Religious violence: The enemy that doesn’t die

BY DEENA SABRY
@DEENASABRY

Under the banner of religion, the violent activities of terrorist groups are making headlines worldwide.

Whether it be the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (ISIS) or Boko Haram in Nigeria, the growing number of atrocities committed by these groups has unfortunately made terrorism the new norm.

AUC’s history department held a series of lectures presented by expert on religious violence and conflict resolution Mark Juergensmeyer, an affiliate professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).

During his two lectures The Global Rise of Religious Violence and How Can ISIS End, Juergensmeyer said that religious violence is not exclusive to people of the Islamic faith and that xenophobic, intolerant ideologies have been spreading throughout a number of countries as a response to globalization.

Throughout the talk, religion was referred to as a way by which people identify and are given a sense of belonging to a larger community. But people from different religious backgrounds begin to feel as though they are losing this sense of identity as globalization grows.

A 1989 essay titled The End of History by American political scientist Francis Fukuyama theorized that conflicts of ideologies following the end of the Cold War would no longer be an issue as the world would begin to adopt Western liberal democratic systems.

This theory was based on a secular context which undermined the importance of religious identification for some.

Juergensmeyer says that this coincided with an increasing rhetoric regarding ongoing conflict and war that began to spread among clerics and people of different faiths.

The full force of this rhetoric is best exemplified by the actions of radical groups, but can be traced back to smaller incidents among the entire religious milieu.

He gave the example of the Sikh preacher Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who felt that Sikhs were marginalized by the Indian government.

When Bhindranwale addressed his followers, he would talk about an ongoing battle between good and evil that resulted from them abandoning their faith.

“He wasn’t saying a real war was going on. He was talking about the internal battle of good and evil that occurs in everybody’s soul,” explained Juergensmeyer.

However, Bhindranwale was not the first or only preacher to adopt this rhetoric. Mahmud Abouhalima, the Egyptian perpetrator of the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, had a similar stance.

Juergensmeyer discussed the interview with Abouhalima, which was published in his novel Terror in the Mind of God. In prison at the time, Abouhalima’s attitude changed completely at the mention of religion.

“His eyes became dark and he leaned over and said ‘Mr. Mark, you people just don’t get it…There is a war going on. A battle between good and evil and right and wrong and your government won’t show you because your government is the enemy,” Juergensmeyer quotes Abouhalima from the novel.

“You need somebody to grab you by the shoulders and wake you up so you can see what is really happening in the world” Abouhalima had further added to Juergensmeyer, as recounted in his novel.

The more pressing issue arises once religion is politicized and used as a means to mobilize people, which is what we see happening with groups like ISIS.

They focus on recruiting people using two main methods, the first of which targets the easily impressionable youth.

“Young people already have messy lives. They do not know who they are. And these preachers call out to them and say [they] have got to find themselves within the war, the struggle, the conflict of the world … It is a personal call. It is a call for sacrifice,” explained Juergensmeyer.

Another method of recruiting people is by appealing to their financial needs. Aside from the youth, many join ISIS for the money it provides.

“One guy I talked to over the summer told me his own cousin had joined the army of ISIS [because] he’s been out of a job ever since the American invasion of Iraq. The Iraqi army only pays $500 a month and ISIS pays $1,000 a month. And it is not in Iraqi dinars. ISIS pays in US dollars,” said Juergensmeyer.

This shows that those fighting under the banner of ISIL and other similar terrorist groups do not all share the same motivation – those who believe they are fighting in the name of their religion and those willing to kill for money.

Juergensmeyer recounts the story of a Christian Syrian refugee who he recently interviewed.

The refugee lived in a town controlled by ISIS. As he was leaving, he was stopped by ISIS guards at a security checkpoint who asked him about his religion.

“[An ISIS guard] asked him if he’s a Christian or a Muslim. He said he’s a Muslim because he was afraid he’d be killed on the spot if he says he’s a Christian. The guard said ‘if you’re a Muslim, prove it. Recite something from the Quran’. He started saying the Lord’s prayer in Arabic and after a few verses the guy told him that’s enough and that he’s free” said Juergensmeyer.

Another aspect to ISIS’s success in is their ability to recruit people from various countries all around the world, including Egypt.

What Juergensmeyer emphasized throughout the lecture is that the core problem with terrorist recruitment lies with the state for not fulfilling its duties; for allowing the youth and the unemployed to be swayed by radical groups.