Kristina Radojević
Belgrade

RELIGION AND TERRORISM

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of relationship between religion and terrorism, relations between religious fundamentalism and extremism, intolerance and terrorism. Basic characteristics of the religious fundamentalism, terrorism and religious terrorist acts are given. Also, the difference between peacemaking believers and those who are prone to violence is mentioned. It is explained why and how those differences are made. Main questions that are the subject of this essay are: How religion can provoke violence? Why and under which circumstances religious fundamentalism leads to terrorism? The increase of totalitarian pretensions of fundamentalist ideologies, within any religion, together with the use of global communications, transport and modern technology, indicates that the issue of religious fundamentalism deserves more attention. Although the fundamentalism isn't new, nor limited to one culture, global communication and recent political events showed that there are different kinds of Christianity and Islam. That means that within certain religions there are fragmentations which can lead to catastrophic consequences. Having in mind that relations among fundamentalism, extremism and terrorism are usually observed, commonly in regard to the Islamic fundamentalism, there is a need to design a model which could be used for predictions, in the sense of political activities which would be used as counter terrorism acts. This paper represents a small step towards that goal.

Key words: religion, religious fundamentalism, extremism, terrorism, religious terrorism.