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The Atlantic By Simon Cottee: A Critical Analysis

Decent Essays
The war on terror is not a cosmic war. A cosmic war is about religion; evidence shows that despite these extremists claiming that their sole cause is to establish a worldwide Islamic state, the ulterior reason behind their actions isn’t purely religious.
In an article from The Atlantic, the author, Simon Cottee argues that the actions of ISIS retain no correlation with radical Islam. Cottee utilizes various analyses and readings from experienced scholars to reach a conclusion. Cottee states from one reading that the reason why ISIS gains power easily is because of the failing Iraqi government. He also summarizes the view of American-Egyptian scholar Dalia Mogahed, that the ideology of Islam seemingly justifies the violence ISIS has caused.
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As summarized of what Juergensmeyer states in the Minnpost, “religion is a tool used by violent activists who are driven by political or personal reasons.” Juergensmeyer explains that terrorist leaders will use religion to get people to listen to them. When someone adds a religious point of view to a violent crime, it makes the atrocity sound more justifiable. Juergensmeyer shows this by using a suicide bomber for an example. While everyone initially sees this as a violent attack, when put into religious terms, it makes the bomber sound like a martyr, rather than a dangerous extremist. In other words, religious views make violent crimes less horrifying to the perpetrator and others, and is used as a form of protest as well. This reasoning and answer is reasonable, due utilizing the connection between the actions and the fundamental core of radical groups, and providing a potential and possibilities of more reasons; thus analyzing in more depth of why radical groups are formed and why they cause destruction among…show more content…
Juergensmeyer has also won two awards, and was elected as the president of the American Academy of Religion. This information provides evidence that he has a reliable reputation and experience in religious studies. Juergensmeyer is also religious himself, and despite that, he was able to criticize a subject that he himself is involved with, proving his
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