http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/articles.asp?articleID=5613
Terrorism, Part 4 of 6: Killing in the name of God
By GEORGE J. BRYJAK, Special to the Enterprise
Terrorism
A series by George J. Bryjak
¯Part 1: Defining terrorism, in its many varieties
¯Part 2: Ideology, desperation motivate terrorists
¯Part 3: Biological, chemical and nuclear threats
¯Part 4: Killing in the name of God
¯Part 5: Feminization of suicide bombing
¯Part 6: Anti-terrorist strategies, present and future
The relation between terrorism and religion is complex and not fully
understood. To begin, as terrorist expert Bruce Hoffman notes, what may
appear to be an obvious case of religiously motivated terrorism may have
little if anything to do with the spiritual orientation of the perpetrators
of violence.
Consider the long-standing conflict between Protestants and Catholics in
Northern Ireland, two groups striving for majority status. Members of these
organizations do not refer to themselves as Protestants and Catholics,
preferring instead the labels of nationalist, loyalist or unionist
paramilitary.
In addition, they consciously disavow a religious connection and do not
utilize Christian liturgy or the Bible to rationalize their violence. Nor do
they involve religious clerics in the justification of their cause or
violent behavior. Hoffman notes that this is very different from the
contemporary religious terrorism we see today.
For Hoffman, author of Inside Terrorism, the significance of spirituality
in contemporary terrorism is that organized religions function as highly
efficient communication networks. People who congregate in churches, temples
or mosques provide a ready made audience. For example, although he lacks
religious credentials, Osama bin Laden has tremendous influence in the
Muslim world and was quick to realize that issuing a fatwa (a legal
opinion or ruling by an Islamic religious leader) gave him immediate access
to hundreds of millions of people. His narrow political views could be
framed in an al-encompassing supernatural framework.
University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape notes that over the
past 10 years, bin Laden has made numerous speeches using a crusader image
to characterize the foreign policy of Western nations, especially the United
States. The Al Qaeda leader rarely misses a chance to stress that America
has a Christian agenda to weaken Islam, perhaps convert Muslims and expand
the influence of Israel in the Middle East.
The brilliance (and danger) of bin Laden is not in his capacity as a
military strategist but in his role as a propagandist. The Saudi-born
terrorist leader has effectively married ideology to religion. According
to Hoffman, its not religion per se thats driving the terrorist problem
but people manipulating and exploiting religion.
Jessica Stern, author of Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants
Kill, states that terrorist recruiters tell potential members that corrupt
Western powers and institutions (the World Bank, for example) are
responsible for their personal and cultural humiliation. The United States
is labeled the great Satan in its drive to modernize the world, and Islam is
the only force that can roll back this sacrilegious trend.
Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Rise of
Religious Violence, states that for those experiencing despair and
defiance ... religion furnishes a solution: cosmic war. Juergensmeyer notes
that religion provides exhilaration and hope and the sense that despite
all evidence to the contrary, somehow they can win. This sense of purpose
can be a potent inducement to poor, uneducated, young males whose options
for overcoming a life of poverty are limited or nonexistent. One could argue
that religious fervor is the most powerful force in the world. Individuals
imbued with unshakable spiritual convictions are capable of producing
enormous good as well as unspeakable evil.
Religiously oriented terrorists are not constrained by the moral imperative
against mass murder. While its not unusual for secular terrorists to issue
warnings that they will disrupt transit systems or bomb occupied buildings,
religious terrorists have demonstrated few compunctions about committing
wholesale murder. With a view of themselves as divinely inspired combatants
in a cosmic struggle of good versus evil, these individuals can kill without
fear of supernatural retribution. To the contrary, they are designated
instruments of the almighty, killing in the name of all that is righteous.
Hoffman believes secular terrorists are reluctant to target members of their
own socioeconomic class or ethnic group. However, bin Laden and others have
used religion as a justification for killing adherents of the Islamic faith,
making a distinction between good Muslims and bad ones, with the latter
being fair game for retribution.
Sociologist Juergensmeyer attempts to understand why bad things are done by
people who otherwise appear to be good in cases of terrorism, people
dedicated to a moral vision of the world. In 1994, Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a
Brooklyn-born and -raised physician trained at the Albert Einstein College
of Medicine, killed 29 Muslims as they were praying at the Tomb of the
Patriarchs in Hebron, Israel. Juergensmeyer states that like his
counterparts in the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, Goldstein was an
otherwise decent man who became overwhelmed by a great sense of dedication
to a religious vision.
A Lutheran pastor convicted of bombing abortion clinics stated that he did
not enjoy violence for its own sake. Rather, he employed these tactics as a
defensive action to protect the unborn. Gordon Seller, a militia member
who embraced the Christian Identity movement, shot a deputy sheriff in
Montana. Barricading himself in a cabin, he sent out directives signed, a
soldier for Christ and country. The passionate commitment to a social
and/or political cause, validated by unshakeable religious beliefs, can lead
otherwise nonviolent individuals to engage in terrorist acts. This fervor is
most apt to turn violent when fueled by the rabid enthusiasm of like-minded
colleagues.
Juergensmeyer believes that we are in a moment of global transformation,
providing the occasion for religion with its images and ideas to be
reasserted as a political force. The devaluation of secular authority and
political ideas has created an ideological vacuum in much of the world.
Soviet-style communism collapsed as a consequence of its own incompetence
and corruption while Chinese communism looks more like Western capitalism
than anything Marx or Mao could have imagined. With a history of colonialism
and exploitation, Western capitalism is viewed by millions of Third World
people as grossly materialistic and morally bankrupt. According to Hoffman,
the secular gods of communism and capitalism have failed newly democratized,
free-market countries.
Into this ideological void steps militant religion, which millions have
embraced with fanaticism, twisting the basic tenets of these belief systems
to fit their political agenda.
SOURCES:
Hoffman, B. (2006), Inside Terrorism, Columbia University Press: New York
Juergensmeyer, M. (2003), Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of
Religious Violence, University of California Press: Berkeley, Calif.
Pape, R. (2006), Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism,
Random House: New York
Religion and Terrorism Interview with Dr. Bruce Hoffman (2002),
Religious Scope, http://www.religouscope.com
Stern, J. (2003), Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill,
Ecco Publishers: New York
George J. Bryjak was a sociology professor for 24 years at the University of
San Diego. Now retired, he lives in Bloomingdale.
FAIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this
message are copyrighted, unless specifically
noted otherwise. All rights to these copyrighted items are reserved.
Articles and graphics have been placed within for educational and discussion
purposes only, in compliance with "Fair Use" criteria established in Section
107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. The principle of "Fair Use" was
established as law by Section 107 of The Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use"
legally eliminates the need to obtain permission or pay royalties for the
use of previously copyrighted materials if the purposes of display include
"criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research."
Section 107 establishes four criteria for determining whether the use of a
work in any particular case qualifies as a "fair use". A work used does not
necessarily have to satisfy all four criteria to qualify as an instance of
"fair use". Rather, "fair use" is determined by the overall extent to which
the cited work does or does not substantially satisfy the criteria in their
totality. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own
that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright
owner. For more information go to:
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml>
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION IS
PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
--------------------------
Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL
PROTECTED]
--------------------------
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.intellnet.org
Post message: [email protected]
Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods,
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,'
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
