“The poverty, lack of employment opportunities and corruption makes many susceptible to the message of radical Islam, which promises a new political order free from corruption,” Open Doors said.
The idea that poverty causes terrorism is just a call for Western nations to write more checks to governments of Muslim countries. It’s also demonstrably false. The New York Times reported that “not long after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001…Alan B. Krueger, the Princeton economist, tested the widespread assumption that poverty was a key factor in the making of a terrorist. Mr. Krueger’s analysis of economic figures, polls, and data on suicide bombers and hate groups found no link between economic distress and terrorism.”
CNS News noted in September 2013 that “according to a Rand Corporation report on counterterrorism, prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2009, ‘Terrorists are not particularly impoverished, uneducated, or afflicted by mental disease. Demographically, their most important characteristic is normalcy (within their environment). Terrorist leaders actually tend to come from relatively privileged backgrounds.’ One of the authors of the RAND report, Darcy Noricks, also found that according to a number of academic studies, ‘Terrorists turn out to be more rather than less educated than the general population.’”
“Persecution of Christians intensifying across the Sahel,” Christian Today, July 13, 2019:
Christians across the Sahel in northern Africa have been left “shocked” by the speed with which violent extremism has spread across the region.
Homes and livelihoods are being wiped out at the hands of Islamic extremists operating in the region, a “faultline” between the largely Muslim north of the continent and the more Christian south, says Open Doors.
The charity, which supports persecuted Christians, said that poverty, unemployment, corruption and a “lack of governance” are creating a “toxic mix” that is combining with rising Islamic extremism to cause havoc for Christians.
Close to 30 violent Islamist groups are active in the area, with some of the extremists having links to international terrorist networks like the so-called Islamic State and al-Qaeda.
Salafi and Wahhabi Islam are also gaining in prominence with the help of missionaries and NGOs funded by countries like Saudi Arabia, the organisation reports.
Members of the Islamic State pushed out of the Middle East are finding a new home in the Sahel region and are infiltrating splinter groups with their ideology.
One such group is the Islamic State West Africa Province, an offshoot of terrorist organisation Boko Haram, which has enslaved Christian women and girls.
In addition to Christians, these extremist groups are targeting Muslims who adhere to moderate Islam.
“The poverty, lack of employment opportunities and corruption makes many susceptible to the message of radical Islam, which promises a new political order free from corruption,” Open Doors said….