Mostly, if we talk about terrorism, Islam has that association with it. I don't know why. Maybe because of people that so-called Muslim rebel in a terrorist way. Why? There must be a reason. Here, I am not going to talk about why is that and how is that... But discuss in a way how religion and terrorism can be associated with each other. I am going to share my perspective about deviance and crime of terrorism that I had actually done some writing when I got my assessment in my deviance and criminology class. Here it is ......
Deviance is defined as the behavior which does not comply with the dominant norms of a specific society. It is also an action that violates social norms whereby norms is a behavioral code that guides people into actions and self-presentations conforming to social acceptability. Violating others for own benefit is the example of deviance act. However, terrorism violence that leads to murder is defined as a crime that breaks a law, which is a norm, stipulated and enforced by government bodies. Religion and belief have an important role to play in modern societies for the individual and for society as a whole. The recourse to terrorism under the name of religion does not show the conflict of cultures, but because of based ignorance. All religions preach tolerance and respect for the inherent humanity of all persons, and violence or terrorism is incompatible with the authentic spirit of religion. Terrorism and extremism destroy the rule of human rights, law, fundamental freedoms and democracy which threaten peace and security.
In the case that I have chosen which the title of the news is “Abbott announces Australian aircraft will start the Iraq mission today” (Nicolette, 2014)(refer to the reference file) can be explained that the Australian government are going to have a mission to fight with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS). The hidden meaning of this news article is that ISIL, has its own activity that made the whole world feel in terror on their act in the organization. ISIL, is a Sunni jihad group active in Iraq and Syria while its self-proclaimed status as caliphate which aim to bring the Muslim-inhabited regions of the world under its political control. This organization actually has been recognized for a long time by the United Nation (United Nation Security Council, 2014) as a terrorist group and been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by some countries. Regardless the conspiracy theories that people made for this organization, people belief that ISIL is a Sunni extremist group. It follows an extremes anti-Western interpretation of Islam, promotes religious violence and regards who do not agree with its interpretation as infidels or apostates (Australian National Government, 2014). Basically, the idea of this organization is to force the Muslim to do the right way of practicing Islam. However, by forcing them, they tend to use religion to violate the people. A way in which knowledge of religion links with crime and deviance is the idea to take religion out of something or to transfer the ownership or control something from a religious organization in the state; it is causing more social disorganization and ultimately more crime. Functionalists believe that religion is a conservative force which maintains social order and thus prevents crime. Religion can be function as to bind the society together. According to Emile Durkheim (1995), he believed that the role of religion is to socialize society’s members into value consensus by offering them a shared set of values and encouraging collective worship. Functionalists thus see religion as maintaining social solidarity and, as such, secularization results in more social upheaval and crime.
Yet, religion can bring up to open conflict. For instance, where the strong believers may be careless of their own earthly lives and strive for the hereafter life through violent actions such as in the ISIL case. In normative theory, it states that there is something that motivates individuals or groups to violate generally agreed upon social norms and a part from maintaining social order, Emile Durkheim (1893) state in his study of the normal and the pathologic, that crime is normal because a society exempt from it is utterly impossible. Crime is necessary which it is bound up with the fundamental conditions of all social life, which also a good thing because these conditions of which it is a part are themselves indispensable to the normal evolution of morality and low. In addition, it has been suggested that secularization is not even occurring. Some people are still religious but do not attend to the mosque or church. There are Muslims who claim to be religious, but try to impose their view in others force or violence. They forget that Islamic teaching advocates the fundamental principal of respect for individual freedom of conscience and belief. In the Merton’s Anomie Theory ("Crime and Anomie", 1938), terrorism can be considered as retreatists and rebellion. They use non-approved means to achieve goals and rejects socially approved norms of success and the individual rejects the culture in term of values, goals and norms. Rebellion occurs when an individual rejects both culturally defined goals and means and substitute’s new goals and means. For example, rebels may use social or political activism to replace the goal of personal wealth with the goal of social justice and equality. Quite clearly if secularization is not occurring, then it cannot be used as an explanation for the rise in crime rates. In the context of this issue, ISIL is a part of an organization that comes to a violation with murdering people in massive number. Clearly, in society murder is a crime. However, there is a very wide set of circumstances under which killing is permitted. What one society considers being murder, another will consider being justifiable homicide. Based on Barak (1998) statement, what counts as crime varies depending on whom defining it. “There are no purely objective definitions” (as cited in Henry, 2009). All definitions are value laden and biased to some degree. For example, a guy got arrested for smoking marijuana. Smoking is considered a deviance, but smoking an illegal substance, it considers a crime. The same goes to the ISIS case, where ISIS is practicing Islam, but the Australian government needs to stop their activity because their act of practicing Islam involve in violation of the people.
This explains the labeling theory by Howard, (1963) where social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders. The deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an offender. To emphasis more about the news, the people that label ISIS act’s as a crime is against them and wanting to prevent them from doing what they are doing. People that label ISIL activity as an act that are not socially accepted felt that it is a kind of religious terrorism. It is a terrorism carried out based on motivations and goals that have a predominantly religious character or influence. Some might think those terrorism killers are trying to send a message behind their act as to warn society about impending doom. Andrew Silke (2008), says that jihad is a holy war which jihad means “struggle” and they have two forms of jihads. The greater jihad and the lesser jihad. The greater jihad refers to a Muslim’s personal and nonviolent phenomenon. The lesser jihad refers to violent struggle on behalf of Islam. Jihadists are those who struggle and refer to individual who have volunteered to fight in the lesser jihad. Even to the Muslims that felt that ISIL acts are wrong. Muslims opinion on the subject of attacks civilians by Islamist groups varies. Most Muslims also consider these acts to be an egregious violation of Islam’s law. Although the murder of Muslims is always forbidden in Islam, the murdered of non-Muslim is also prohibited in certain circumstances. ISIL jihadists commit violence against fellow Muslim in violation of Sharia. They routinely commit war crimes and engage in torture in violation of international law and they also issue threats to Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities. ISIL is especially dangerous because, they also have sufficient material assets to support a standing military force and possess the will to use a weapon of mass destruction. Claiming to uphold Allah’s law, ISIL in fact routinely violate Sharia, which forbids a Muslim from killing another Muslim unless certain conditions are met. ISIL routinely kills Muslim and non-Muslims alike, even when they are not fighting against ISIL. Such killings constitute violations of Islamic law and morality as well as war crimes. Terrorism in the name of religion has become the predominant model for political violence in the modern world. Some believe that it is because of the extremist behavior which is becoming a central issue for the global community. Terrorism carried out in the name of the faith has long been a feature of human affairs. The histories of people and civilization are full with examples of extremist true belief who engage in violence to promote their belief system. Lombroso (1968) assert in his theory that, crimes of violence are not caused by organic factors but stem from emotion. Some religious terrorist is inspired by defensive motives, others seek to ensure the predominance of their faith, and others are motivated by an aggressive combination of these tendencies. It can be genocidal, communal or revolutionary.
In the case that I have chosen which the title of the news is “Abbott announces Australian aircraft will start the Iraq mission today” (Nicolette, 2014)(refer to the reference file) can be explained that the Australian government are going to have a mission to fight with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS). The hidden meaning of this news article is that ISIL, has its own activity that made the whole world feel in terror on their act in the organization. ISIL, is a Sunni jihad group active in Iraq and Syria while its self-proclaimed status as caliphate which aim to bring the Muslim-inhabited regions of the world under its political control. This organization actually has been recognized for a long time by the United Nation (United Nation Security Council, 2014) as a terrorist group and been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by some countries. Regardless the conspiracy theories that people made for this organization, people belief that ISIL is a Sunni extremist group. It follows an extremes anti-Western interpretation of Islam, promotes religious violence and regards who do not agree with its interpretation as infidels or apostates (Australian National Government, 2014). Basically, the idea of this organization is to force the Muslim to do the right way of practicing Islam. However, by forcing them, they tend to use religion to violate the people. A way in which knowledge of religion links with crime and deviance is the idea to take religion out of something or to transfer the ownership or control something from a religious organization in the state; it is causing more social disorganization and ultimately more crime. Functionalists believe that religion is a conservative force which maintains social order and thus prevents crime. Religion can be function as to bind the society together. According to Emile Durkheim (1995), he believed that the role of religion is to socialize society’s members into value consensus by offering them a shared set of values and encouraging collective worship. Functionalists thus see religion as maintaining social solidarity and, as such, secularization results in more social upheaval and crime.
Yet, religion can bring up to open conflict. For instance, where the strong believers may be careless of their own earthly lives and strive for the hereafter life through violent actions such as in the ISIL case. In normative theory, it states that there is something that motivates individuals or groups to violate generally agreed upon social norms and a part from maintaining social order, Emile Durkheim (1893) state in his study of the normal and the pathologic, that crime is normal because a society exempt from it is utterly impossible. Crime is necessary which it is bound up with the fundamental conditions of all social life, which also a good thing because these conditions of which it is a part are themselves indispensable to the normal evolution of morality and low. In addition, it has been suggested that secularization is not even occurring. Some people are still religious but do not attend to the mosque or church. There are Muslims who claim to be religious, but try to impose their view in others force or violence. They forget that Islamic teaching advocates the fundamental principal of respect for individual freedom of conscience and belief. In the Merton’s Anomie Theory ("Crime and Anomie", 1938), terrorism can be considered as retreatists and rebellion. They use non-approved means to achieve goals and rejects socially approved norms of success and the individual rejects the culture in term of values, goals and norms. Rebellion occurs when an individual rejects both culturally defined goals and means and substitute’s new goals and means. For example, rebels may use social or political activism to replace the goal of personal wealth with the goal of social justice and equality. Quite clearly if secularization is not occurring, then it cannot be used as an explanation for the rise in crime rates. In the context of this issue, ISIL is a part of an organization that comes to a violation with murdering people in massive number. Clearly, in society murder is a crime. However, there is a very wide set of circumstances under which killing is permitted. What one society considers being murder, another will consider being justifiable homicide. Based on Barak (1998) statement, what counts as crime varies depending on whom defining it. “There are no purely objective definitions” (as cited in Henry, 2009). All definitions are value laden and biased to some degree. For example, a guy got arrested for smoking marijuana. Smoking is considered a deviance, but smoking an illegal substance, it considers a crime. The same goes to the ISIS case, where ISIS is practicing Islam, but the Australian government needs to stop their activity because their act of practicing Islam involve in violation of the people.
This explains the labeling theory by Howard, (1963) where social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders. The deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an offender. To emphasis more about the news, the people that label ISIS act’s as a crime is against them and wanting to prevent them from doing what they are doing. People that label ISIL activity as an act that are not socially accepted felt that it is a kind of religious terrorism. It is a terrorism carried out based on motivations and goals that have a predominantly religious character or influence. Some might think those terrorism killers are trying to send a message behind their act as to warn society about impending doom. Andrew Silke (2008), says that jihad is a holy war which jihad means “struggle” and they have two forms of jihads. The greater jihad and the lesser jihad. The greater jihad refers to a Muslim’s personal and nonviolent phenomenon. The lesser jihad refers to violent struggle on behalf of Islam. Jihadists are those who struggle and refer to individual who have volunteered to fight in the lesser jihad. Even to the Muslims that felt that ISIL acts are wrong. Muslims opinion on the subject of attacks civilians by Islamist groups varies. Most Muslims also consider these acts to be an egregious violation of Islam’s law. Although the murder of Muslims is always forbidden in Islam, the murdered of non-Muslim is also prohibited in certain circumstances. ISIL jihadists commit violence against fellow Muslim in violation of Sharia. They routinely commit war crimes and engage in torture in violation of international law and they also issue threats to Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities. ISIL is especially dangerous because, they also have sufficient material assets to support a standing military force and possess the will to use a weapon of mass destruction. Claiming to uphold Allah’s law, ISIL in fact routinely violate Sharia, which forbids a Muslim from killing another Muslim unless certain conditions are met. ISIL routinely kills Muslim and non-Muslims alike, even when they are not fighting against ISIL. Such killings constitute violations of Islamic law and morality as well as war crimes. Terrorism in the name of religion has become the predominant model for political violence in the modern world. Some believe that it is because of the extremist behavior which is becoming a central issue for the global community. Terrorism carried out in the name of the faith has long been a feature of human affairs. The histories of people and civilization are full with examples of extremist true belief who engage in violence to promote their belief system. Lombroso (1968) assert in his theory that, crimes of violence are not caused by organic factors but stem from emotion. Some religious terrorist is inspired by defensive motives, others seek to ensure the predominance of their faith, and others are motivated by an aggressive combination of these tendencies. It can be genocidal, communal or revolutionary.
People cannot put the blame on religion. The cause of terror and violence that done by ISIL lies somewhere within their inner nature. Religion terrorism is an example of criminal acts and evil behavior condemned by a particular religion. For example, Islam and terrorism are contradictory terms. Islam condemns and rejects all forms of terror, killing without due process of law, corruption, and oppression. ISIL makes most of the Muslims felt ashamed when other Muslims are breaking the law of Islam. Sometimes, the religion of Islam is held responsible for the acts of a handful of Muslims who are associated with acts of destruction and terror. Islam, which means peace, cannot encourage its believers to work for death and destruction. The efforts to blame Islam for terrorism are not only baseless, but are unmistakably malicious. I can assume that all these appalling wars and quarrels come from and it happened because they want it in their own way which what they want is not theirs and will risk violence to get their hands on it. In effect, blaming terror and violence on religion, as many today are too eager to do, is both dangerously reductive and shirks responsibility for the world. Religion was made by God originally intended for humanity where all religion have both peaceful and violent messages from which believers can choose. Religious terrorist and violent extremist share the decision to interpret religion to justify violence, whether they are, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish or Sikh. In the end, Islam, like many religious traditions, stresses charity, mercy and compassion which does not promote any violence act as ISIL does.
So, regarding the case study on the ISIL violence can be quite a critical to be discussed as religion can be pretty sensitive and controversy to argue with but I hope that this case of terrorism will stop so that any religion will not be blamed for the act of the believer and does not trigger any war between countries in the future.
So, regarding the case study on the ISIL violence can be quite a critical to be discussed as religion can be pretty sensitive and controversy to argue with but I hope that this case of terrorism will stop so that any religion will not be blamed for the act of the believer and does not trigger any war between countries in the future.
As the guidance in writing this perspective of mine, I have referred to some of the people's pass studied. So click download file to refer some reference and bibliography. :)