“Study authors suspect the reason for this dramatic difference between the faiths is because a large number of Muslims adhere to a ‘fundamentalist interpretation’ of their faith.”
It’s actually because of the contents of the Islamic scriptures, which contain direct exhortations to do violence against unbelievers. Jewish and Christian scriptures contain some violent passages, but no open-ended, universal command for believers to make war against unbelievers.
“Religious scriptures that legitimize violence cause more believers to support deadly extremist acts,” by Chris Melore, Study Finds, April 23, 2021 (thanks to R):
BERLIN, Germany — Religious texts provide the faithful with the guiding principles to live, what their cultures consider, the best lives. Some of these ancient texts, however, come from times when violence against non-believers was an accepted practice. Although these spiritual scriptures are typically a motivating force for good, a new study finds verses which legitimize violence do cause people to support deadly extremism in today’s society.
From America, to Europe, to regions throughout the world, violent extremist incidents have been a modern plague in recent years. Researchers from the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) note many of these perpetrators quote verses from their religion’s holy scriptures during their deadly crimes.
Abdullah H., a Syrian standing trial for allegedly stabbing a homosexual couple and killing another man in Dresden, Germany last year, reportedly testified that he was inspired to commit the crime by a Quranic sura. Despite incidents like this, study authors say experts continue to doubt that religion can truly motivate people to do violence.
Dangerous influences in scripture?
Researchers Ruud Koopmans and Eylem Kanol gathered 8,000 Christians, Muslims, and Jews to determine whether or not certain scriptures can lead believers to support killing enemies of the faith. Study authors included participants from the U.S., Germany, Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and Kenya in this experiment.
For half of the group, researchers asked if they thought lethal force against their faith’s non-believers was justified without any introduction or setup to the question. For the other half however, the team first presented them with a quote from the Bible, Koran, or Torah. These quotes endorse violence against those who allegedly do not believe in those religions.
Results reveal that referencing scriptural passages which legitimize violence noticeably increases support for deadly acts among all three faiths. The impact also remained constant across all seven countries as well. However, researchers find support of deadly extremism was weaker among Jews and Christians than among Muslims.
Specifically, nine percent of the Christians supported violence without reading any scriptures beforehand. That number rose to 12 percent among Christians seeing such a quote before hearing the question. For Jews, three percent supported violence without reading quotes and seven percent supported it after seeing such a passage.
Among Muslims, the study finds 29 percent supported violence against non-believers without any extra influence. For those referencing a Quranic quote first, 47 percent said they supported violence against religious enemies.
Fundamentalism can lead to rationalizing violence
Study authors suspect the reason for this dramatic difference between the faiths is because a large number of Muslims adhere to a “fundamentalist interpretation” of their faith. Fundamentalists typically view the holy scriptures of their religion literally. They consider the teachings and principles of their faith to still be completely valid in present day society….
The study appears in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
Honest Ali says
Gee, whoda thunk that if God orders the believes to kill, that they would obey God’s command?
Nobody could possibly have predicted this…
Dude says
Are we to believe that just because someone added some verses to a holy book way back suggesting that god wants all believers in the book to murder, rape, rob, and enslave all who do not believe in the book, that we all have to start murdering and raping and robbing and enslaving forever? Some did and continue to this moment.
Sure, it sounds like fun, but still it would be hard to sleep at night (or wake up in the morning).
My first thought was why is this god so impotent that it needs me to do its dirty work? But then the book says that of course god could kill them, but it wants us to show our love for it by doing what we find to be despicable. So needy!
Brando says
Being familiar with Evangelical-Muslim debates,there is one passage Muslims pt to:
THE PARABLE OF THE 10 MINAS
In LUKE where in the end Jesus says:( Luke 19:27):
“And these ENEMIES of mine (of Jesus) who were unwilling for me to rule over them, bring them here and
KILL them in FRONT of ME ( Jesus ).’ ”
Jesus was Literary Genius and told 42 Parables in All.
Parables are meant only to convey a general idea,for example:
The Parable of the LANDOWNER and the TENANTS ( MATT 21:33-46),
where the Son of the Landowner(Jesus) gets killed, and the body is Not Buried,but Thrown Over the Wall,
and there is No Resurrection.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE
The parable of the DISHONEST STEWARD ( LUKE 16:1-15), where Jesus almost seems to admire the Actions of a SCOUNDREL.
Terry Gain says
Brando
Perhaps this might give you a better understanding of your cherry pick.
https://theheraldofgrace.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-mis-interpretation-of-luke-1927.html
Brando says
Read the article in the link and I agree,the Parable of the Minas could just as easily mean any Noble or Rich Aristocrat.
It is a literary device Jesus used for Dramatic Effect,when 90% of people were ILLITERATE. So he used metaphors and Exaggeration.
Parable of the PRODIGAL SON
Jesus used Exaggeration here by making the son take care of PIGS( as a Symbol of how Low he had gone).
TWO SAYINGS OF JESUS (not in the Gospels)
Jesus’ use of Expressive Language and Exaggeration (to get his pt across) can be found in 2 sayings:
“Better to Give than to Receive”(ACTS 20 )
And in a saying cited by various Christian writings of Antiquity,and which scholars say is an AUTHENTIC saying of Jesus transmitted via Oral Tradition:
“I came to SET the WORLD on FIRE, and Iwish it were ALREADY BURNING”.
A saying of Jesus which makes him sound like a LEFTIST
gravenimage says
Brando, the bad steward in the parable is not admired–he is struck down.
And the saying you cite is not just found in oral tradition; it is from Luke 12:49.
“I have come to cast fire (judgment) on the earth; and how I wish that it were already kindled!”
This is not about leftist revolution, but about how many Christians will have to suffer in the world for their love of Christ.
mortimer says
There is a CORELATION between knowledge of Islam and hatred towards kafirs …
The more these Pallies know about Islam, the more they say they hate Israel …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pjFJ0HPt5g
gravenimage says
+1
Michael Copeland says
Are researchers Ruud Koopmans and Eylem Kanol aware, when they consider Koran and Bible passages, that the Koran, all of it, forms part of Islamic law?
One other question:
What is the non-fundamentalist “interpretation” of “Kill them wherever you find them”?
These “fundamentalists … consider the teachings and principles of their faith to still be completely valid in present day society” because that is what they are instructed in the mosques.
mortimer says
The Koran contradicts most of the Bible. Jihadism contradicts the Golden Rule found in the Old and New Testament. The Golden Rule governs how Jews and Christians are supposed to treat ‘the other’.
Islam is EXEMPT from obeying the Golden Rule. There is virtually no limit to the use of violence in Islam so long as it effectively increases Islamic rule.
revereridesagain says
I’d be interested in seeing the quotes; I suspect there’s a difference between a quote in which the god indicates intent to destroy believers — inviting agreement or disagreement? — and one in which the believers themselves are commanded to do the deed. Since Muslims are expected to be blind slaves of Allah, it should not be unexpected that they would be the most eager to kill unbelievers. In my own experience, Jews have generally less likely to express hostility or resentment towards non-believers, let alone be inspired to kill. (Which I suppose could be an issue of good manners as much as anything else.)
Michael Copeland says
These “fundamentalists … consider…..”.
No. They do not consider. They are instructed not to.
“I was not allowed to question any established teaching of Salafi ideology. The Salafists consider any criticism of Islamic texts as redda (apostasy) punishable by death and eternal damnation.”
Tawfik Hamid
https://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Features/The-development-of-a-jihadists-mind
Wellington says
Begin with the entirely justifiable premise that the Koran is a hate manual and the rest about Islam will start to fall into place with relative ease.
Michael Copeland says
If it did not so state
In the Handbook of Hate
It would not be there to preach.
Terry Gain says
Wellington
I prefer to call the Koran a War Manual because it doesn’t simply exhort its adherents to hate but also commands them to wage war on all who refuse to submit to the ideology.
somehistory says
I have read, re-read, and on and on, the Christian Greek Scriptures….the Gospels, the Letters from the different Apostles, …all of the books with commands of Jesus and principles for Christians to follow and obey. I have yet to read any that tells a Christian that he/she could/should kill those who don’t believe.
I would like to know just which verses they showed the group of “Christians” that supposedly support the killing of unbelievers. Sure, those books tell us that our Creator, the Giver of life and the owner of the universe will cast those who are proven to be evil…as Jesus said in Matthew 25, and in the Book of Revelation…into the “lake of fire”, where they will be destroyed. Destroyed by God, not by Christians.
Christians know full well that God and His Son are the Judges of who merits Justice in the form of punishment and do not believe it is okay to kill unbelievers.
This seems to be a “study” to equate Christians and Jews with the mozlums who actively murder those who don’t believe as they do…even other mozlums…just as others in recent times have done.
Jesus never commanded Christians to kill others because others don’t put faith in Him. He may have indicated that self-defense would sometimes be necessary….”sell your garments and buy a sword,” but nowhere did He give a command or even an “okay” to the murder of unbelievers.
somehistory says
As for needing evidence that things written can influence a person, they should just consider advertising. If advertising didn’t work, there wouldn’t be so much money spent on it and no firms devoted solely to writing advertisements.
The filthy book of islam is one, long, nasty, demonic book of writing to cause those who want to kill others, the go-ahead, with a promised reward of a lusty, sex-filled, raper’s paradise for the one who murders for islam. And to any who may not wish to kill, it commands it if that one expects to go to that lust-filled, raper’s paradise.
Rarely says
47% of 1.6 billion is an awful lot of people.
b.a. freeman says
i wonder which “violent” texts from the tanach and the new testament were used on christians and jews? simply saying that the verses command violence without providing evidence of same is a lie. as with any survey of the population, the questions asked, the order in which they are asked, the intonation of voice in which they are asked, and the particular translation from which the texts are drawn all matter hugely, and i see no reference to any of this in the story. it would be an interesting study, but i call bulls**t until i see the answers to at least the questions i propose here.
gravenimage says
Study: Religious scriptures that legitimize violence cause more believers to support terrorism
…………….
This is obvious, and realizing this should be common sense. But in today’s dhimmi society, I am glad to see this study published at all.
RichardL says
graven, they are a Marxist institution and so it is quite a surprise. I once took one of their professors to court, but the Marxist prosecutor protected them from prosecution. I find it a big surprise that there are cracks in the Marxist-islamic alliance
gravenimage says
Thanks for the background, Richard. Still glad to see this.
Walter Sieruk says
Yes, the”scriptures” of the Qu ‘ran do indeed, instruct in the violent ,bloody , deadly destructive jihad terrorism for the advancement ofthe cause of Islam, As found n for example, Surah 2:191. 4:89. 5:33. 9:5,111.,112 ,123. 47:4.
Islam ,truly, is a religion of violence and killing. Likewise it’s also a religion of brutal ,cruel malicious misogynistic oppression of both girls ans women.
JamesC. says
“For half of the group, researchers asked if they thought lethal force against their faith’s non-believers was justified without any introduction or setup to the question. For the other half however, the team first presented them with a quote from the Bible, Koran, or Torah. These quotes endorse violence against those who allegedly do not believe in those religions.”
There is not a single passage in the NT that endorses violence against non-Christians. And the Torah is part of the Bible – not a work distinct from it.
Records of violence, such as those narrated in parts of the OT, are not commands to engage in violence. It is difficult for people today to destroy Jericho and Ai, seeing as Jeticho and Ai no longer exist. And even the most bloodthirsty Christian Fundamentalist cannot slay Canaanites, Hivites, Hittites, Jebusites, Girgashites, Amalekites and Zemarites who are no longer available to be fought (or killed).
Sabri S. says
White supremacy, racism, and the military industrial complex pushed by the US and zionist also legitimizes violence, and has caused infidels to support terrorism way more…count on it and speak the truth. This has caused more innocent lives lost than any western propaganda…
gravenimage says
Sabri S. has characterized defense against Jihad terror as violence before.
And no–“western propaganda” does not cause death. Islam sure does, though…
And by “innocent lives” he just means Jihadist Muslims.
Andrew Blackadder says
So, if I suggest to a muslim fellow that I believe his religion appears to be rather violent and he then turns around and rather violently attacks me for just saying this, then my question to the followers of islam, and white Liberals, is, would you say this muslim fellow is being a good muslim by attacking me?.
Im just asking…
James Lincoln says
Perhaps Sabri S. can weigh in, Andrew…
gravenimage says
Damn good question.
libertyORdeath says
I find it interesting that regardless of the verses being read to them or not, muslims were already 10 times more likely to support such murders than jews and more than 3x as likely as Christians.
Tim Hughes-Williams says
Iskamic fundamentalism starts with a 4 year old being beaten until five years later, he can recite the entire Qua’ran.
This is no basis for life in a free democratic society .
It was a guide for living in the desert 1300 years ago.
Then this child has been brainwashed before he has even had a proper education.
We must stop all overseas aid to any country that teaches or preaches the Qua’ran.and also close the mosques, ban the teaching of Islam anywhere outside the Muslim countries. And deport all the Imams.