In my previous blog, I argued that attributing extremist violence solely or even mostly to religious belief is dangerously uninformed. I showed why that claim is uninformed. On to the dangerous part.
Perpetuating the myth that religion is the primary cause of terrorism plays into ISIS's hands and prevents recognition of our responsibility for creating the conditions for ISIS.
ISIS's playbook is, interestingly, not the Quran, it's The Management of Savagery (Idarat at-Tawahoush). ISIS's longterm strategy is to create such chaos that submission to ISIS would be preferable to living under the savage conditions of war. To attract young people to ISIS, they seek to eliminate the "Gray Zone" between the true believer and the infidel (in which most Muslims find themselves) by employing "terror attacks" to help Muslims see that non-Muslims hate Islam and want to harm Muslims.
If moderate Muslims feel alienated and unsafe as a result of prejudice, they will be forced to choose either apostasy (darkness) or jihad (light).
Those who hold that religion is the primary or most important motivator of extremists, are helping to squeeze out the gray zone. By tarring Islam with the extremist brush, they perpetuate the myth that Islam is a violent religion and that Muslims are violent. Attributing extremism to Islam reinforces Western media's predominantly negative portrayal of Muslims as violent, fanatical, bigoted, and terrorists (ignoring the 99.999% of Muslims who are not).
And then we're on to Islamophobia.
It is very difficult for Westerners to isolate their understanding and loathing of ISIS and other extremists without sliding into Islamophobia.
And increasing Islamophobia, ISIS hopes, will entice young Muslims out of the gray and into the fight.
Finally, I think it is dangerous to attribute extremism to religion and to ignore external conditions, because it makes extremism their problem when it is also our problem. If extremism is motivated by their religion, then they are entirely responsible (and they need to change). But if extremism is motivated in response to external conditions, then those who are responsible for those conditions are responsible (and need to work to change those conditions). As James Gilligan, in Preventing Violence, writes: "We cannot even begin to prevent violence until we can acknowledge what we ourselves are doing that contributes to it, actively or passively."
How has the West contributed to the conditions that motivate violent extremism?
For starters, we overthrew a democratically-elected President in Iran and installed a despotic Shah (to regain control of their oil). After the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, we divided up the Middle East according to our own economic advantage and in defiance of good cultural sense. For decades we have purchased cheap oil from Saudi Arabia, the profits of which have fueled Wahhabism, the ideological roots of Islamic extremism. We destabilized Iraq on false pretenses resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. We tortured Arabs in defiance of international law and basic human dignity, and have kept Arabs that we know are innocent imprisoned without charge or legal recourse in Guantanamo. Our drones have killed countless innocent people and their constant buzzing in the skies plagues children with PTSD. And the US's unilateral support of Israel perpetuates injustices against Palestinians.
In short, our shaming, humiliation and harming of Arabs has created the conditions which inspire violent responses.
Given the huge power imbalance, the weaker power is forced to resort to guerilla tactics and suicide bombing.
The problem is not just theirs. It is also ours. Justice demands that we stop laying the blame entirely on them and assume responsibility for our contributions to the conditions that inspire terror. Without attending to the conditions that are conducive to terrorism, it will not go away. Therefore, carpet-bombing mostly civilian populations within which ISIS hides will just exacerbate these conditions.
I agree that insofar as extremist violence is motivated by religion, the religious motivation needs to be resisted. I support the efforts on the parts of Muslim leaders to inoculate young Muslims against the co-option of true Islam by extremists.
But we Westerners have contributed to conditions that motivate extremism. We need to work hard and together with our Muslim brothers and sisters to create instead conditions of justice, equality and peace.
Even if conditions conducive to extremism are rectified, some true believers will probably continue their violent struggle to create the caliphate. But their pool of recruits will have dried up.