ABSTRACT

Attributed to the Old Man of the Mountain, Hassan i-Sabah via the novel Alamout, it is this: 'Nothing is true, everything is permitted.' In every case and every context, this means simply that no human truth is ultimately true, for Truth resides in God and in His Word. In pursing this truth in text and personal revelation, everything is permitted. While man's truths are by their nature transitory and therefore false, God's Truth is immutable, but it is also accessible to men if they search deeply enough and believe strongly enough. In the 1980s and early 1990s the author's work centered to a considerable degree on violence in the world of new religious movements and the radical right. Modern states, each of which possesses overwhelming power over their citizens, take a dim view of radical religious movements who seek to overthrow the established order and institute a government based on God's Will, often manifested in ethnic or racial terms.