Radicalization and Religion

Sadly, radicalization and religion is a current issue and probably will be for a long time. With radical groups like ISIS around, it's hard not to form harsh opinions surrounding certain religions. And we tend to get these opinions from what the media tells us. If you study the Muslim religion, it's actually a peaceful religion and members don't condone what groups like ISIS do. But the peaceful part of the religion is not what's talked about the most on social media, and it's typically what we don't learn from the religion.

I came across something interesting while reading an article What role does religion play in process of radicalization? The author mentioned "examples of religious terrorism can be found in all religious traditions. No single religious tradition holds a monopoly on violence and all religious traditions can be used to justify acts of destruction and aggression." I think that's what society doesn't understand, even myself, that some religious traditions can used to justify certain acts, but that's only in some countries. Some of America's society has greatly disagreed with the views of Islamic culture and religion.

Right now, we are not seeing a clear view of what other religions do that may seem radical, only what muslims do. And while I agree that radicalization and religion go hand in hand, I think we need to educate ourselves better on religions themselves to learn more about why radicalization happens.