Robert Shaw Quotes
In theory it may seem all right to some, but when it comes to being made the instrument of the Lord's vengeance, I myself don't like it.
Shaw, Robert Gould. Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Edited by Russell Duncan, University of Georgia Press, 1992, p. 343.
Most sophisticated Muslim theologians would not agree at all with the “permission” he quotes from the Koran. However, there is no hierarchy of belief in Islam and there are tens of thousands of Muslim imams and millions of individual Muslims who believe and teach just what this particular terrorist stated.
This is an excellent example of a theme that has been used since biblical times to justify massacres by military men. Namely that if the first town that you conquer is treated terribly enough, the word will get around and the next town the people will pressure their military to surrender to avoid the same fate. Therefore, they argue, as Ludlow does, that the massacre will reduce future violence. That perverse ethical logic has lasted for a long time. However, that was not the only motive here—vengeance was a major factor. This is another good example of the fact that many of the worst moral atrocities of men were perpetrated and led by men who thought that there were being moral and consonant with God’s will. See {639301} for Oliver Cromwell’s description of the massacre.
Robert Archibald Shaw was an English actor, novelist, and playwright. He was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his role as Henry VIII in the drama film A Man for All Seasons (1966). He played the mobster Doyle Lonnegan in The Sting (1973) and the shark hunter Quint in Jaws (1975).
