According to archeology and ethnography

In small scale societies

No consistent role for religion

Instead:

A range of material factors

Competition for scarce resources

Religion’s influence

May lead people to join a cause or reinforce their resolve

Conclusion by author of text:

There is nothing intrinsic to religion that predisposes people toward, or away from, violence or war.

"Most of the time, people do not fight others on grounds of religious difference."

Religious phenomena and violence are most linked in…

Small-scale movements often called "cults"

Among new religious movements in the last decade, violent occurrences are rare and publicity is media driven

Politically active forms of Islam

What is a sect?

Usually a spin-off from a religious organization such as church, mosque, etc.

Protests a lack of purity

Understands that they are the "elect"

Example: Aum Shinrikyo (later, a cult)

Begins as a sect

Resembled other Japanese New Religions

Meditation

Ascetic practices

Broke off from a religion called Agonshu

Practiced yoga, meditation and sought special psychic powers, taught the world threatened by environmental or nuclear disaster; Buddhism/Tibetan Buddhism

Becomes a cult

What is a cult?

Formed in protest to religious and societal norms

Looks for new revelation

Centers around a charismatic leader

Draw members from urban areas

Examples: Aum Shinrikyo, Order of the Solar Temple

As a cult

New Revelation

Asahara Shoko declares himself The Buddha, The Christ; Lord over life and death

Preaches a coming conflict between good and evil

Must purify the world to avoid conflict

Signs of trouble coming

Break off ties to families and friends

Promise of superhuman powers

Deaths

Leader experiences failure and becomes violent

Blames the world

Beats wife and others into submission

Member dies in extreme practice

Orders the killing of a member who wishes to defect

Violence escalates; possibly a many as 50 killed

Loses in a political bid for power

Stockpiling of weapons

Sarin gas attack in Tokyo subway in 1994

Leader takes the position of "the destroyer"

Leader distorts the doctrine of "phowa"

Misinterpretation of a Tibetan point of view of conscious dying through proper meditation

Murder certain individuals

Legitimated by a ritual

Oath required

Belgian homeopathic doctor, Luc Joret

Frenchman Joseph Di Mambro

Di Mambro knew the need for a charismatic leader and recruited Luc Joret (third reincarnation of Jesus Christ)

The message: A vital essence in ourselves is troubled when we feel sick

The same essence in our environment is troubled

Ecological disaster pending

Need to recruit people strong enough to survive

Later development

Life here is an illusion; need to be reborn on another planet

The end was near; the earth to end in fire

Stockpiled weapons

Technological "special effects"

Murder of defecting members

Di Mambro’s son exposes father

Di Mambro and Joret disagree over direction

Leader’s agree on need to "transit"

Violence ensues

Group deaths: shot, stabbed, poisoned

No one ever identified and prosecuted for the murders

A merciful exception

Three children

Historical context

Di Mambro…successor to the medieval Knights Templar

Warriors order approved by the Pope to protect Jerusalem

Financial success led to suspicion and 54 knights were burned at the stake for heresy

Ideas about a "Solar Christ" and existence of "Ascended Masters"

Signs of trouble

Order demands donation of money from members

High degree of control over members’ lives

Rearranging marriages to produce "cosmic children"

Technologically sophisticated image projections to mislead

Paranoia

What stands out as signs of coming trouble in cults/sects?

Summary

Combination of perceived threats and fears that leaders were losing their hold on followers

Perceived external threat

Apocalyptic expectations

Other

Because the Qur’an is the central authority for Islam

And, because "jihad", or holy war is sanctioned in the Qur’an

Therefore, how jihad is interpreted is of the essence

 

Various interpretations of the Qur’an regarding jihad

In the Past

1. Legitimates war only if attacked

2. Legitimates war to increase the size of the umma

Modern Period

Nineteenth century onward

Normal state of relations among nations is peace

Umma enlarged only through study, reflection and conviction…"There is no compulsion in matters of religion."

The opposed view: Armed aggression is legitimate if it is to oppose and correct the unbeliever

Example: Aggression against the Egyptian government

At issue: Who is interpreting the Qur’an?

The jurists

Public intellectuals

The Jurist

"…differences in interpretation of the Qur’an and the hadith either are planned by God, or are forgiven by Him."

No single correct Islamic position

The Public Intellectual

The "retreat to literalism"

Claim to know what "Islam really says."

Citing scripture out of historical context

Key author as inspiration to extremist groups

Sayyid Qutb

An Islamic reformer in the 1930’s

Became an extremist in the 1950’s

Following education in United States 1948-50

Imprisonment as a dissident in Egypt following Nasser's death 1954-1964

Summary

Violence in politically active Islam is the result of:

1. A history of jihad in a number of historical contexts

2. Goals for establishing an Islamic state

3. Rising external resistance to and rejection of these goals by mainstream Muslim populations; modernization; globalization

Example: Saudi’s allow base on holy soil; Nasser fails to form Islamic state in Egypt

4. "Retreat to literalism" in interpretation of the Qur’an

5. Key politically active intellectuals—Sayyid Qutb

Impact of modern technology on experience through recent work on embodiment and the senses.

Revival in Cairo through "holy listening" to sermon cassettes

 

What Hirschkind observed

How fundamental sensory experiences are structured in this case:

Emotions

Capacities of aesthetic appreciation

States of moral attunement

The capacity of speech to act on the heart and reform it

Cleansing the heart: Convicting the person to give up behavior that is considered un-Islamic

Emotions of fear, humility, regret, tranquility

Continual listening for continual cleansing…strengthening to live a good Islamic life

The Listening Body

A moral physiology

The emotional-kinesthetic experience of a body permeated with Islamic truth

"The impact of godly speech on a rightly-disposed listener."

Development of the skill of careful listening

Hear the voice of God through the reciter

Not a manipulating of the passions per Aristotle

But rather, the "modulation of emotional intensities" orienting the emotions to submission to God

Hirschkind's conclusion

These practices do create perceptual habits that "incline one toward certain acts, discourses, and gestures."

The practices cited do not impart mastery of a specific cultural activity

To understand a tradition, it is essential to take note of embodied experience and the practices by which these are created and revised through time