"HYDERABAD BLAST,SHIA KILLINGS AND OTHER RELIGIOUS ORIENTED MASSACRE !"
TERROR IN THE MIND OF GOD:THE GLOBAL RISE OF RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE , BY Mark Juergensmeyer!
Review :- Religious terrorism is a dark spectre which has been haunting the world with increased bloodshed over the past three decades. At the same time, numerous religious leaders have tried to reassure people that their religions (and religion in general) are forces for peace, love and social harmony. If these leaders are correct, then why does the violence not only continue, but continue to worsen?
The destructive alliance between violence and religion is the subject of a recently updated book by Mark Juergensmeyer. As he is able to demonstrate, religion is not the inherent cause of violence or terrorism, and the violence might happen even without the religious context. Nevertheless, religion provides the "mores and symbols" which make horrific bloodshed easier to vindicate. Only religion provides the moral justification to commit violence in the name of a cosmic war between good and evil. Only religion polarizes a situation into such extreme absolutes that compromise and concession are no longer easy - or sometimes even possible.
Juergensmeyer examines the cases of a number of people who engage in, or somehow support, the use of violence for religious ends in different religious traditions: Christian (reconstruction theology, Christian Identity, abortion clinic attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing, Northern Ireland), Judaism (Baruch Goldstein, the assassination of Rabin), Islam (World Trade Center bombing in 1993, Hamas suicide bombers), Sikhism (assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Beant Singh), and finally Buddhism (Aum Shinrikyo). He also interviews those who participate in or advocate religious violence: Mike Bray, Mahmud Abouhalima, and others.
Throughout it all, there are a number of key characteristics which stand out as common to all the movements and people. One is a clear hatred of secular governments which force them to allow others to disagree, or even worse, engage in activities which the activists regard as immoral. Many of them hope to use violence to ensure that their religious views will become the basis of a new moral and political order for society.
Another important characteristic is the premise that a "war" is already being fought. Indeed, this war is often described in thoroughly Manichean terms as one of absolute good combating absolute evil. Casualties from the movement are martyrs to a holy cause while victims on the other side, already demonized, can be disregarded as unimportant.
TERROR IN THE MIND OF GOD:THE GLOBAL RISE OF RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE , BY Mark Juergensmeyer!
Review :- Religious terrorism is a dark spectre which has been haunting the world with increased bloodshed over the past three decades. At the same time, numerous religious leaders have tried to reassure people that their religions (and religion in general) are forces for peace, love and social harmony. If these leaders are correct, then why does the violence not only continue, but continue to worsen?
The destructive alliance between violence and religion is the subject of a recently updated book by Mark Juergensmeyer. As he is able to demonstrate, religion is not the inherent cause of violence or terrorism, and the violence might happen even without the religious context. Nevertheless, religion provides the "mores and symbols" which make horrific bloodshed easier to vindicate. Only religion provides the moral justification to commit violence in the name of a cosmic war between good and evil. Only religion polarizes a situation into such extreme absolutes that compromise and concession are no longer easy - or sometimes even possible.
Juergensmeyer examines the cases of a number of people who engage in, or somehow support, the use of violence for religious ends in different religious traditions: Christian (reconstruction theology, Christian Identity, abortion clinic attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing, Northern Ireland), Judaism (Baruch Goldstein, the assassination of Rabin), Islam (World Trade Center bombing in 1993, Hamas suicide bombers), Sikhism (assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Beant Singh), and finally Buddhism (Aum Shinrikyo). He also interviews those who participate in or advocate religious violence: Mike Bray, Mahmud Abouhalima, and others.
Throughout it all, there are a number of key characteristics which stand out as common to all the movements and people. One is a clear hatred of secular governments which force them to allow others to disagree, or even worse, engage in activities which the activists regard as immoral. Many of them hope to use violence to ensure that their religious views will become the basis of a new moral and political order for society.
Another important characteristic is the premise that a "war" is already being fought. Indeed, this war is often described in thoroughly Manichean terms as one of absolute good combating absolute evil. Casualties from the movement are martyrs to a holy cause while victims on the other side, already demonized, can be disregarded as unimportant.
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