Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence

Cohen, Eliot A.; Juergensmeyer, Mark

doi:10.2307/20049758

Cited by 109 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In particular, they have to conduct a systematic communication and propaganda activity, typically towards three main audiences: the enemy, their constituency, and third parties. In fact, without visibility and publicity, most terrorist organisations can hardly achieve their political goals: as Juergensmeyer (2000, p. 139) emphasised, “without being noticed, in fact, terrorism would not exist. […] Terrorism without its horrified witnesses would be as pointless as a play without an audience.” For this reason, most terrorist organisations find themselves handling a difficult and continuous balance between the need for secrecy and the quest for visibility, between concealment and display (Marone, 2014; 2021; see also, among others, Ingram and Whiteside, 2022).…”

Section: External Secrecy Versus Visibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Between paradise and prison: External secrecy and visibility in terrorist organisations

Marone

2023

Int Social Sci J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

or the terrorists, their case was a bit more complex, their goal being not an observed but an unobserved child's paradise, but because they experienced the world in which they lived as a prison where they were not only unjustly locked up but were left unattended and unobserved in one of the dungeons, they desperately sought to force themselves on the attention of their guards and thus step out of their unobserved condition into the limelight of public notice, which, however, they could achieve only by, paradoxically, drawing back into unobserved obscurity again and again, from the dungeon into the dungeon, unable, ever, to come out and be free.

show abstract

Section: External Secrecy Versus Visibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Between paradise and prison: External secrecy and visibility in terrorist organisations

Marone

2023

Int Social Sci J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They are mostly deluded into believing that this should motivate God towards reciprocating their "good gesture" by ultimately granting them some notable eternal dividends and access to "paradise". That is, they are sure of eternal bliss in paradise (Gwamna 2011;Juergensmeyer 2003).…”

Section: Contextualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also argued by Hoffman (2006) that those involved in religious terrorism see violence as an act of sacrament or divine duty carried out in direct response to some theological requests or expectations. They perceive the battle as having transcendental aims, hence absolutely divine (Juergensmeyer 2003). He further opined that due to the perceived promises of the next world, insecure, alienated and marginalized youths join religious terrorist groups (Juergensmeyer 2003).…”

Section: Reinforced To "Fight For God"mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They perceive the battle as having transcendental aims, hence absolutely divine (Juergensmeyer 2003). He further opined that due to the perceived promises of the next world, insecure, alienated and marginalized youths join religious terrorist groups (Juergensmeyer 2003). Another clear feature of the desire by the terrorist to "fight for God" is that they are bent on entrenching their beliefs and teachings on others.…”

Section: Reinforced To "Fight For God"mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Religious terrorism in Nigeria as renewed determination to “fight for God”

Omomia

2021

INK

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The current spate of religious terrorism in Nigeria is concealed by the perpetrators as a desire to “fight for God”. It is often argued by the insurgents that they are “fighting for God”. The present level of terrorism in Nigeria, occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency, is commonly adjudged to be the most devastating in her religious and political history. The act of terrorism has affected economic, political and social development in Nigeria, amidst destruction of lives and property. The objectives of this study include an examination of some common causes of religious terrorism and the attendant panaceas. The study also examined the reinforcement of the perpetrators due to the conviction that they are “fighting for God”. The study applied the historical research design method. The theories of B.F. Skinner and Abraham Maslow which address the principle of reinforcement and motivation respectively underpin the study. Findings from the study revealed that most of the terrorists are reinforced by the conviction that their act would be rewarded through easy opportunity to get to paradise since their actions were perpetrated in favour of God. The study also revealed the common causes of religious terrorism and some immediate panaceas. The recommendations include the education of the religious adherents by the church, mosque, family and other forms of mass enlightenment by the government and non-governmental organizations. The implications of the study include the unwillingness of international investors to come to the nation due to the unsafe state occasioned by the activities of the insurgents. In addition, the law-abiding citizens are faced with constant attacks on their lives and property by the terrorists who claim to be “fighting for God”.

show abstract

“…If Mark Juergensmeyer is correct, ‘the line is very thin between “terrorists” and their “non-terrorist” supporters. It is also not clear that there is such a thing as a “terrorist” before someone conspires to perpetrate a terrorist act’ (Juergensmeyer, 2000: 8). Moreover, religious ‘terrorists’ of differing faith traditions may well have more in common with each other than with others who claim the same religious tenets (e.g.…”

Section: Religion and Ethics In International Politics: Connecting Th...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A neo-Weberian approach to religion in international politics

Lynch

2009

Int. Theory

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Current approaches for understanding and analyzing religion in international politics insufficiently incorporate the role of ethics in the practices of religious actors. Primordialist approaches essentialize religion, instrumental approaches consider it to be an epiphenomenon, and cosmopolitan approaches a priori downgrade alternative ethical constructs as insufficiently universalist. An approach to religion that begins with a constitutive understanding of religious belief and economic, social, and political practice as outlined in Weber's Sociology of Religion, is more helpful. However, because Weber's method insufficiently addresses ethical intentionality, the 'neo-Weberian' approach I advance here incorporates the concepts of 'common good' and 'popular casuistry' into socio-historical contextualization. This approach provides a way to understand and theorize how religious adherents connect religious guidelines to moral action that avoids the essentialization of religion which is often characteristic of other perspectives.

show abstract

Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence

Cited by 109 publications

References 0 publications

Between paradise and prison: External secrecy and visibility in terrorist organisations

Between paradise and prison: External secrecy and visibility in terrorist organisations

Religious terrorism in Nigeria as renewed determination to “fight for God”

A neo-Weberian approach to religion in international politics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About