terrorists/comment-page-1/#comment-6403 pastor david Wed, 04 Oct 2006 19:13:50 +0000 http://www.pursuingholiness.com/2006/10/04/theyre-not-mentally-ill-theyre-terrorists/#comment-6403 I would be surprised if it were the case that they were mentally ill. After WW II, people started talking about the "ordinariness" of the men and women who perpetrated such atrocities in German. I don't recall who said it, but this phenomena was called the "banality of evil." Evil is always most frightening when it arises out of the ordinary. It is the unexciting people, people just like you and I, who are capable of some of the darkest acts. GK Chesterton's detective character, Father Brown, was asked how he understood the criminal mind so well. Father Brown replied that he simply thought what it would be like if he had committed the crime. His questioner was astounded, sure that their was no way to even imagine that a man like Father Brown could commit such acts. Father Brown replied, "I am not frightened of the evil that I can imagine. It is when I stop being able to imagine it, when I think that I am incapable of some evil act, that I will be most likely to fall victim to it" I would be surprised if it were the case that they were mentally ill. After WW II, people started talking about the “ordinariness” of the men and women who perpetrated such atrocities in German. I don’t recall who said it, but this phenomena was called the “banality of evil.”

Evil is always most frightening when it arises out of the ordinary. It is the unexciting people, people just like you and I, who are capable of some of the darkest acts.

GK Chesterton’s detective character, Father Brown, was asked how he understood the criminal mind so well. Father Brown replied that he simply thought what it would be like if he had committed the crime. His questioner was astounded, sure that their was no way to even imagine that a man like Father Brown could commit such acts.

Father Brown replied, “I am not frightened of the evil that I can imagine. It is when I stop being able to imagine it, when I think that I am incapable of some evil act, that I will be most likely to fall victim to it”

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