Wednesday, December 28, 2005

The Solution to Religious Terror & Violence by SMR

The world now more than ever is searching for ways to put an end to religious terror and violence and achieve lasting peace. Ever since the September 11 attacks, we as a nation are in a constant everyday battle with religious terrorism. Religious terror has grown worldwide into something very serious, and threatens the livelihood of mankind around the globe. No one has any idea where it will strike next, and how many innocent lives it will consume when it does. One must look at a broader scenario in order to stop religious terror from its roots. Like a wild plant, the world can keep cutting religious terror from the stem, but it will continue to grow larger as time goes by. My solution for destroying religious terror and violence begins by finding and destroying it from the root first. This is done by the proper mental and social education of the youth especially in poor areas of the world. Next we will put into practice two of the five scenario’s mentioned by J to keep religious terror and violence contained, so that the seeds for destruction are not planted again.
The roots to religious terror start with the youth around the world. If you look at every terrorist throughout history, at some time in his life there was a series of events that occurred that eventually led him to becoming a terrorist. He certainly was not born a terrorist, rather society raised him as one. There are so many factors that can lead someone to portray a theater of terror. If a child is taught from a young age the correct interpretation of religion and social behavior, than he will be better capable to telling right from wrong. It will be harder for what I call “terror manipulators” to get inside his head, and use his social surrounding, his poverty, loss of family, religion, or any other factor to brainwash his mind and turn him into what J calls, “…soldiers for a great cause…” (p. 191) Proper education will turn him away from taking part in terrorist activity or thinking in his mind he will become a heroic soldier for his family, people, country, and or religion. We must destroy the ideology that they are soldiers of God, because it motivates negative spirit. Proper education is the key. It goes a long way, and makes the difference of a child growing up to be a religious terror soldier, or taking the high road, and understanding that his or her religion does not justify for religious violence. We must step into the lives of the youth first, before the terror manipulators do. We must act first because if groups like Hamas get to them first, it is a long and terrible battle ahead. Right now as I write this, there is some poor child without education being mentally and emotionally manipulated to possibly threaten the world through a culture of violence. J states, “In the cultures of violence that have led to religious terrorism, the anxieties of all young men-concerns over careers, social location, and sexual relationships-have been exacerbated. Experiences of humiliation in these matters have made them vulnerable to the voices of powerful leaders and images of glory…” (p. 194) J continues to say, “The Hamas movement has provided a way of venting the resulting frustrations in a community that supplies a family and an ideology that explains the source of their problems and gives them hope.” (p. 194) One might say to themselves, well even if you don’t have much education, shouldn’t you know that terrorism is wrong. It is easy for us to make that judgment, but our social situations differ so vastly, life isn’t a constant struggle for survival. As J states, “Like soldiers in real armies, the imagined soldiers of cosmic wars tend to be young and male. They also tend to be members of financially and socially marginal groups…” (p. 194) You can only push a human being to such an extent, and than you reach a point where he wants to get even with life and the world, and that is dangerous, because it is through religious terror that the person expresses his anger and frustration.
Once the roots of religious terror and violence have been destroyed, containment is the next step in order for everlasting peace to be achieved. Stopping religious terror and violence is an ongoing struggle. Action has to be constantly taken so that its evil roots don’t grow again. J mentioned five scenarios for stopping religious terrorism. Two of the five I feel are very important and more realistic for ridding society of religious terror. The two scenarios to keep religious violence contained is destroying violence, and healing politics with religion. It is very essential that these steps be taken in the appropriate manner and time. Destroying violence and declaring a “war on terrorism” is essential because it shows terrorists that the world is against there actions. This scenario is limited to what it can do because history has showed us that retaliation is almost a guarantee if everyone involved is not captured. In today’s world, terrorist groups are very mobile, so they are constantly in different parts of the world, this adds to the confusion and make this scenario only harder to carry out. This is clear when J states, “The prognosis for victory in the military war against terrorism has been hopeful only when the opponents have been easily identified and –perhaps more important –contained within a specific region.” (p. 238) The second scenarios which J states as being, “…when secular authorities embrace moral values, including those associated with religion,” is also very essential for the fall of religious terror. This scenario shows that if positive actions are taken by a government, this can lead to positive results and change the hearts and minds of those involved in religious terror. J mentions a great example of this scenario being put to work when the president of Sri Lanka took positive actions for the Buddhist community. This led to people realizing that something was being done, and the government was on their side. Psychologically this scenario is very effective, because shows an end result to a community of people who had a dilemma before with their social upbringing.
In order to put an end to religious terror and violence and accomplish everlasting peace we must stop terrorism from its roots. We accomplish this by better educating the youth in poor areas around the world about religion, social, and moral values. We then contain religious terror by destroying violence and healing politics with religion. These two scenarios will work together to balance out and rid the world of religious terror. As I mentioned before the struggle against religious terror is an ongoing one. It is one where the solution to the problem is constantly changing as society changes. It is a struggle that needs continued support from the whole world, including global leaders, governments, societies, and individuals. Religious terror and violence is what I believe to be the biggest single threat in the United States, and several other countries. Religious terror will continue to grow. We must work together as a population to put an end to it, otherwise we are headed towards a disastrous future. Although we may not see the end of religious terror in our lifetimes, it is important we secure our world for future generations to come.

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