Religious terrorism refers to religious violence that utilizes terrorism tactics to achieve interdenominational beliefs. Every human being has a right to religion, and any action against this is considered illegal. In modern society, after the decline of ideas such as the divine rights of kings to leadership, issues of faith related terror attacks have been raised. This policy brief addresses the various challenges experienced due to religious terrorism. Additionally, recommendations on how to curb these problems have been given.
The majority group of religious terrorism includes members of the Muslim religion. Terrorist groups include ethnic-nationalists, right as well as left-wing groups and religious-oriented (Kim & Sandler, 2021, p. 142). Some of the challenges resulting from the above attacks include discrimination and ignorance of interdenominational rights, hostility and separation (Roach, 2020, p. 7). Most feel that they lack the freedom of expression and therefore feel humiliated. The various methods used in religious terrorism are spiritual scriptures to justify the violent acts and the use of apocalyptic images of destruction to justify the actions. There should be recommendations on religion to address these challenges to reduce terrorism.
There is need of improving religious literacy to the public in order to reduce cases of religious terrorism. Illiteracy is a major contributing factor to the above type of extremism, where people are unaware of how to handle spiritual differences (Carmody, 2021, p. 20). Since society is composed of people with different norms and beliefs, every individual should learn to respect other people’s beliefs. By doing this, cases of terrorism will reduce immensely, and people will live happily. The government should also play a role in protecting diverse religions. These can be done by setting up policies and imposing fines on citizens who break them. Similarly, the terrorist groups should be done away with by arresting them and reporting cases of occurrence of such cases.
In addition, interfaith programs for religious connection and intervention should be developed. The public sector should play a major role in uniting people with diverse spiritual beliefs. Events such as dialogues that may lead to a mutual relationship between the different groups can promote understanding and respect (Hameed et al., 2020, p. 11). The government should set aside money to support such activities to be a success. In terms of time, they should be conducted during the holiday to engage people of all ages with different ideologies.
An introduction of an interaction and engagement session with researchers is required. Researchers who deal with matters of religion take into account the interaction between media, the public and communities (Zelenkov et al., 2021, p. 470). Inter-faith issues can be addressed, and better ways to deal with them are suggested. There should be mobilization of religion to promote a change in society’s attitude against terrorism. Through this, societies will see the importance of respecting religion.
In conclusion, religious terrorism is a major challenge due to people’s different beliefs. Since it is impossible to develop a common religion for everyone, respect for diversities should be emphasized. Challenges of ignorance and discrimination are a result of religious terrorism. However, the recommendations made can help reduce these issues. They include improving religious literacy among the public and developing an interdenominational program for interfaith connection and intervention. Additionally, an introduction of an interaction and engagement session with researchers and an introduction of an interaction and engagement session with researchers are useful.
References
Carmody, B. (2021). The challenge for religious education in Zambia’s formal education System.Religious Education, 117(1), pp.19-32. Web.
Hameed, H., Ali, Y., & Khan, A. (2020). Regional development through tourism in Balochistan under the China-Pakistan economic corridor.Journal of China Tourism Research, 18(1), 1-19. Web.
Kim, W., & Sandler, T. (2021). Foreign aid and terrorist groups: Incidents, ideology, and survival.Public Choice, 189(1-2), 139-160. Web.
Roach, K. (2020). Counterterrorism and the challenges of terrorism from the far right. Common Law World Review, 50(1), 3-20.
Zelenkov, M., Fedyakin, I., Zinkovsky, S., Nikitina, V., & Bikov, M. (2021). Religion-state relations as a source of modern terrorism. Laplage Em Revista, 7(2), 463-472. Web.