Which Psychotic Entelechy Killed 13 at Fort Hood?

I am not a narrow-minded defender of my own religion and philosophy. I look as critically at the mistakes of my own religion as I do the mistakes of other religions and philosophies. I stated in my book "Psychotic Entelechy: The Dangers of Spiritual Gifts Theology" (University Press of America, 2006):

"I hold a master’s degree in Hebrew from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University. I had a Christian, a Moslem, and a Jew on my thesis committee. I have great appreciation for Judaism. I learned a great deal about my own religion by studying Rabbinic Judaism. I also have considerable respect for Islam. I find also find in the writings of Kenneth Burke, the agnostic, much wisdom."

Even though I am a Christian, my first publication on the concept of psychotic entelechy involved a critique of a Christian sect, the Branch Davidians of Waco, Texas. My essay, "Waco and Andover: An Application of Kenneth Burke's Concept of Psychotic Entelechy," was published August, 1999, in The Quarterly Journal of Speech. In that essay, I defined psychotic entelechy as "the tendency of some individuals to be so desirous of fulfilling or bringing to perfection the implications of their terminologies that they engage in very hazardous or damaging actions.”

I concluded that David Koresh engaged in psychotic entelechy, and in April of 1993, eighty-six persons died because of his entelechy. In my book "Psychotic Entelechy," I blamed a very common (but, in my view, mistaken) Christian doctrine for producing a David Koresh. I warned that this doctrine has the potential to produce others with psychotic entelechy. I am aghast that the religion I love teaches this dangerous doctrine so cavalierly and uncritically. Nevertheless, Christianity did not supply the psychotic entelechy that killed 13 and wounded 29 in the Fort Hood Massacre. That psychotic entelechy was supplied by Islam.

In "Psychotic Entelechy," I explain the Islamic psychotic entelechy:

"In the instance of the Islamic terrorist attack on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, specific interpretations of Islamic scripture were carried to extremes. By his use of the Koran, Osama bin Laden sought to persuade his fellow Muslims that America should be attacked.

. . . What seems clear is that the rhetoric of Osama bin Laden has many receptive ears. Whether or not bin Laden is personally motivated by psychotic entelechy, many in the Islamic world appear to be open to the psychotic entelechy expressed in bin Laden's rhetoric.
To unite Muslims everywhere, bin Laden's appeal is to the one source of authority that transcends all of the factionalism in Islam--the Koran. . . . there are several anti-Jewish and anti-Christian comments in the Koran:

• 'So, for their breaking the compact, and disbelieving in the signs of God, and slaying the Prophets . . . and for their saying, "We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary . . . And for the evildoing of those of Jewry, we have forbidden them certain good things that were permitted to them . . . ."' (I:123)

• 'They are unbelievers who say, "God is the Messiah, Mary's son."' (I:130, 139)

• 'They are unbelievers who say "God is the Third of Three."' (I:140)

. . . While identifying Jews and Christians as 'unbelievers' and 'evildoers,' the Koran recommends conducting holy war against unbelievers and evildoers:

• 'And fight in the way of God with those who fight with you . . . . And slay them wherever you come upon them . . . such is the recompense of unbelievers.' (I:53, italics mine)

• 'When you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks, then, when you have made wide slaughter among them, tie fast the bonds . . . . And those who are slain in the way of God [i.e., believing martyrs] . . . He will admit them to Paradise.' (ii:220, italics mine)

. . . Two and one-half years before 9/11, bin Laden and his associates issued a statement that purported 'to be a religious ruling (fatwa) requiring the killing of Americans, both civilian and military':

. . . The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies—civilians and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it an any country in which it is possible to do it."

Whether the Fort Hood Massacre was a plot hatched by al-Quaida or not, it was produced by Islamic psychotic entelechy. According to information gathered by the Washington Post, the alleged shooter, Nidal Hasan presented a PowerPoint presentation, entitled, "The Koranic World View as It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military," during his senior year as a psychiatric resident at Walter Reed Medical Center. In that presentation, Hasan said, "If Muslim groups can convince Muslims that they are fighting for God against injustices of the 'infidels'; ie: enemies of Islam, then Muslims can become a potent adversary ie: suicide bombing, etc." [sic] . . . We love death more then [sic] you love life!" Hasan’s use of the word “we” tells the whole story. He identifies with Islamic jihadists. He subscribes to an Islamic psychotic entelechy.