Terrorism and violence can be found in religions and cultures all around the world. Although there may be variation in the complaints being made, there are remarkable similarities in the attitudes and tactics employed by religious terrorists. This is due in part to the fact that violent behavior is independent of religion, but also to the ways in which religions are similar to each other.

In Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence, Mark Juergensmeyer writes:

The radical religious movements that emerged from these cultures of violence throughout the world are remarkably similar, be they Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or Sikh. What they have in common are three things.

First, they have rejected the compromises with liberal values and secular institutions that were made by most mainstream religious leaders and organizations.

Second, they refuse to observe the boundaries that secular society has imposed around religion — keeping it private rather than allowing it to intrude into public spaces.

And third, they have replaced what they regard as weak modern substitutes with the more vibrant and demanding forms of religion that they imagine to be a part of their tradition’s beginnings.

Compromise is anathema to religious extremists because they are absolutely convinced that they are working on behalf of God. They are certain that they know what God wants for the world and what God wants humanity to do. They are also convinced that they know how to implement God’s desires, thereby achieving God’s design. In the minds of people like this, there can be no higher calling or greater duty to perform.

What possible reason would anyone have to compromise on such things? Either you agree with their goals or you don’t; those who do agree will help you in God’s cause while those who don’t are, necessarily, enemies of God. A negotiated compromise with those who don’t completely support your program is a compromise not with reasonable people who simply disagree with you, but with enemies of God — and, presumably, the allies of Satan.

The agenda of the enemies of God must be construed as a sin and the same must be said of compromising with these enemies. How can any true follower of God consent to give up on God’s plan for the world and accept any of the demands made by God’s enemies? Such a development is simply inconceivable and this is why you won’t find religious extremists sitting around a negotiating table, giving up their major demands or accepting the demands of their opponents.

 

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