RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM
Was not Jesus an extremist for love…Was not Amos an extremist for justice…Was not Martin Luther an extremist…So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?
– Martin Luther King Jnr.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines extremism as a belief in and support for ideas that are very far from what most people consider correct or reasonable. In the Wordweb Dictionary and Thesaurus, extremism is defined as any political theory favoring immoderate uncompromising policies. Extremism is synonymous to radicalism, and anyone who subscribes to its theory is called an extremist and said to be radical. Religious extremism is therefore an immoderate religious belief that defies norm, or more precisely, unjust, barbaric actions such as killing, maiming, deliberate destruction of properties perpetrated in the name of God.
Gone are the days when the word “extremism” is used to describe political ideologies classified to be left or far-left, or the activities of political groups such as The Irish Republican Army (IRA) that used Guerilla warfare in the effort to liberate the whole of Ireland from British rule and The Black Panther Party (BPP), anytime the word is now used, what comes to mind is radical religious sects. Religious extremist sects cut across various religious groups and regions: there is the heterodox Christian group, Lord’s Resistant Army (LRA) which operates in South Sudan, North Uganda, CAR and DRC; Boko Haram, ISIS/ISIL, Al-Qaeda are all Islamic terrorist groups perpetrating evil in Northern Nigeria, North Africa and predominantly, the Middle East. Activities of these religious extremists date back to the 80’s and 90’s. Significant terrorist attacks carried out during the periods were the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and the various extremist resistance of another terrorist group, Hezbollah to the occupation of Lebanon by Israel.
Religious extremism has so far done the world no good but harm. In Nigeria, Boko Haram alone has killed more than one thousand (1,000) innocent citizens and displaced over ten million (10,000,000) others since 2009, as at 2016, over one thousand two hundred (1,200) people have been killed by ISIS outside Iraq and Syria, Al-Qaeda killed two thousand nine hundred and ninety-six (2,996) and injured over six thousand (6000+) people in the 9/11 attacks alone, due to the post 9/11 military actions, over four hundred and eighty thousand (480,000) military men and civilians have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Since the war in Syria started around 2011, over five hundred thousand (500,000) military personnel and civilians have lost their lives and several millions displaced. Due to these figures, it could be deduced that the big evil elephant in the house is arguably not natural disasters but religious extremism!
So, the big question to ask is: What causes religious extremism? The answer is surely multifaceted to the extent that a hundred page book would not be enough to describe it! But primarily, religious extremism starts in churches and mosques! It starts when tolerance for all other religious groups by certain adherents are taken with levity or not preached at all. To me, there exist inter-religious extremism and intra-religious extremism. Inter-religious extremism occurs between two [or more] different religious groups; for example, between Muslims and Christians, Hindus and Muslims, Judaists and Christians, etc. Intra-religious extremism on the other hand occurs within the adherents of a certain religion; for example, within The Shia and Sunni Muslims Roman Catholic and Protestants, etc. All religious groups claim to worship the same God and still frown at intermarriage between themselves, a typical Shiite hates a typical Sunni, Catholics are excommunicated when they marry Protestants and many Protestant pastors, out of ignorance and misguided knowledge of God and The Bible have thought their members to hate other adherents that are not of their denomination, the immoderate Muslim wants Christians and all other Muslims who do not belief in their course killed, Christians and other religious groups are infidels to even a moderate Muslim while to the typical Christian, any other person who is not a Christian will not make heaven. All these are the ways extremism begins and must be stamped out if religious extremism would cease to be no more.
Instead of being an extremist for hate, prejudice and killings, why not be an extremist for love, tolerance and justice?
CREDITS
Human Cost of the Post-9/11 wars: Lethality and the need for transparency by Neta C. Crawford.
Wikipedia
Kolade Chris (Ksound)
AAUA Class '18.
– Martin Luther King Jnr.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines extremism as a belief in and support for ideas that are very far from what most people consider correct or reasonable. In the Wordweb Dictionary and Thesaurus, extremism is defined as any political theory favoring immoderate uncompromising policies. Extremism is synonymous to radicalism, and anyone who subscribes to its theory is called an extremist and said to be radical. Religious extremism is therefore an immoderate religious belief that defies norm, or more precisely, unjust, barbaric actions such as killing, maiming, deliberate destruction of properties perpetrated in the name of God.
Gone are the days when the word “extremism” is used to describe political ideologies classified to be left or far-left, or the activities of political groups such as The Irish Republican Army (IRA) that used Guerilla warfare in the effort to liberate the whole of Ireland from British rule and The Black Panther Party (BPP), anytime the word is now used, what comes to mind is radical religious sects. Religious extremist sects cut across various religious groups and regions: there is the heterodox Christian group, Lord’s Resistant Army (LRA) which operates in South Sudan, North Uganda, CAR and DRC; Boko Haram, ISIS/ISIL, Al-Qaeda are all Islamic terrorist groups perpetrating evil in Northern Nigeria, North Africa and predominantly, the Middle East. Activities of these religious extremists date back to the 80’s and 90’s. Significant terrorist attacks carried out during the periods were the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and the various extremist resistance of another terrorist group, Hezbollah to the occupation of Lebanon by Israel.
Religious extremism has so far done the world no good but harm. In Nigeria, Boko Haram alone has killed more than one thousand (1,000) innocent citizens and displaced over ten million (10,000,000) others since 2009, as at 2016, over one thousand two hundred (1,200) people have been killed by ISIS outside Iraq and Syria, Al-Qaeda killed two thousand nine hundred and ninety-six (2,996) and injured over six thousand (6000+) people in the 9/11 attacks alone, due to the post 9/11 military actions, over four hundred and eighty thousand (480,000) military men and civilians have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Since the war in Syria started around 2011, over five hundred thousand (500,000) military personnel and civilians have lost their lives and several millions displaced. Due to these figures, it could be deduced that the big evil elephant in the house is arguably not natural disasters but religious extremism!
So, the big question to ask is: What causes religious extremism? The answer is surely multifaceted to the extent that a hundred page book would not be enough to describe it! But primarily, religious extremism starts in churches and mosques! It starts when tolerance for all other religious groups by certain adherents are taken with levity or not preached at all. To me, there exist inter-religious extremism and intra-religious extremism. Inter-religious extremism occurs between two [or more] different religious groups; for example, between Muslims and Christians, Hindus and Muslims, Judaists and Christians, etc. Intra-religious extremism on the other hand occurs within the adherents of a certain religion; for example, within The Shia and Sunni Muslims Roman Catholic and Protestants, etc. All religious groups claim to worship the same God and still frown at intermarriage between themselves, a typical Shiite hates a typical Sunni, Catholics are excommunicated when they marry Protestants and many Protestant pastors, out of ignorance and misguided knowledge of God and The Bible have thought their members to hate other adherents that are not of their denomination, the immoderate Muslim wants Christians and all other Muslims who do not belief in their course killed, Christians and other religious groups are infidels to even a moderate Muslim while to the typical Christian, any other person who is not a Christian will not make heaven. All these are the ways extremism begins and must be stamped out if religious extremism would cease to be no more.
Instead of being an extremist for hate, prejudice and killings, why not be an extremist for love, tolerance and justice?
CREDITS
Human Cost of the Post-9/11 wars: Lethality and the need for transparency by Neta C. Crawford.
Wikipedia
Kolade Chris (Ksound)
AAUA Class '18.
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