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jlf1961 -> The roots of extemism in religion today. (12/8/2012 11:01:25 PM)
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Regardless if it is Christian, Muslim, or Judaism, extremism within a religion requires the same basic things.
1) A charismatic leader with a message.
2) A stated reason why the mainstream is wrong, even if it contradicts religious writings.
3) The restriction of free thought and questioning authority.
4) A ready pool of followers desperate for something to believe in.
Examples of the first requirement are easily picked from modern history.
Warren Jeffs of the fundamentalist Mormon church, Jim Jones of the people's temple, The Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, and Osama bin Laden.
As for the message each of these people preached, all were different but the basic point was to appeal to the base desires of the followers.
Warren Jeffs was just the latest leader of the Fundamentalist Mormon movement, preaching that the main stream Mormon church had left the teachings of its founder Joseph Smith when it changed its belief in polygamy. Warren Jeffs took it to the extreme by marrying older male followers to underage girls. Considered a prophet by his followers, his word was law, and those that questioned his teachings were excommunicated and their possessions taken away including their families.
Jim Jones had founded his church over twenty years before, in Indiana. His preaching stressed the need for racial brotherhood and integration, and his group helped feed the poor and find them jobs. As his congregation grew, Jim Jones gradually increased the discipline and dedication that he required from the members. In 1965, he moved to northern California; about 100 of his faithful relocated with him. The membership began to multiply, new congregations were formed, and the headquarters was established in San Francisco.
Jones had a technique that was not unique to someone demanding complete obedience. His followers worked long hours and given little sleep. In the public eye, the people's temple did many good things, but that hid the underlying teachings of Jones. At various times he claimed to be God, Jesus, Buddha. Jones preached sermons concerned with nuclear devastation and the coming apocalypse, feeding the fears of his followers.
The Ayatollah preached against the influences of the western world against Islam, and preached a return to the fundamentals of Islamic teachings. He caused a paradigm shift among Shiite Muslims and became the face of militant Islam to the west for a number of years. He also led a movement in Iran to replace the secular government of the country with a fundamentalist Shiite one. The revolution he started overthrew a long standing government and replaced it with a theocracy.
Osama bin Laden is a bit different. A Sunni, his first foray into world politics was as a member of the mujahedin in Afghanistan against the soviets. He recruited freedom fighters from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other primarily Sunni countries. His stated goal at the time was to force the soviets out of Afghanistan and put a Muslim government in its place. At this period, he did not advocate extremist views.
It was only later that he began preaching fundamentalist views, which was about the influence of the west on Muslim countries, primarily his native Saudi Arabia. He advocated a return to Muslim values, and preached against the symbols of wealth that oil money provided many Saudis. Eventually he formed Al Qaeda, originally an organization to replace western leaning governments of the Arab world with fundamentalist Muslim governments.
By this time, Bin Laden was following Wahhabism, a conservative branch of the Sunni sect. It was this reason that the royal family of Saudi Arabia ordered his arrest, and he fled to Sudan.
Bin Laden started gaining followers when he centered his teachings on the influence of the west in Muslim affairs, pointing primarily at the United States. His message was simple, the west was the reason for the inequalities in the Arab world and the cause of all the problems. He appealed to the disenfranchised Muslims of the region, and as his movement grew, to the disenfranchised in all of the Arab world.
Osama bin Laden used propaganda as a means to attract followers. His claim that the United States was constantly attacking and killing Muslims stirred up his followers. The fact that the United States supported Israel was secondary and rarely talked about.
In a round about way George Bush sr. gave Bin Laden all the ammunition he needed to push for a jihad against the United States. President Bush had American troops sent to Saudi Arabia, with the agreement of the Saudi government. Bin Laden preached against this because of the fact that the holy city of Mecca was in Saudi Arabia.
The war with Iraq was the final straw. America was the great Satan.
As I stated, all of these movements hinged on the absolute power of the leader. Followers are not allowed to question teachings, and in the Muslim movements, those that questioned the teachings were executed as heretics. Constant exposure to sermons by the leaders is common in extremist movements.
With few exceptions, the followers of these movements are the poor, disenfranchised, and those having a crisis of faith. Bin Laden for example never gave the "decadent" ways of the United States as a reason to attack us, he kept the emphasis on what the west had done to the Muslims around the world. Jim Jones attracted a lot of drug addicts in San Francisco to the People's Temple, promising them a better life through service to god. He even helped them get off drugs, a point that the civic leaders praised about him.
The Ayatollah focused on the corruption of the Shah's regime. The fact that the CIA helped put the Shah in power was another reason to get rid of him. The fact that the Iranian government under the Shah was dependent on the west was another talking point. The large gap in Iranian society due to oil income for the wealthy and the fact that none of that money trickled down to the rest of the population gave the Ayatollah a willing pool of followers.
In the United States there is a growing phenomena of the super churches. Evangelical churches with a charismatic preacher that appeals to those people who take a strict interpretation of the bible. This movement gave rise to the "Moral Majority" that promoted a close relationship between church and state. Some of these churches have been the subject of IRS and Justice department investigations.
Other extremist christian movements in the US center on the formation of "Christian" militias. These groups consist of armed fundamentalists. However at present, only a few have conducted what could be called terrorist acts. These groups are primarily white supremacists.
Strangely the primary focus of Muslim extremists, which does not get the media attention in the west, are groups that are trying to overthrow secular governments in various countries that are not predominately Muslim. There are movements of this type in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
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