We can’t help but think of the dangerous religious-political cocktails of crusade and jihad, colonialism and terrorism, inquisition and fatwa—manifested in oxymoronic terms like holy war and redemptive violence . These intoxicating cocktails seem to uncheck humanity’s darkest inhibitions so those who swallow them seek victory on their own terms, requiring from others submission, compliance, secrecy, or death. Their power-drunk arrogance is buttressed by absolute confidence—incapable of a second thought—that God is on their side.
