Is strong religiosity a gateway to terrorism?


In this video, we discuss whether strong religiosity should be seen as a barrier or as a gateway to terrorism. Does strong religious belief serve as barrier or a gateway to terrorism? Most scholars in terrorism studies would suggest that religious knowledge tends to form a barrier to terrorist recruitment. However, scholars in social-psychology studies have long identified a significant positive association between certain forms of religiosity and negative views, prejudice and hate to out-groups, which are among the predictors of support for violence against out-groups. We discuss these questions with Greg Barton, Professor of Global Islamic Politics at Deakin University. Greg has been active for the past thirty years in inter-faith dialogue initiatives and has a deep commitment to building understanding of Islam and Muslim society. The central axis of his research interests is the way in which religious thought, individual believers and religious communities respond to modernity and to the modern nation state. He also has a strong general interest in comparative international politics. He has undertaken extensive research on Indonesia politics and society, especially of the role of Islam.