Perverted idealism: evil in the name of God

Abstract

The Authors illustrate the concept of perverted idealism, by which is to be understood the belief that certain wicked actions are appropriate when committed in the name of an ideal deemed right: one’s own God and/or divinity, the safeguarding of one’s freedom, of one’s people, of one’s own life and that of those who have not been born yet. It differs well from the neutralization techniques of Sykes, Matza and Bandura, because perverted idealism better details and clarifies how criminal actions carried out in the name of an ideal are not only justified as possible, but considered a duty to be carried out. In the light of it, therefore, the various movements that commit murders and terrorist acts “in the name of God“ are analyzed, in particular the so-called “Christian terrorism“ groups, pro-life formations. Anders Breivik's Manifesto, entitled 2083 A European Declaration of Independence, is then discussed, of significant criminological interest as it is full of food for thought in terms of perverted idealism. Precisely in this 1,500-page document, in fact, Breivik clarifies how the terrorist acts and the deaths caused by them of which he was the author, were horrific, but necessary.