Moral authorities bend religious norms to serve effective violent means

Evidence

It is interesting that he sanctified suicide bombing even though Islam morally and legally forbids suicide. The contradiction probably has more to do with the relative effectiveness of different pernicious means than with inherent theological nuance. Being a moral authority is not an easy job, especially when one must justify violent means that prove effective in advancing one’s cause. Moral compromises create logical paradoxes. Hezbollah militants eventually stopped taking hostages because they came to regard it as harmful to their cause, tarnishing the image of Islam with few benefits to show for it. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2242

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the chapter’s core moral-disengagement theme: sanctifying means through euphemistic/labeling shifts evades self-censure; parallels Cooper’s analysis of how social conservatism licenses harmful policy via moral reframing.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2242