International Economics What Makes Religion

International Economics

What makes religion a useful tool for mobilizing members of terrorist groups?

Religion is a powerful tool for recruiting and mobilizing potential terrorists because religions are tied to community institutions as well as express an ideology. The religion of terrorists is often rooted in the local society and economic structure. Religious places of worship and the homes of congregants provide bases of popular and organizational support to train and nurture terrorist cells. Fundamentalist religions are often opposed to the ruling hierarchy of the land, and there may be political resentment of how the country is administered, taxed, and governed. An unpopular war or policy can turn people from politics to religion as a way of expressing their discontent, as prayers and bombs give the individual a concrete sense that something is being 'done.'

Terrorism often takes an international focus, even though if may be locally based, and here religion also provides a sense of comfort. Many terrorists feel resentment against what they see as the powerful West. Religion promises a more powerful source of status and esteem beyond what can be gained a secular, market economy. In fact, religious ideology suggests that the secular, market economy is evil, and worthless, and the real virtue comes from fierce loyalty to tradition, to a band of often persecuted brothers (as most religions have persecution narratives within their frameworks) and presents an easily comprehensible version of the world as 'us vs. them.'