Studies Explore Link Between Religion

and Terrorism
Oct 24, 2010 Rothwell Polk
Explosion - gnislew
Media commentator Brain Kilmeade of FOX news in the U.S. has alleged that "All
terrorists are Muslims." What do the facts say?

FOX News commentator Brian Kilmeade said on the air recently, "All terrorists are
Muslims." Law enforcement statistics and academic studies show this is a falsehood.
Most global terror is politically motivated. Terrorism associated with religious ideology
is committed by alleged members of many different faiths.

Terrorism in the European Union

Europol, the European Union law enforcement office, has released an assessment of
terror in 2009. "The European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report" says
"Islamist terrorism is still perceived as the biggest threat to most Member States, despite
the fact that only one Islamist terrorist attack — a bomb attack in Italy — took place in
the EU in 2009." This attack is one out of about 400 failed, foiled or successful attacks
reported. There were 110 arrests of suspected Islamists out of a total of 587 arrests for
associations with terror groups or failed, foiled or successful attacks.

"This [the arrest of 110 suspected Islamists] is a decrease of 41 % compared to 2008,

when 187 persons were arrested, and continues the trend of a steady decrease since 2007
when the number of arrested persons was 201," according to the report. The overall
number of arrests excludes a large number of Christian terrorists arrested in the UK--
primarily from IRA and Protestant groups.

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Four hundred and eight individuals were either convicted or acquitted of terrorism-
related charges in 2009 in EU Member States. The largest number were separatists such
as the Basque ETA and the Tamil Tigers, numbering 268. Islamists were the next largest
group at 89 followed by leftists at 39, according to the report.

Terrorism in the United States

The Global Terror Database, a funded project of the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security housed at the University of Maryland documents 87,000 international terrorist
incidents from 1970 through 2008. The database documents far more acts of terror
committed in the United States by right wing terrorists and animal rights terrorists than
by Islamists. For example, since 1990, 47 law enforcement officials and security guards
were murdered by White supremacists and other right wing extremists. Since 1990, 530
homicides have been committed by far-rightists.

A recent study by researchers from Duke University and the University of North Carolina
of Islamist terrorism in the U.S. found that " In the aftermath of the attacks on September
11, 2001, and subsequent terrorist attacks elsewhere around the world, a key
counterterrorism concern is the possible radicalization of Muslims living in the United
States. Yet, the record over the past eight years contains relatively few examples of
Muslim-Americans that have radicalized and turned toward violent extremism."

FBI statistics for the years 1980 to 2005 indicate that only 6% of terrorist incidents in the
United States were committed by Islamists. Even incidents by Jewish terrorists, at 7% of
all incidents, outnumber incidents committed by Muslims. The largest number of
reported incidents were in Puerto Rico.

Are There Christian Terrorists?

Are there other Christian terrorists? Yes and on the scale of the 9/11 attack on the World
Trade Center. The Lord's Resistance Army, for example, wants to establish a Christian
theocracy in the name of Jesus Christ in Uganda. In two years, they have killed 2,000
people and displaced another 400,000. Terror on our planet is driven by political agendas
of the left and the right and is perpetrated by alleged followers of many religions. The
leaders of the LRA are wanted for crimes against humanity and atrocities.

The Muslim-American Attitude Toward Terrorism

The influential Fiqh Council of North America issued a fatwa (religious ruling) against
terrorism on 7/28/05 saying in part:

"The Fiqh Council of North America wishes to reaffirm Islam's absolute condemnation of
terrorism and religious extremism.

Islam strictly condemns religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent
lives. There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism. Targeting civilians’
life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram – or
forbidden - and those who commit these barbaric acts are criminals, not “martyrs.”

The Qur’an, Islam’s revealed text, states: "Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as
though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved
all mankind." (Qur’an, 5:32)"
AND

"In the light of the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah we clearly and strongly state:

1. All acts of terrorism targeting civilians are haram (forbidden) in Islam.

2. It is haram for a Muslim to cooperate with any individual or group that is involved in
any act of terrorism or violence.

3. It is the civic and religious duty of Muslims to cooperate with law enforcement
authorities to protect the lives of all civilians."

The Picture Is Complex

The data and analysis show that the causes of terrorism, whether domestic or
international, are complex. The claim that "All terrorists are Muslims" does not jibe with
the facts. The motivations of terror are political, not religious, although some terrorists
identify themselves with a particular religion.

Sources

"Brian Kilmeade: 'All Terrorists Are Muslims,' Huffingtonpost.com

The Global Terror Database, Start.umd.edu

"Anti-Terror: Lessons of Muslim-Americans," Sanford.duke.edu

Federal Bureau of Investigations, Fbi.gov

"LRA rebels to be given 'terrorist' status: African Union," News.yahoo.com

The Fiqht Council of North America, Cair.com

Read more at Suite101: Studies Explore Link Between Religion and Terrorism
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