The Terror Of The Mind Of God

Dahl, E. J. (2004). Warning of Terror: explaining the failure of intelligence against terrorism. The fletcher School. Retrieved Sep 21, 2011, from, .

Foreign and domestic policies are not linear, rather the policies are connected in a circle, with each policy reinforcing the values of another. Domestic American terrorism in the prison and detention systems and governmental reforms are influenced by the mobilization and ethnocentrism abroad. The militarization internationally is justified by the domestic handling of the same cultural issues within the United State borders. The United States has strangely used a near Catch-22 to handle dilemmas. The United States has allowed perspective to become reality, whether with oneself or regarding issues abroad, specifically in the Middle East. Terrorism is the use or threat of fear for political or economical gain. An internal characteristic of terrorism is how dependent it is of perspective, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. To understand “terrorism,” a focus must be applied to the history, what drove an organization to commit such acts. Respectively, the Middle East has been a hotbed for the key word “terrorism,” especially because of 9/11. Subsequently, Muslims have been stigmatized by the United States as terrorists. The consequences spawned because of 9/11 require a look to the past to understand the present.

The reason I picked this book is because I have always been curious about terrorism. Truthfully, I really didn’t expect the book to take the stance it did, which focused mainly on the religious implications of what influences people to commits acts of terror. I liked the fact that the book takes new angles in approaching the search for truth, by focusing on case studies and performing interviews with the people who have committed terrorist acts. This is like getting the insiders view of the inner workings and frame of mind people have before, during, and after they have unswervingly performed the acts of violence.

Terrorism is a major threat to national and global security that encompasses more than violent means by foreigners and Islamic extremists. This is mainly because most of the recent terror acts in America have been carried out by single-issue individuals and special-interest extremists with the intention of protecting the environment and animals based on their beliefs. Actually, terrorism is described as the illegitimate use of extreme violence and force with the intention of coercing a

Domestic terrorism has played a major part in shaping the societies of the United States. The ideologies of individuals can become radicalized. This can lead to a movement. This movement involves the infliction of fear upon the communities, in attempt to make it a better world. It is critical to examine the events created by one man’s extreme ideologies in effort to better understand.

This paper will discuss religious terrorism in particular. Religious terrorism can be defined as “the terrorism [is] carried out based on motivations and goals that have a predominantly religious character or influences.” (“Religious Terrorism”) An example of this will be the 9/11 attacks. It was “a series of four coordinated terrorist attack launched by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.”(“September 11 attacks”) This attack had led to a serious causality, “almost 3000 people dies in the attacks.” (“September 11 attacks”) Osama Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, declared a “holy war against the United States” (“September 11 attacks”) In his “letter to America”, he stated the motives as follows: In opposition to western support for attacking Muslims in Somalia; supporting the Indian oppression against Muslims in Kashmir; the Jewish aggression against Muslims in Lebanon; the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia; U.S support of Israel and the sanction against Iraq. (“September 11 attacks”) The disastrous attack leads to a serious attention of re-constructing the old version of counter terrorism strategy, which had failed to protect the citizens against terrorism. However, ‘terrorism is far to complex for one solution to be effective in dealing with all the possible threats.” (Lygutas 146) Therefore, some of the measures have difficulties in balancing the rights of

Many Americans do not understand the implication and role of terrorism in the modern world. Terrorism is not a something that can be measured or held in hand. It is a theoretical idea that has many different meanings to many different people (Aziz, 2014). U.S. Citizens in general need to understand the full effect of modern terrorism. Blinded by media coverage and dramatized by slow-motion video replay of terrorist attacks,

In many cases it is natural to interpret the events of September 11th as purely evil, however, Lincoln argues that the terrorist attacks were profoundly and intensely religious. For this reason, Lincoln attempts to clarify what religion does and how it can be used to legitimate violent acts such as the terrorist attacks of September 11th. To support his argument, Lincoln offers a definition of religion that is more precise than the definition previously discussed in this essay. Lincoln argues that within religion there is a religious maximalist approach and a religious minimalist approach. The maximalist approach is the,“conviction that religion ought to permeate all aspects of social, indeed of human existence”(Lincoln 5). Essentially maximalists believe that religion should be considered the most important thing above all else. In contrast, minimalists believe that religion should be "restricted to an important set of (chiefly metaphysical) terms, protects its privileges against state intrusion but restricts its activity and influence to its specialized sphere”(Lincoln 5). Lincoln then goes on to define religion as having four parts. The four parts being; discourse, which contains speech acts that create a social reality in which people live, as well as, textual examples of “transcendence.” Secondly, there is practice which consists of the rituals and ceremonies of religion. Thirdly there is, community which refers to the people practicing the religion and constructing a religious world around it. Lastly there is, institution which is the recognized regulation and representation of the religion, its practices and community. All of these factors make up Lincoln’s more specific definition of

This paper is aimed at outlining the events of the Terrorist attack against America, the results and actions taken by the United States Government in retaliation to the attacks. There is no way to legitimize terrorism, although deeply rooted in religion; there can never be a valid excuse to victimize innocent people. Terrorism is never easily defined and many individuals have an obscure idea of what it really is. Terrorism is a premeditated act of violence, geared at bringing about political change by intimidation; it is disruptive in nature and is intended to have an impact outside of its intended targets. Acts of terrorism are responsible for thousands of deaths, increased security measures and negative impacts to the budgets of many countries including America.

It is nearly impossible to go an entire day in the United States without hearing of some act of terrorism. Whether it be a shooting in a public place or threats against a group of people, this violent form of conflict is prevalent in every American’s life. These ruthless acts of cold-blooded murder demonstrate evil in its purest form, and leave death and mourning in their wake. The article “Homegrown Terrorism: Is There an Islamic Wave?” gives an overview of the rise of domestic terrorism since the tragedy of 9/11. Though it was written in 2011, the core message is the same today: terrorism in the United States still continues to grow at a sickening pace, with each new attack seeming more barbaric than the last.

Terror has become a common feeling in today’s world. Music concerts and churches have become targets for terrorist activity. People are now thinking twice about their safety before leave home. In the book Terror In The Mind Of God by Mark Juergensmeyer, he starts off talking about different terror acts and how it has changed how he views the world. He says, "On a different day, at a different time, perhaps in a different bus, one of the bodies torn to shreds by any of these terrorist acts could have been yours or mine" (Juergensmeyer p. 3). He goes on to talk about how he feels betrayed that his "personal security and order that is usually a basic assumption of public life cannot in fact be taken for granted in a world where terrorist acts exit" (Juergensmeyer 3). Terrorism is a huge concern for Americans today. We hear on the news about church shootings and attacks on people attending an outdoor concert. We begin to feel unsafe going out in public and enjoying basic activities.

In the first chapter of Terror in the Mind of God it goes over a few terrorist incident examples. There were ethnic shootings in California and Illinois, attack on american embassies, abortion clinic bombings and other terrorist acts. All of these incidents and other violent attacks are associated with American religious extremists. So these are attacks by groups named Christian Militia, The Christian Identity Movement and Christian Anti-abortion activists. For many people in the Middle East terrorist attacks have become a way of life. All of the Terrorists attacks have two similar characteristics, First they have been very violent and terrifying. And second they have been motivated by religion. So the attacks are by people that think they are doing good for their religion.The fact that violent acts find their justification in religion can be studied by analyzing the deeds of those terrorists. The definition of a terrorist attack is that people are terrified not the people doing the acts. People and the media talk about the public acts of destruction which causes mass sense of fear. Most people feel that religion should provide tranquility and peace not terror and violence. For the terrorists attacks that are mentioned many of the cases religion has supplied the motivation for the terrorists. So in this first chapter in relation to ethics it says that the people thought they were doing the right thing. For example since they were blowing up

In the recent past terrorism has been the greatest challenge to many countries in the world. To be precise religious terrorism has taken its route. Such heinous acts are spearheaded through violent motives. This motive renders the whole nation into a somber mood. It is as a result of tragedies caused by heinous acts of terror. For instance, the USA was subjected to such a mourning scenario. It was that moment when the shooting in Unitarian Universalists Church was under way. It was flabbergasting because American citizens least expected it at that time. Such heinous acts experienced by the United States left families deprived and children orphaned. It was a big blow to the nation’s security.

Societies will always have problems that cause some sort of reaction from individuals who believe that their social stability is being endangered. There have been a number of moral panics which have captivated society in terror and more often than not, owing to unfamiliarity. This essay will discuss the perception of a moral panic and will look at the case of the September 11th Terrorist attack against the United States of America, which triggered a colossal conflict of morality within modern day society. This essay will also analyse terrorism as a perceived deviance, the role of the moral entrepreneur and folk devil, in order to develop a level of understanding to the causes of this particular moral panic and its effects on society.

After the attack of 9/11 many American citizens sought out an answer to why one would hijack a plane and run it into the Twin Towers, killing millions. According to the Huffpost, Islam became the main reason for the attack and furthermore labeled religion as the inspiration for many terroristic attacks (Gibson, 1). According to many Muslims, however, the attacks are anti-Islamic because the Quran states not to harm civilians who are not involved with war and to avoid it at all possible times (PBS, 3). The conflict between Muslims and Americans is growing and many issues in the Middle East has become the focus for religious terrorism.