Religious Terrorism Essay

1360 Words3 Pages

Although seemingly a discrete category, religious terrorism cannot be disentangled from other motivations for terrorist violence. To what extent do you agree?
Terrorism is a vast and complex topic and has been occurring throughout history, there are many definitions and types of terrorism that are often described by society; one that has gained the most momentum within society and the media today is religious terrorism. Although religious terrorism has its own specific definition along with other forms of terrorism, it seems that this type of terrorism has been assigned as a definite explanation behind most cases of terrorist violence; despite they’re being other factors contributing. Although this can be agreed to on some extent - that religion
Suicide violence is definitely a form of violent terrorism that receives an amount of attention, especially since it’s been noted that it “Violates two of society’s primary taboos, the prohibition against killing innocent men, women, and children, and the ban against killing oneself” (Pape, 2005, p.
The media seems to highlight these religious factors instead of seeing the whole situation as a collective; therefore influencing the perception and thoughts of their readers and viewers by claiming that these attacks are purely due to non-believers vs. the believers. By purely stating that terrorism is based on religious motives, the media creates a misconception to the public that this religion is the reasoning behind terrorist violence; therefore creating further misconceptions based on the religion (e.g. the beliefs of Islamism is associated to the religious beliefs of all people who originate from Islam). But why is this perception commonly promoted within the media? Although the media has reported topics of terrorism before, it seems that since the occurrence of terrorist events within the 1970’s (Munich in 1972 and Palestine and anti-colonialism issues) and most particularly in the 1980’s to the 2000’s (terrorist organisations such as Palestine Islamic Jihad and Al-Qaeda) have influenced the media’s perception on terrorism and therefore presenting those views to the public. Also the influence of technology doesn’t accurately assist in defining the motivations of terrorists, especially since the internet is now a platform for terrorist intentions

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