Terror in the Mind of God, Or: Religious Violence from Hamas to the Messianic Israeli Settler Movement w/ Prof. Mark Juergensmeyer

On this edition of Parallax, Dr. Mark Juergensmeyer, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Global Studies, Sociology, and affiliate of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, joins the program to discuss his classic 2000 book Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious (now in its fourth edition) in light of the October 7th Hamas and news reports of violent Israeli settlers wreaking havoc in the occupied West Bank. We discuss Mark's concept of cosmic war as an animating force for young men, misconceptions about the type of young attracted to religious violence and terrorism, Israeli terrorist Dr. Baruch Goldstein, Dr. Juergensmeyer's experiences with Hamas leaders, the final words audio tapes of Hamas combatants before their martyrdom and what they reveal, Timothy McVeigh and far-right terrorism, 9/11 the Bush administration's War on Terror folly in Afghanistan and Iraq, and much, much more.