This study aims to understand the fundamental concepts and reasons behind the emergence of religious terror activities in Indonesia, providing an 'insider' rather than an 'outsider' view. Data were collected from a total of 40 religious terror activists in Indonesia using a set of focused group discussions and interviews. The reasons they provided for their terror activities were as follows: (1) Indonesia is seen as being in a state of war (thus justifying a defensive attack); (2) Suicide bombing is believed to be noble; (3) The West (as a whole) is targeted as it is considered the invader of Muslim countries and a representative of evil; the Indonesian government is viewed as its corrupt ally.

The present study aims to understand when and how acts of terrorism are supported and denounced by Islamic fundamentalists in Indonesia. We predicted that the belief in establishing Islam peacefully and rationalization of violent action would moderate the Islamic fundamentalism–support for acts of terrorism relationship. The result of the research of 309 Muslim participants shows that the relationship between Islamic fundamentalism and support for terrorism acts was positively significant for Muslims holding low belief in establishing Islam peacefully and high rationalization of violent attack. However, the relationship was negatively significant at high level of belief in establishing Islam peacefully and rationalization of violent attack. The findings indicate that Islamic fundamentalism may potentially support violent as well as nonviolent acts under some certain conditions.

In the context where terrorism is viewed as an act of crime based on ideology

On the basis that religious fundamentalists have a strong bond to their religion, we hypothesized that Islamic fundamentalism would moderate the effect of ingroup meta-belief of friendship on positive perceptions and trust on Christians. The results of the research involving 147 Muslim participants showed that the effect of ingroup meta-belief of friendship on positive perception and trust was significant among participants with high Islamic fundamentalism. It indicates that Islamic fundamentalists may become the ones who stand at the forefront to build a good relationship with other religions when they think their religion sees a particular outgroup as friendly.

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