It is a popular belief in America and other western countries that religion is the main reason behind terrorism. But, is it? 15 religion the only reason behind the creation of terrorists? With the recent meteoric increase in terrorism-related attacks, it has become more important than ever to figure out the factors that motivate these activities. The easier way to go will be to play the blame game and thus blame it on minorities but we need to examine the deep roots of this problem and hence solve it accordingly, we also need to understand that while we consider certain acts as terrorism, the same acts are considered acts of heroism by others. By examining the recent history of the world, we can easily come to the conclusion that while religion is one of the factors, there are many other factors that motivate terrorists and assassins. In fact, world hunger, economic inequality and politics play a bigger role than religion in motivating terrorists.
Before the soviet invasion of Afghanistan, even the notion of religious-backed terrorism was unpopular. In this paper, we are going to look at other major factors except for religion that motivate terrorists. The major cause of terrorism has to be undoubtedly politics I regard Joseph Stalin to be one of the major terrorists in the history of the world, Stalin’s communist regime was largely considered to be an atheist regime. During his reign, it is believed that Stalin was responsible for more than 12 million deaths. The main cause of this massacre was not related to religion or any other factor, the sole reason for Stalin’s massacre was politics. Stalin ordered the execution for all of his opposition members anybody who would speak against his regime was tortured and executed. Similarly, Id Amin Dada, the ex-president of Uganda was responsible for about thousands of deaths.
The reason for his activities was not religion but the quest for power likewise, the recent increase in Islamic extremists and Jihadists can also be attributed to politics rather than religion. The notion of Jihad was somewhat lost in the Islamic traditions before the Soviet invasion. After the invasion of Afghanistan, the Jihadist movement was supported and financed by America and other western countries. The financial support created a huge number of so called “Mujahideen”, who were described as warriors defending their religion and homeland. After the end of the war, the Mujahideen backfired on the western coalition. The same guns that were delivered to them by the Americans were used against them. Osama bin Laden, the person who was thought to be responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the pentagon and the world trade center was initially backed by the United States in the War against the Soviet Union.
The political turmoil in the Middle East is the major factor in motivating terrorism, as America is seen as a greedy and selfish oil-loving country, anti-American sentiments are on a rise and it also motivates terrorists. Another major cause behind terrorism has to he economic inequality. The poll by National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEG) suggests that one out of seven people in just the US are living in poverty. Similarly, one out of 16 people in the US was reported to be in deep poverty. Although US is considered to be one of the most developed countries in the world, the disparity between economic conditions can easily be seen. So, we can assume that inequality to be a lot worse in countries around the world. The frustration builds up inside people who work hard but still don’t get their basic needs fulfilled 0n the other hand, the few rich ones seem to be cruising in life in luxury cars.
This disparity leads people to be revolt and thus get involved in terrorism or other violent activities. The fact that terrorism predominantly exists in poor and underdeveloped countries like Afghanistan, Somalia, Burundi etc. supports the claim that economic inequality motivates terrorists. As we can see, world politics and inequality play a major role in motivating world terrorism, while religious beliefs also plays a major role in contributing to terrorism, it can’t be considered the only factor. The brutal regimes of world’s dictators like Stalin were unreligious. Thus, to eliminate terrorism in the future, we need to eradicate inequality and poverty. We also need to stay away from politics that aim to divide and conquer the unity among the people awareness will be the way to de motivate Lhese terrorists hence, education should be provided to all to eradicate terrorism.
