Three Theories of Religious Activism and Violence: Social Movements, Fundamentalists, and Apocalyptic Warriors
Abstract
Numerous scholars have investigated religiously motivated violence, particularly in
the wake of September 11, including discussions on the role of modernity in
triggering religious violence, the increasing presence of religion in politics, the
violence-prone nature of certain religions, and religion’s correlation with ethnicity
and other conflict-intensifying variables. However, religious activism and violence
are not new phenomena. Few theories have been advanced that move across time
and space and, broadly, seek to explain the conditions under which religion becomes
involved in activism and violence. This article argues that three broad causal arguments
for religious activism—social movements, fundamentalism, and apocalyptic
warriors—help explain the conditions under which religiously motivated violence
occurs across time and space. These three causal arguments offer a spectrum of
goals within religious activism, ranging from challenging social practices and
government policies, to defending specific interpretations and practices of the faith,
to hastening the apocalypse. Furthermore, each of these theories proposes
different ways that religion becomes involved in social, political, and religious
activism and the conditions under which groups use violence to further their goals.
The article concludes by suggesting countermeasures for each type of religious
activism.
Description
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2014.918879
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.Collections
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