Religious justification adds disinhibitory force to legal commands to kill

Evidence

These cases illustrate the dual function of moral justification. Radical ideology engages morality in the service of the terroristic mission but disengages morality in its lethal execution. By selectively excluding classes of vilified people from their definition of humanity, perpetrators can feel proud to maim and kill numerous victims. Domestic terrorists can be Islamists, white supremacists, anarchists, or some other ideological variety. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2253 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Religious terrorists use Hadīth and Qur’anic injunctions to explain and excuse their activities, yet their actions are motivated only by their own malevolent and terrifying intentions (Buerger 2009). Islam opposes all forms of violence, and a closer look at the notion of Jihād shows that it is more than just a righteous battle against unbelievers (Esposito and Ibrahim 2011). Islamic jurists of the past denounce the murder of defenseless, innocent individuals and classify all those who commit such crimes as the worst of the lot (Esposito 2014). — Muhammad Asad Latif, The Identity of Religion Always Comes Up, 19 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Sacralized scriptural precedent is invoked to authorize killing enemy civilians in the IDF — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 893; Religious precedent can reframe hired murder as legitimate practice; New atheist critiques of religion selectively excused US imperial violence (+16 more)

Broader Connections

• Terrorists engage morality to justify their mission while disengaging it for lethal acts #complicates (0.78) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2253
• Scriptural justification for terror misrepresents Islam’s own jurisprudence on violence #complicates (0.72) — Muhammad Asad Latif, The Identity of Religion Always Comes Up, 19