How Terrorism is Propagated in the name of Religion
HOW TERRORISM IS PROPAGATED IN THE NAME OF RELIGION 2
My paper topic is: How Terrorism is Propagated in the name of Religion. This is for my CJUS 480
Terrorism class.
Minimum of 5 sources from both online and printed source material.
How Terrorism is Propagated in the name of Religion
Religious terrorists, such as radical Muslims, Christians, and Judaists, kill people, commit
suicidal bombings among other terrorist activities in the name of a certain religion, yet in the real
sense, these terrorist actions usually do not have any connection with the religion propagated
(Qamar, nd). Religious extremists interpret religious provisions strictly in a manner that serves
their goals of revenging, intimidating or causing a certain influence on their audience (Stern,
2003).
In most cases, religious terrorists aim at promoting a combination of material and religious goals,
for instance, the acquisition of political power for purposes of imposing certain interpretations of
religious provisions or forcing a certain outcome from religious texts in the bid to justify their
fight to acquire contested authority (Qamar, nd). For instance, most Islamist movements have
successfully managed to convince many Muslims that “jihad” is the most effective interpretation
of contemporary Islam, and this has led to conversion of many ignorant Muslims into terrorists.
Islamic scholars of the 18 th Century, who founded “jihadism” and justified the killing of non-
combatants, is the basis for the belief that Islamic terrorism is justified (Upadhyay, R. (2005).
According to FBI reports, more than 90% of terror threats and attacks are carried out by Islamist
movements and groups. Since they believe that they are fighting a holy war with ultimate
spiritual benefits, religious extremists do not fear any kind of earthly penalties that they may be
subjected to as a result of their “religious cause”. This is the reason for many terrorists offering
to undertake such dangerous missions as suicidal bombings and attacking high-profile buildings.
HOW TERRORISM IS PROPAGATED IN THE NAME OF RELIGION 3
These radicals also wage war against other members of their religion who are not radicals (Atran,
2003).
References
Atran, S. (2003). Genesis of suicide terrorism. Science, 299(5612), 1534-1539.
Eleveld, K. (2015). Obama: No Religion is Responsible for Terrorism.
