Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Do not comment on this post unless you are prepared to stay to engage with possible alternative views and defend your own ideas in civil discourse. Angry and fly-by-nighter comments may be deleted. Studying Islam DE-radicalized him!? His deepening knowledge and understanding of Islam from the scholars turned him away from support for ISIS. I don’t know … Continue reading “Islam DE-radicalized him!”
Do not comment on this post unless you are prepared to stay to engage with possible alternative views and defend your own ideas in civil discourse. Angry and fly-by-nighter comments may be deleted. I recently read an interesting news item about a group of elite veteran volunteers fighting ISIS in Syria. It was a story by Stewart … Continue reading “Common Reasons for Joining ISIS and Fighting ISIS”
Connections between beliefs and behaviour are not routine and when they happen they require explanation. Personal experience and a passing acquaintance with a thing we call the subconscious both tell us that. I am sometimes a little taken aback by the forcefulness of some people’s claims that “of course beliefs determine what people do”. The context … Continue reading “I Believe I Should but I Don’t, and Vice Versa (Do Muslims Have the Same Psychology as the Rest of Us?)”
A number of readers have questioned my own questioning of a popular belief and claim by Richard Carrier that Palestine in the early first century CE was experiencing a rash of messianism. I suggest on the contrary that evidence for popular messianism does not appear until the Jewish War in the latter half of the first century. … Continue reading “Historical Conditions for Popular Messianism — Christian, Muslim and Palestinian”
The dust having only just settled on Barack Obama and Donald Trump are both wrong about Islam what do I wake up to read this morning . . . ? One wouldn’t call them bedfellows, strange or otherwise, but President Obama and Donald Trump are both inadvertently helping the Islamic State through rhetoric that is either too … Continue reading “Once more: “Obama and Trump both inadvertently helping the Islamic State through rhetoric””
Several scholarly works (and yours truly, too) have observed significant parallels between the mechanisms that lead people to join “extremist” Christian cults and those that lead others to join radicalised Islamic groups. Many of us blame the religion of Islam and the Quran for terrorists. Should Christianity and the Bible be held to account for … Continue reading “Cults & Terrorists in Christianity and Islam”
What follows will be as obvious as our common humanity to many readers. To others it may appear to be a spineless excuse for idiocy and criminality. How to explain such contrary perspectives is itself an interesting question to explore. But if you are curious as to what mechanisms open the doorway for some people to join radical activists and/or religious cults … Continue reading “Unfreezing. Gateway to Radicalisation (Comparing Cults and Terrorist Groups Once More)”
Unlike his inspiration Barannikov, however, Mirsky was unable to contain himself: he told everyone who would listen that he was the attempted assassin. . . . Soon [the police arrested him]. Only a few weeks later, Mirsky was already betraying his comrades from People’s Will and writing humble petitions to the czar. His loyalty to the … Continue reading “A contemporary example of a status driven extremist?”
We must remember an old adage: no one joins a “dangerous cult” or a “terrorist cell.” Converts invariably see the act of joining in positive terms, as beneficial for both themselves, their society, and the cosmos (literally), and the process is far more gradual than it appears. — (Dawson 2010, p. 7) In the late … Continue reading “Who Joins Cults — and How and Why?”
A new online article on the role of religious belief among Islamists supporting violence (an overlapping theme of these posts). The article by specialists in the field draws the some of the same comparisons I have been making between the appeal of religious cults and political extremist movements: The Cult of Jihad: A Practical Theology Perspective on … Continue reading “Violent Islamism: Many Are Called, Few Are “Chosen”, Fewer Defect”
What will we do if an Islamist regime, which grows dewy-eyed at the mere mention of paradise, ever acquires long-range nuclear weaponry? — Sam Harris, End of Faith, p. 129 Dr. Quintan Wiktorowicz takes a more nuanced view of what it takes to tip a person into a commitment to extremism. Wiktorowicz’s explanation might be worth noting as … Continue reading “Does growing “dewy-eyed at the mere mention of Paradise” lead to suicidal terrorism?”
Dr. Quintan Wiktorowicz works with CEOs and senior leaders to leverage high impact outreach and engagement, partnerships, and innovation to create opportunities and manage risk. He is an internationally recognized author and expert on national security engagement and counter-terrorism and served in two senior positions at the White House, where he led efforts to advance … Continue reading “Islamic Radicals and Christian Cults: Cut from the Same Cloth”
A former jihadist is interviewed for his views on the question “What makes vulnerable young Muslims prone to being recruited by groups like the Islamic State?” It seems a silly question to many. After all, they’re Muslims. They believe in a holy book that commands them to kill, kill, kill. What else is there to know? If a … Continue reading “How Young People Become Radicalised”
Previous posts in this series looking at Friction: How Radicalization Happens to Them and Us by Clark McCauley and Sophia Moskalenko: 1. How Terrorists Are Made: 1 – Personal Grievance 2. How Terrorists Are Made: 2 – Group Grievance 3. Slippery Slope to Terrorism 4. Love, Relationships and Terrorism So far we have noted how one becomes a terrorist … Continue reading “Terrorists on Status Seeking Adventures”