*Blink* BlinkBlink* In which the prevaling narrative is upended...at least in Britain.

[unusualmusic_lj_archive]

Britain's MI5 recently conducted an extensive review of hundreds of case studies in order to attempt to create a profile of would-be terrorists (via Calpundit 2.0, not to be confused with the 3.0 model). While MI5 was unable to establish a holistic profile, they were able to dispel certain myths and shoot down other would-be indicators of a propensity to engage in terrorist acts. One such counterintuitive conclusion is as follows:

....[The British terrorirsts] are mostly British nationals, not illegal immigrants and, far from being Islamist fundamentalists, most are religious novices. Nor, the analysis says, are they "mad and bad". [...]
The security service also plays down the importance of radical extremist clerics, saying their influence in radicalising British terrorists has moved into the background in recent years.
....Far from being religious zealots, a large number of those involved in terrorism do not practise their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and could actually be regarded as religious novices. Very few have been brought up in strongly religious households, and there is a higher than average proportion of converts. Some are involved in drug-taking, drinking alcohol and visiting prostitutes. MI5 says there is evidence that a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation.

These findings are entirely consistent with the scholarship of Marc Sageman, especially as expressed in his most recent work, Leaderless Jihad [highly, highly recommended]. According to Sageman's more comprehensive analysis of available case studies (he does not limit his review to Britain for example), the ignorance of Islam, and lack of formal religious training, are prevalent traits found in many who populate the latest wave of terrorists.
While it's popular mythology to imagine radical Imams presiding over maddrassas where they indoctrinate pupils with violent messages, as students nod along in a trance-like brainwashed stupor. Reality, however, does not comport with the sensational script. As Sageman points out, only about 10% of the sample attended radical maddrassas (and much of that 10% attended one particular maddrassa in Indonesia whose unique characteristics made it every bit the outlier). On the contrary, receiving formal, religious training tends to innoculate students from pursuing terrorism or other radical-tinged violence (a conclusion reached by the MI5 study as well).
Further, many of the latest wave of terrorists don't read or speak Arabic, and fewer still (even those with the requisite language skills) actually read the Koran. In fact, one of the methods that jailers use to rehabilitate captured terrorists is to provide them with copies of the Koran itself - which often leads to realizations of past wrongdoing as informed by Islamic scripture.

MORE

And there goes the rationale for a lot of political decisions and so called new atheist arguments. Whoops!


EDIT:It appears that in Britain, at least, fundamentalist Islam doesn't necessarily lead to terrorism, which means that one of the central arguments of the so-called "new atheists" is hereby complicated, if not outright invalidated. One of the problems a lot of people have with hardline rhetoric against religion is that it too often descends into illogic and lack of evidence in order to advance the argument that religion is an overall, faceless evil. I do agree that for me, religion is simply not sensible. But many comments on Islam in particular go on to practically demonize the religion, blaming it for everything like cultural practices of genital mutilation, to completely misunderstanding the fact that interlocking causes such as historical and continuing oppression, power fights among political factions, economic hardships and various political realities all combine to produce the dysfunctional results that can be seen in many Middle-Eastern countries. To make matters worse, so many people seem to think that Islam: Muslim as Muslim:Islam. This, of course, is not so. The largest Muslim population are found in Indonesia and Malaysian, not in the Middle East. Many Arabs are actually Christian, some are even Jewish. Certain harmful assumptions are being made, and they hurt the atheist effort to attack the actual dangers of fundamentalist religion. It would be nice if the more prominent soapbox atheists among us would apply our vaunted logic and ability and flexibility to go where the evidence leads us, and thereby refrain from alienating so many potential people who may want to have common cause with us, but who are insulted by demeaning and untrue representations of themselves and their cultures.

Comments

[alixkat.livejournal.com]

Their conclusions don't really surprise me. Hasn't the argument long been that Britain's terrorists would be home grown? The same is true in the United States. In terms of fundamentalisms and radical actions, I have found that the very worst of the breed are reverts, not people who are born Muslim/Christian/Jewish, whatever...

Did we really need MI-5 to commission a study on this crap? Whatever happened to just going down to SOAS and knocking on faculty member's doors?

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

Whatever makes you think that people pay attention to academics nowadays? If it conflicts with political and economic decisions?

[alixkat.livejournal.com]

This is true. Academics really aren't the Spooks we used to be... they leave that sort of thing up to the Cheney's and um, other people...

*headoven*

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

Do MI5 have too much time on their hands?

I could have told them this.

[alixkat.livejournal.com]

Do MI5 have too much time on their hands?

Yes, they're too busy consulting for the next season of Spooks. Duh.

[oh-annalouise.livejournal.com]

If you post this in any of the lj atheist communities I will give you a million billion dollars.
"You mean our all our racist mutterings where all based on myths as irrational as the Virgin birth???" *stupid atheist heads exploding

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

Done

With commentary

[oh-annalouise.livejournal.com]

You have testicles of unobtainium, my friend.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

That's a link to edit the entry, not to view the entry.

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

Fixed

[hari-mirchi.livejournal.com]

I love you

[skywardprodigal.livejournal.com]

It would be nice if the more prominent soapbox atheists among us would apply our vaunted logic and ability and flexibility to go where the evidence leads us, and thereby refrain from alienating so many potential people who may want to have common cause with us, but who are insulted by demeaning and untrue representations of themselves and their cultures.

That would be nice.

[mothwentbad.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I've been kinda busy with the new semester, and I haven't been thinking about the "clash of civilizations" thing much the last few months. I don't think I'm going to weigh in on this one, but it's good to see you shaking things up a little, even if I don't know what to make of things yet. Maybe you'll post more later? atheism has gotten a little lolcatty lately.

[buria-q.livejournal.com]

i agree w Oh_annalouise. i didn't have the stomach to go through all the comments...what would these people do if they took a stroll through Queens? Cry? Wet themselves?