When tragedy strikes it is natural to ask, “Why?” Sometimes there are many possible answers, but sometimes there is only one. Today was another of those “Why?” days; members of ISIS carried out another deadly attack, this time in Brussels.
Many are already blaming “the West” and its interventionist policies; they say that our intervention in the Middle East has left a vacuum, and these attacks are primarily political and economically motivated rather than religious. They will say things like: “The majority of Muslims are not violent.” Or, “Islam is a religion of peace.” But this is simply an exercise in missing the point. Regardless of whether or not the majority of Muslims are, for the most part, peaceful, the fact is that these terrorist attacks were carried out by Muslims who claimed to commit these acts for religious reasons. We can either believe the terrorists and their stated motives or not. But if we choose to believe that acts of terror are not really committed for religious reasons, then why do we think that acts of compassion, service, and love are religiously motivated?
The problem is not with Western interventionist policies, or with lack of economic opportunity in Muslim-majority countries. The problem is when humans justify their actions by appealing to divine authority. Good people are going to do good things, and bad people are going to do bad things. But it takes a special ingredient to turn normal, educated, healthy members of society into crazed, violent, suicidal maniacs — that ingredient is religion.
Many on the Left want us to believe the fantasy that says this problem is not religiously motivated, that if we simply stopped intervening militarily and started providing better economic situations for Middle-Eastern youths then the violence would stop. Sam Harris’ response is perfect: “I don’t know how many more engineers and architects need to blow themselves up, fly planes into buildings or saw the heads off of journalists before this fantasy will dissipate.” Or, as Christopher Hitchens once said, “The suicide bombing community is entirely faith-based.” Enough said.
The simple fact of the matter is that our neighbors are being infected with the religion virus. Our highly educated and otherwise normal neighbors are being told that if they strap on an explosive belt and blow up the rest of us, then they will be ushered into paradise and be awarded the highest eternal honors. And the sad thing is that this is not a new scheme; it has been repeated in slightly different ways in almost every other religion. Christianity is certainly not exempt; do I need to mention the Crusades, religious warfare post-Reformation, the Inquisitions, witch hunts, extermination of indigenous peoples, inequality of women, gays, and any other dissenters?
The problem is not the West’s intervention, or lack of education and economic opportunity. No, the problem is with appeal to the divine realm; when one thinks that the gods are on their side, they need no other justification for what they are about to do. And it makes things a lot easier when the religious texts themselves condone or command said actions. The problem is with the appeal to something “higher” than human reason. The problem is with “divinely inspired” texts that were written by people who believed in ghosts, goblins, angels and demons, spells, flying horses, talking snakes, and resurrected bodies. The problem is with people thinking that faith is a virtue — a valid form of epistemology and moral guidance. The problem is religion. And until we are willing to face this problem head-on, seeing it for what it is, we will continue to experience days like today.
One can only hope that we wake up before it is too late.