Concepts of Terrorism in Terror in the Mind of God by Juergensmeyer

The Great Terror, an outbreak of organised bloodshed that infected the Communist Party and Soviet society in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), took place in the years 1934 to 1940. The Terror was created by the hegemonic figure, Joseph Stalin, one of the most powerful and lethal dictators in history. His paranoia and yearning to be a complete autocrat was enforced by the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the communist police. Stalin’s ambition saw his determination to eliminate rivals such as followers of Leon Trotsky, a political enemy. The overall concept and practices of the Terror impacted on the communist party, government officials and the peasants. The NKVD, Stalin’s instrument for carrying out the

Personally, the book taught me a lot about how people deal with situations when under pressure, people’s need for power and how easy it really if for a war to break out and I found that in my mind I could easily link what was going

Terror management theory (TMT) asserts that human beings have natural tendency for self-preservation if there is threat to one’s well–being (Greenberg, Solomon, & Pyszczynski, 1997). It notes that we are the cultural animals that pose self-awareness on the concept of past and future, as well as the understanding that one day we will die. We concern about our life and death but aware that it is unexpected by everything. The worse matter is that we become aware of our vulnerability and helplessness when facing death-related thoughts and ultimate demise (Pyszczynski & Greenberg, 1992). The inevitable death awareness or mortality salience provides a ground for experiencing the existential terror, which is the overwhelming concern of people’s

Personally, for me the book changed my way of viewing muslims and immigrants. It is true that a minority of them have committed terrorism or will but we can't let a minority affect the majority of them and just hate every aspect of them. If we do that then that just shows how inconsiderate and selfish we are as a nation. After 9/11 took place, it seems like every muslim is stereotyped as a murderer or terrorist. I still understand why majority of America doesn’t want one single muslim here, because they have been involved in most of the terrorist attacks that have took place in our country and mainly we don’t know what their attitude is.

Religious terrorism is regularly portrayed as demonstrations of unreasonable, silly and indiscriminate violence, along these lines offering few, if any what really spur religious terrorism measures. This presumption about religious terrorism comes from different nations, groups and individual’s. Unbalanced regard for prophetically catastrophic terrorism, and an absence of qualification between religious terrorism and its mainstream partner. This article, in this manner, expects to do four things: characterize and separate religiously inspired terrorism, confidence, and activism along the lines of faith and violence. Furthermore, prescribe a scope of religion, confidence, and terrorism systems in view of these perceptions.

Caleb Carr is stressing that terrorism is never the answer throughout this chapter and I presume, the rest of the book. This is clearly shown in him saying "for just as meeting the tactics of terror in kind will only perpetuate the cycle of terrorist violence.." As for whether or not the affect of Roman warfare can be applied to today's governments in training people that are not of their own, it can be. Carr begins to explain this when he says "There is an irony concerning most of those rebel leaders that also holds enormous implications for our present experience..." (p. 37).

Wright has a special way of explaining things. When reading this book, a reader need not have a background knowledge on terrorism, Wright crafts the book in such a way that it consists of a ten page list of the main characters, fifty pages of notes, a list of interviews held, a bibliography and a clear bibliography for those who would love research the topic more. He also

In some ways, I found this reading to be very educational and enlightening. It forced me to think about the questions of terrorism that are not often talked about - what terrorism actually is, who is committing these violent attacks, and what do they hope to gain from it. It also was a big reminder of how American-centered we often are when we talk about religious terrorism. I think that the answers to these questions are essential for us to continue discussing terrorism and figuring out the best way to respond to these attacks, both in an effort to stop them and as people facing loss. Juergensmeyer points out that America faced this widespread violence later and less often than many other countries, but we often talk about it as an

Secular terror is anything that does not have to do with religion; however, religious tactics can be used to get ahead in secular terrorist organizations. Religious terror is based on the protecting, converging, and maintaining beliefs of a religion upheld by a religious terrorist group. Although different tactics are carried out by each different group of terror, they have some core features in common, such as emotionally evocative symbols, rituals, and myths (Alcorta, Phillips, Sosis, 2012). With their differences and similarities, the question at hand is which terror is greater? Religious

For my research review, I selected Puppy-Monkey-Baby (PMB) Terror Management Analysis of Psychological Functions of Religion. This research article focuses on terror management theory, and more specifically how religion serves to manage the terror a human may experience when confronted with the thought of death (Vail, 2010). Although non-religious beliefs can serve as a form of terror management, spiritual beliefs are frequently used to alleviate anxiety caused by death because they are not easily negated and assure immortality (Vail, 2010). Scientists in this study analyze research, which supports that mortality produces an increased belief in the afterlife, supernatural agency, human ascension from nature, and spiritual distinctions between mind and body (Vail, 2010). The study also analyzes the social benefits of religion and how each religion will vary in regards to terror management theory. Overall, this study is very detailed and makes several interesting points concerning the correlation between religion and terror management theory.

Walter Laqueur’s book, “The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction”, is empowering readers with the entire spectrum of terrorism. The reasons behind terrorism are not easy to understand, but Laqueur goes into great detail to try and bring the reader to an understanding of what the terrorist is thinking in order to justify the means to the end.

We define terrorism as using force to influence or change a political decision. Given that there may be an array of situations the U.S. government and the American people are faced with on a daily basis, most would probably agree in saying that terrorism is the most imperative issue we are not only becoming victims to, but are interminably asked to deal with as well as finding a solution for.

Religion teaches goodness and violence is rarely found, if ever, within the teachings (Winchester, 1). Terrorists, though, need a justification for their actions and so they must dig through scriptures to find a reason (Gibson, 2). Religion and terrorism is a major controversy because of all the different opinions and facts.

Think of the word terrorism. What is the first thing that comes to mind? One might think of kidnapping, assassination, bombing, or even genocide and guerrilla warfare. Because it is such a broad and complex issue, an all-encompassing definition is hard to formulate. The United States Department of Defence defines terrorism as…

Nazir has kindly volunteered for this piece of work. He is a native of Syria who was born in the capital Damascus. His mother tongue is Arabic and he is studying English at South Thames College on the Upper Intermediate level. He currently performs in the top half of the class according to his own assessment with which I tend to concur.