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Why would anybody believe that God could sanction terrorism? Why has the rediscovery of religion's power in recent years manifested in such a bloody way? What, if anything, can be done about it? Terror in the Mind of God, now in its fourth edition, answers these questions and more. Thoroughly revised and expanded, the book analyzes in detail terrorism related to almost all the world's major religious traditions-Christians in Europe who oppose Muslim immigrants, American Christians who support abortion clinic bombings and militia actions, Catholics and Protestants who attempt to justify acts of terrorism in Northern Ireland, Muslims associated with the rise of ISIS, Jews who support the persecution of Palestinians, Hindus linked to assaults on Muslims in the state of Gujarat, Sikhs identified with the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and Buddhist miltants affiliated with anti-Muslim violence and the nerve gas attack in Tokyo's subway.
List of contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: Terror and God
The Meaning of Religious Terrorism
Seeing Inside Cultures of Violence
PART ONE. CULTURES OF VIOLENCE
2. Soldiers for Christ
Anders Breivik, Defender of Christendom
Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Federal Building Bombing
Michael Bray and Abortion Clinic Bombings
Christian Justifi cations for Violence
Ian Paisley and the Troubles in Belfast
3. Zion Betrayed
Meir Ettinger, the Ghost of Meir Kahane
Yoel Lerner and the Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin
Baruch Goldstein’s Attack at the Tomb of the Patriarchs
4. Islam’s “Neglected Duty”
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Caliph of ISIS
Mahmud Abouhalima and the World Trade Center Bombing
Abdul Aziz Rantisi and Hamas Suicide Missions
Modern Islamic Justifi cations for Violence
5. The Spear of Shiva, the Sword of Sikhism
Maya Kodnani and the Gujarat Massacre
Simranjit Singh Mann and the Lure of Khalistan
Hindu and Sikh Justifi cations for Violence
6. Buddhist Faces of Terror
Ashin Wirathu and the Defense of Burmese Buddhism
Takeshi Nakamura and the Aum Shinrikyo Assault
Can Buddhist Violence Be Justified?
PART TWO. THE LOGIC OF RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE
7. Theater of Terror
Performance Violence
Setting the Stage
A Time to Kill
Reaching the Audience
8. Cosmic War
Grand Scenarios
Symbolic War
When Symbols Become Deadly
9. Martyrs and Demons
Sacrificial Victims
The Invention of Enemies
America as Enemy
Satanization and the Stages of Empowerment
10. Warriors’ Power
Empowering Marginal Men
Why Guys Throw Bombs
Fighting for the Rule of God
11. The Mind of God
Empowering Religion
Postmodern Terror
Curing Violence
Healing Politics with Religion
Notes
List of Interviews and Correspondence
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the author
Mark Juergensmeyer is Professor of Sociology and Global Studies and Founding Director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Summary
Why would anybody believe that God could sanction terrorism? Why has the rediscovery of religion’s power in recent years manifested in such a bloody way? What, if anything, can be done about it?
Terror in the Mind of God, now in its fourth edition, answers these questions and more. Thoroughly revised and expanded, the book analyzes in detail terrorism related to almost all the world’s major religious traditions: European Christians who oppose Muslim immigrants; American Christians who support abortion clinic bombings and militia actions; Muslims in the Middle East associated with the rise of ISIS, al Qaeda, and Hamas; Israeli Jews who support the persecution of Palestinians; India's Hindus linked to assaults on Muslims in the state of Gujarat and Sikhs identified with the assassination of Indira Gandhi; and Buddhist militants in Myanmar affiliated with anti-Muslim violence and in Japan with the nerve gas attack in Tokyo’s subway.
Drawing from extensive personal interviews, Mark Juergensmeyer takes readers into the mindset of those who perpetrate and support violence in the name of religion. Identifying patterns within these cultures of violence, he explains why and how religion and violence are linked and how acts of religious terrorism are undertaken not only for strategic reasons but to accomplish a symbolic purpose. Terror in the Mind of God continues to be an indispensible resource for students of religion and modern society.
Additional text
"The book was published in 2000 and might never have circulated much beyond academic libraries, but was rushed into paperback with a new preface in the autumn of 2001. Yet not only was it carefully prepared when few were paying attention, the book stands out because the author presents traditional, well-informed terrorist studies in an unusual way. He interviews terrorists. . . . [the book] belongs in even the smallest collection on terrorism."
Report
This dark, enthralling book not only documents the global rise of religious terrorism but seeks to understand the odd attraction of religion and violence' . . . Juergensmeyer is a powerful, skillful writer whose deeply empathic interviewing techniques allow readers to enter the minds of some of the late twentieth century's most feared religious terrorists."-Publishers Weekly
