Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
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”
I have now posted on the first part of Friction: How Radicalization Happens to Them and Us by Clark McCauley and Sophia Moskalenko. This section has covered the how individuals are radicalised. Future posts will look at how groups move towards extremism, and then how entire nations can likewise go in that ugly direction. Type of … Continue reading “How Radicalization Happens to Them and Us”
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)”
Thomas Hegghammer is a specialist in Islamist terrorism whose research I addressed in The Religious Thrill and Bond of the Islamic State. Hegghammer was interviewed by BillMoyers.com in late 2014 and what he says is still relevant. The interview: Why Have a Record Number of Westerners Joined the Islamic State? Of particular interest: his comparison of … Continue reading “Why Westerners Are Joining ISIS — and the Caliphate stretching to Libya”
Look forward to reading this one: Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards by Afshon Ostovar: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are one of the most important forces in the Middle East today. As the appointed defender of Iran’s revolution, the Guards have evolved into a pillar of the Islamic Republic and the spearhead of its … Continue reading “This book looks interesting”
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”
Why do people join religious cults and extremist groups? What turns some people into “mindless fanatics”? In the previous post we were introduced to Quintan Wiktorowicz’s Radical Islam Rising: Muslim Extremism in the West (2005) that explores the reasons people in Britain joined the now banned extremist group, Al-Muhajiroun. As I read his work I was struck by the … Continue reading “How Minds Are Opened to Extremist Views”
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”
Speaking of the Devil or his doppelgänger, God, in my slightly flippant recent “trolley dilemma” post, what should appear in the serious social science research literature but that very trolley problem applied to Palestinian Muslims and Allah. God usually gets a bad rap among us atheists but fair’s fair so when the research tips in … Continue reading “Putting in a Good Word for God”
There is a serious and intense poetry associated with the jihad. There are captivating a cappella chants, and the serious sharing of night time dreams that characterise the culture of the Islamic State. A deep part of the human experience common to premodern cultures but increasingly absent from ours (and whose power and meaning the … Continue reading “The Religious Thrill and Bond of the Islamic State”
A long essay by Scott Atran comparing ISIS to past revolutions to find out what is new, and what likely can and cannot be done against it. . . . ISIS is a revolution World-altering revolutions are born in danger and death, brotherhood and joy. This one must be stopped Excerpts follow — Asymmetric operations … Continue reading “ISIS is a Revolution, born in terror (like all revolutions)”
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”