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{"id":547,"date":"2013-06-06T17:37:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-06T17:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2013\/06\/what-causes-terrorism-religion-or-social-political-conditions.html"},"modified":"2014-07-29T08:14:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-29T13:14:00","slug":"what-causes-terrorism-religion-or-social-political-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2013\/06\/what-causes-terrorism-religion-or-social-political-conditions.html","title":{"rendered":"What Causes Terrorism: Religion or Social & Political Conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 $\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Two horrific tragedies\u2013the Boston Marathon bombings and the Woolrich, UK attack and murder\u2013and two very different interpretations.<\/p>\n

Former English Prime Minister, Tony Blair, believes that the two tragedies represent a problem within Islam. \u201cThere is not a problem with Islam,\u201d Blair writes in a article for the Daily M<\/a>ail,\u201d \u201c...But there is a problem within Islam\u2013from the adherents of an ideology that is a strain within Islam.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

John Esposito, a professor of international affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, disagrees with this interpretation. \u00a0He does not doubt Blair\u2019s sincerity or \u00a0intentions, but argues that political and social conditions foster terrorism, not religion.<\/p>\n

In a recent article in the Washington Post<\/a>, Esposito suggests that Blair\u2019s interpretation \u201cperpetuates his long held belief since the Bush-Blair invasion and occupation of Iraq that the primary driver, the root cause of terrorism, is religion and not political and social \u00a0contexts and foreign policies.\u201d<\/em> \u00a0Esposito even calls the interpretation \u201c..wrong-headed and doomed to continue to be part of the problem and not the solution.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

School is all but over so a discussion about the merits of the two arguments will have to wait until next year. \u00a0But it is an interesting argument, not just for a religion class but also for a world history class.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"