Religious Extremist Movement



Religious Extremist Movement

Introduction

Religious extremism refers to either an institution or a process that is destructive in its very nature, (Iannaccone, 2006). The paper focuses on various religious extremist groups that exist within Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Religious extremist organizations that exist today, didn't surface all of a sudden, however they developed gradually and became a source of ultimate threat for the entire mankind. Over the years, these religious extremist groups have developed further and have strong links with various political and military personnel. Most of the religious extremist groups are produced as a result of religious traditions that strongly believe that their value system and faith is much superior to that of other religions,(Ranstorp, 1996). It is this that motivates them and gives them a feeling of pride in what they do. However, what they do is nothing but pure terrorism. Their actions cause bloodshed and bring about death and destruction to the innocent people.

Discussion

Part 1

Christian terrorism is mostly done by those Christians who strongly believe that they are doing what they do, in accordance to what's in the Bible. They claim Christian goals and motivations for their terrorist actions. Such Christian groups cite the old and new testaments for justifying their violent acts. However, some of these do this because they believe that it is the only way to establish the theocracy of Christianity.

The religious crusades during the medieval times were extremely violent in terms of military ambush against the Jews, Muslims and various different sects of Christianity. The Protestant and Christians, during the seventeen century shed each other's blood. These battles displayed brutality to its extremist extent. Moreover, in today's world, the Christian religious extremist groups are involved in fighting in many countries. They have gone as far as bombing clinics meant for abortion and various other acts of violence. In doing so, they hold a strong believe that they are right, and violence is the only way to impose their believes on the others.

In Britain, during the early years of the modern period, there were many religious conflicts that resulted from the introduction and reformation of the Protestant Churches. In the United States of America, there is Ku Klux Clan which believes in restoring the glory of the Protestant Christians. In doing so, this organization wants to do it by hook or crook. It is against all the ethnic groups that are in minority. It is involved in the killings of innocent African Americans, Jews and Catholic Christians. It is also involved in serious activities such as lynching of those they hate. They hold an opinion that the Christianity supremacy is under attack. The 'army of God' is responsible for destroying the abortion clinics and killing doctors. Christian extremist group, named 'concerned Christians' were deported from Israel as they were suspected of having planned to launch attacks on their Holy sites.

In Far East India, there is an organization, NLFT (National Liberation Front of Tripura) that forcibly converts people to their ...