NCJ Number
237444
Journal
Critical Issues in Justice and Politics Volume: 2 Issue: 3 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 59-76
Date Published
November 2009
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article examines the phenomenon of religiously motivated violence under taken by non-state actors directed against non-combatants, both part and present, in order to frame a discussion of a strategy to confront such violence.
Abstract
The article focuses on the religious goals and motivations of violent groups rather than draw conclusions about underlying conditions outside of religion in which political violence may germinate, such as poverty and lack of education. Moreover, while it is clear that states can and all too often do commit acts of violence against non-combatant populations, the issues of whether states with significant religious identities commit acts of religious "terrorism," or can, by definition, commit acts of terrorism at all, is a topic that will be reserved for other forums. Finally, the article does not address all types of aggression across the spectrum of violence, including conventional warfare in the modern Western understanding, but focuses on that activity specifically and purposefully directed at non-combatant populations. (Published Abstract)