Religion considered harmful?
The US Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress has prepared a rather interesting report The Sociology And Psychology of Terrorism: Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why?. The report notes that a new type of terrorists has emerged that does not follow the norms of the society at large. Extreme religious groups divide the world into “them” and “us”, and can easily justify almost any actions aimed at “them”, regardless of the targets.
There is a significant aspect of these new terrorism movements—they are motivated by extreme religion or ideology. I believe that any radical movement that abandons rational thought and focuses on ideology instead can potentially turn to terrorism. Religious groups are a prime breeding ground for such movements, because religion requires you to suspend rationality and believe, “have faith”.
The terrorist is actually quite sane, although deluded by an ideological or religious way of viewing the world. [...] In short, a terrorist will look, dress, and behave like a normal person, such as a university student, until he or she executes the assigned mission.
Religion, however, is strictly speaking not a requirement to become a terrrorist. It is enough to have blind faith in the righteousness of one’s cause. Such faith can also be found in activist groups, especially in groups who recruit gullible teenagers. A low education can be an influencing factor, but quite often even highly educated persons join terrorist cells. The type of education is critical.
Based on this, I would expect to find terrorist traits in groups such as “rights” activists, revisionists, nationalists; basically in any groups who hold a strong ideological belief in being right, typically despite evidence to the contrary, and have an urge to act. I would be especially worried if there is a strong religious motive. Movements such as “Pro Life” and creationists spring to mind.
Beware of strong convictions and belief. Think. Always be ready to challenge established truths. This is the way to eliminate terrorism.