Jonathon R. White in His Book Religion

Jonathon R. White in his book Religion and Terror raises the question of why religious people commit violent acts in the name of their god, taking the lives of innocent victims and terrorizing entire populations? The main idea presented in this chapter is the introduction and the description of terrorism that is classified as religious in its varying forms and meanings. The author starts with the different events that have been labeled acts of terrorism instigating from religious differences and frustrations. He names these kinds of attacks and presents it as an international and worldwide phenomenon. The author goes on to explain the meaning of terrorism and how religious terrorism differs from other acts of terrorism, elucidating on how these acts are viewed as victories and exultation in the eyes of the people who are supportive of the religions and who advocates such acts. He names many people and then describes why these people are or are not terrorists according to the author's definitions. The author then says that to really understand what distinguishes religious terrorism from a holy war is to understand the cultures and the motives of the so-called terrorists. White also covers domestic and international terrorism while also talking about the current and historical information about terrorist groups in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and South America.

In the histories of religious traditions, from biblical wars to crusading ventures and great acts of martyrdom, violence has always shown its presence. An old maxim seems to plague the fight against terrorism: one person's terrorist is simply another's freedom fighter. A major question arose in the wake of the thesis advanced by Samuel Huntington that 'the great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural' - a 'Clash of Civilizations' of differing norms and values. Also, the ever-present terrorist violence in the Middle East has not failed to ponder and disturb our thinking of why men would resort to such extremities of violence. Are there shared norms that transcend religion, culture, even civilizations that can and should provide a guide for distinguishing between terrorism and other acts of war or conflict? Robert Kennedy, in his article addresses one aspect of the overall question of shared norms. His purpose is to examine the norms established in both Western Christian and secular and Islamic 'just war' traditions and their modern derivatives in terms of their utility as a guide for differentiating between terrorism and what might otherwise simply be called irregular warfare. The article concludes that, despite the existence of 'fundamentalist' interpretations on all sides, generally shared norms indeed do exist among Western Christian and secular and Islamic 'just war' traditions. The article also concludes that a number of factors contribute to differences of perspective between and among Muslims and members of many western societies.