Eschatology and Extremism
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Eschatology and extremism: How apocalyptic beliefs relate to extremism and terrorism
Abstract
This paper adds to the literature that explores links between religiosity and terrorism.
It considers a part of religious faith, namely the eschatological hope in an apocalyptic final
victory over evil, as playing a key role in whether the religiosity of an adherent
tends to fuel or extinguish violent tendencies. It is the view of this author, that individuals whom perceive themselves as marginalized by the larger social system (political, economic, or cultural), whether or not such perception is reality, are more likely to adopt an eschatological view that justifies, or rationalizes, even violent resistance to perceived injustice. Religion provides the narrative to give meaning to life struggles in the context of a much larger struggle, one that is more important than any secular questions of justice or right. In those persons that are both marginalized and who have a tendency to see themselves as warriors for truth and right in a world engulfed in an ultimate battle between forces of good and evil, is the tendency to extremism and even terrorism against even their own societies. This paper will use the “Abrahamic” faiths of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam to constrain its overall scope, to incorporate it into the reads of the first part of the semester, and because it provides some insight into the traditions and the violent manifestations that have come out of the traditions, that many of us were born in.
Introduction
The link between religious fervor and violence is a subject of a great deal of study and concern. The question of whether or not religiosity tends to increase or decrease overall violence is the wrong question. A better question is why religion sometimes seems linked to violence, even terrorism, and at others times, it seems unrelated if not inversely related to such violence. Our readings from the first part of the semester included an analysis of religious traditions within Christianity, Judaism, and Islam and the links to extremism. This paper will continue the study of these three major world religions and examine what is common between adherents in each religion when religious fervor and terrorism converge. Because of the power of religion to move and motivate adherents, it is critical to truly understand the conditions when religion converges with violence and when religion is more benign and beneficial to the societies of which the adherents of such religion are a part of. It is the theory of this paper, that eschatological views will be a key determinant in whether or not adherents to Christianity, Judaism or Islam will be extreme in their thinking and prone to violence, or whether they will be more likely to be peaceful members of civil society. The paper will also consider the role of marginalization, real or perceived, in the context of eschatology.
Why is eschatology so important in the Abrahamic faiths? The answer, at least in part, lies in the narrativea story being fulfilled through time, of which human beings are a part of. This narrative, because it is written by God and superimposed by the supernatural on the natural, is incredibly important because this means that the individual is part of something larger. This life and actions that are part of this life are given meaning and purpose; there is right and wrong that is absolute, there is justice that is absolute; there is a standard that is independent of the will of the world created by humans. How one spends his or her life matters and means a great deal (Cahill, 1999). This is sharp distinction to this world, where our highest aspirations, hopes and dreams often are never realized, or at least not fully. Even the most worthy of undertakings, at times, are doomed to fail. What is worse, at times at least, evil and selfish men and women seem to succeed as the noble fail. The prevalence of imperfection, even evil, threatens despair, but despair deprives life of its ambition and its potency. Eschatology puts an otherwise abysmal present against a glorious future where the wrongs will be made right, where justice reigns, and the fullness of the human spirit can thrive. The eschatological view in Islamic, Christian and Judaic traditions is that God literally reigns in the world and the people of God share in the glory and purpose of the New World.
The ultimate end-state is most clearly communicated and most cogent in the form of eschatology that is apocalyptic. This belief system posits dualities that are central to the past, present and the future. There is the faithful follower and the infidel, there is this life and the afterlife, there is the Spirit and the flesh, there is God and the Devil, right and wrong and so on. This is the eschatological view that is further grounded in the sacred texts of the Abrahamic faiths. It is a variant of this eschatological worldview that posits human actions as playing a part in ushering in the new era, which can rationalize even extreme violence.
This variant of eschatological thinking is particularly alluring in that it understandably converges with a desire to redress historic injustices and that it justifies present suffering. It fuels the willingness to resist and hold out beyond the wrongs of this world and all its pain, because it is right and right is rewarded in the end. Hope in the future, however, becomes, as a practical manner, despair in the present. Only absolute truth can lift humanity out, in the end, because this world is full of lies and deception. Only those who follow the right path will be rewarded in the end, because God rewards his true followers. Only those willing to forsake the world and follow God, will be a true follower. All in all, the literal interpretation of the sacred scriptures promotes an absolutist, exclusivist, and otherworldly view of life and right. This type of eschatology can promote violence in general, even terrorism.
It is the union of the apocalyptic variant envisioning human effort to usher in the end times, with feelings of marginalization or alienation that converges in person or group to act now and to act zealously, even recklessly as there is the feeling that there is little to lose and everything to be gained. A mediocre, if not meaningless, life is the cost of inaction. In the case of Jewish apocalyptic thinking, there were those who thought that their actions could change the course of history and that the coming of the Messiah was being hindered by the current state