ATS1701 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Iranian Revolution, Orthopraxy, Economic Mobility
25 May 2018
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Lecture 6 – Religious Terrorism
selective interpretation of sacred texts to justify or legitimate their violence
- central arguments
• violence and religion have long standing relationships
• adherents of many beliefs systems have utilised arguments they claim are
based on their sacred texts to justify violence
• there has been a re-emergence of religion and religiously motivated
violence especially from the late 20th century
- religion
• to bind/connect
• to try and connect humans to something much greater than themselves
• religion - comprise for key components
•
o creed - a belief system
o a cult - some type of an object of worship - something towards
people might wish to aspire
o a code of conduct
o confessional community - community of believers
- the secularisation theory
• key idea can be traced to the enlightenment
• modernisation necessary leads to a decline of religion, both on society
and in the minds of individuals
• secularisation - something once sacred or religious loses its sacredness all
together or to some degree
• key assumptions
•
o religion was a force that impeded change and process on personal
and societal levels
o given the opportunity of enhanced education and social and
economic mobility, individuals would willingly reduce religions
significance in their lives, eventually abandon it
• some religions attempting to become more modern
• flaws in the theory
•
o key religious indicators only pointed to church religions - they
excluded personal spiritualities and new religion movements
o viewed the world through purely western eyes
o viewed the world through the eyes of a privileged elite
o so called modernising attempts at faith could not compete with
those faiths that dug in their heels in reaction to changes
• reactions to secularisation
•
o hardening of religion - fundamentalisms
o
▪ fundamentalism is the desire for the retention of traditional
values in the face of change
▪ claim to be upholding orthodoxy - right belief and
orthopraxis - right behaviour - using modern methods
▪ general characteristics
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▪
▪ diversity
▪
▪ religious
▪ secular
▪ political behaviour - institutional political
competition, violence, withdrawal
▪ strong relationship between politics and religion
▪ new ways of responding to modernity
o religion innovation or revival - new religious movements
o sacralisation of politics and creation of political religions
- 1978-1979 - rebirth of religion and politics
• strengthening of christian right in US
•
o christianly viewed differently by people
o growing base of support for presidential campaign for ronald
reagan for 1980
o consistent source of republican politics
o growing conservatism in american politics
o evident in trumps election
o religious nationalism combined with us revival
o christian groups began to organise politically
• Iranian revolution
•
o establishment of theocratic state as example for islamists
o challenge to US hegemony
o support for terrorism and insurrection in region and elsewhere
o
▪ wanted to export their revolution
• election of Karol Wotyla as pope john paul II
•
o re-establishment of conservatism within catholicism to curb some
of the reforms of vatican II
o visit to poland in 1979 led to reassertion of polish nationalism and
challenge to communist party rule within poland and soviet bloc
• soviet invasion of afghanistan
•
o contribution to end of the cold war due to USSR being drawn into
long term conflict
o contribution to emergence of neojihadism
o beginning of long cycle of instability and violence in afghanistan
- religion and violence
• hitchens referred to the bacilli go human pathologists - from human
sacrifice, homophobia, war, negative attitudes towards sex
• most religious teaching are about peace and tolerance
- long traditions of religion and violence
• importance of sacrifice and martyrdom in most religions
-violence and judeo-christian traditions
• the lord is a man of war - exodus
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lecture 6 religious terrorism selective interpretation of sacred texts to justify or legitimate their violence. Religion and violence: hitchens referred to the (cid:494)bacilli(cid:495) go human pathologists - from human sacrifice, homophobia, war, negative attitudes towards sex, most religious teaching are about peace and tolerance. Long traditions of religion and violence importance of sacrifice and martyrdom in most religions. Violence and judeo-christian traditions the lord is a man of war - exodus. Religion and post cold war conflict contrains elements of duty, holiness, subordination, purity: proliferation of religion and violence increasing pervasiveness of religion and violence role of religion in civil war - increasing. Different types of terrorism tho nationalist/reactionary communist(cid:495) revolutionary religious. Importance of dominion theology and christian reconstruction theology to anti- abortion politics and violence: dominion theology - is the position that christianity must reassert the. Factors that influence nrm violence: millennialism totalistic organisation live in isolation charismatic leadership, no established chain of command after that leader.
