Terror
in the Name
of God
Why Religious Militants Kill
JESSICA STERN
PART I: Grievances That Give Rise to Holy War
PART II: Holy War Organizations
SIX Inspirational Leaders and Their Followers
EIGHT Commanders and Their Cadres
NINE The Ultimate Organization: Networks, Franchises, and Freelancers
TEN Conclusion/Policy Recommendations
Religious terrorism arises from pain and loss and from impatience with a God who is slow to respond to our plight, who doesn’t answer. Its converts often long for a simpler time, when right and wrong were clear, when there were heroes and martyrs, when the story was simple, when the neighborhood was small, when we knew one another. When the outside world, with its vulgar cosmopolitanism, didn’t humiliate us or threaten our children. When we did not envy these others or even know about them. It is about finding a clear purpose in a confusing world with too many choices. It is about purifying the world. The way forward is clear: kill or be killed. Kill and be rewarded in heaven. Kill and the Messiah will come. It is about seeing the world in black and white. About projecting all one’s fears and inadequacies on the Other. Why is my life not going as well as it should? The answer is America. The answer is affirmative action. The answer is the Jews. The answer is the Dome of the Rock. A devilish cabal controls the banking system and the press through globalization and world government, through the Council on Foreign Relations, or the Arab oil sheiks. My people are in the majority. This is the temple’s wall. The wall where his horse stood tied. It is clear from the Bible that this land is legitimately ours. Archaeologists show. History proves. My ancestors’ bones. My people are suffering. Without this piece of land or this temple, I am not whole. My people are not whole. We are spiritually dead. We are dry bones cast about the earth. This is where our Messiah will rule. This is where our prophets walked. This is the furthermost place of his nocturnal ride, where miracles happened, where He made us the chosen people, where loaves became fishes, where He comforted the afflicted, where He rose to heaven, where the angel Gabriel’s handprints remain. This, in short, is where bloodbaths begin.
