6 things Pastors and Christian Leaders need to know about Radicalization (and what to do)
Increasingly, churches are dealing with the effects of radicalization and extremism. Here are 6 things pastors and leaders should know. .
When we hear words like extremism and radicalization those of us in the West have historically conceptualized suicide bombers in the Middle East bent on implementing Sharia law. While this is apropos, radicalization and extremist thinking are also increasingly common in churches across the US, UK and Europe.
Radicalization is defined as the “process by which an individual or group comes to adopt increasingly extreme political, social, or religious ideas and aspirations that reject or undermine the status quo or undermine contemporary ideas and expressions of freedom of choice1.”
JM Berger famously wrote: “If you believe that only “the other guys” can produce extremists and that your own identity group cannot, you may be an extremist yourself.” With the world clearly sorting further into defined groups of bad guys and good guys, it seems that politicians, culture warriors and even many pastors these days might qualify as extremists.
So here’s 6 things pastors and Christian leaders need to know:
1. We are all susceptible to radicalization and extremism.
The first thing pastors and Christian leaders need to know is that we’re all susceptible. The number one domestic terrorist threat in the US is due to right-wing Christian extremism primarily originating from the evangelical Protestant camp. In fact since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides, for example, than far-left or radical Islamist extremists2. Former counter-terrorism official Elizabeth Neumann has written an important book (Kingdom of Rage: The Rise of Christian Extremism and the Path Back to Peace) on this growing trend and how it became a major policy and prevention effort in her tenure at the Department of Homeland Security. There is a huge perceptual gap in the media - extremism is far more portrayed in the media as Islamic, when the right wing brand is vastly more common.
The point is this: radicalization happens due to myriad psychological, social, political and spiritual factors. We’re all human and respond to our environments. From the Christian perspective as my pastor says “There are no good-guys and bad-guys… we’re all bad.” We are all very social creatures and look to others for our sense of purpose and belonging. Churches are social groups that function according to these same dynamics and aren’t excused from the dynamics.
2. Extremists and terrorists aren’t crazy.
The second important point is that extremists and even terrorists are typically rational, normal people. Experts agree most are not psychologically incapacitated or abnormal, they’re human. Elizabeth Neumann says “we now understand that [violent extremism] it is largely psychosocial. Some of the biggest drivers are shame, humiliation, a lack of belonging and significance, loss of control, uncertainty, and a sense of unaddressed injustice3.” Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, the brutal Jordanian al-Qaeda terrorist was a thug who had a bad relationship with his father. He found belonging in the wrong crowd, became a sort of gang leader who had skills at manipulating and leadership. He felt a sense of cultural and personal shame at the treatment of fellow Muslims and this provoked him. He was tortured and hardened in prison after being radicalized into Islamic jihad. While he was brutal, he was probably not mentally challenged. I often wonder what would have happened with a guy like that had someone loved him and intervened early on, providing an alternative to cover his sense of shame and need for belonging.
Here in the US, many Christians that gravitate towards violent rhetoric on Israel Palestine or vow violent action over the latest culture war issue are not crazy, they’re humans responding to fear or shame and trying to resolve grievances. Understanding and seeing the most difficult people in our midst as fellow humans bearing the imago dei, with desires, dreams, histories and grievances is a crucial step in understanding and combatting radicalization.
3. Arguing and debate makes it worse
Most experts agree that ideological and theological debates actually have backlash affects. Arguing with a committed conspiracy theorist will only make them more committed to their theory. Debating theological concepts with a Jihadist will only cause them to do more reading and harden their position.
On the other hand, research has found that kindness, empathy and compassion are often triggers that can start the process of deradicalization. Ryan Brown in a study of violent extremists in the US and their families found that “structured interventions that involve exposure to people outside the group who exhibit kindness and generosity appear to have dramatic transformative effects. Such effects also occur, occasionally, through happenstance life events4.” Creating belonging, family and community that fights against loneliness are far more successful. In sum, indirect approaches involving time, empathy and relationship are far more effective than direct conversation.
4. Beware of mutual radicalization.
Scholars like Julia Ebner observe that extremists perpetuate one another5. Islamic and right-wing extremist rhetoric amplify and echo one another’s themes. This is called ‘reciprocal radicalization’ or ‘mutual radicalization’. For example the Islamic narrative in some cases is that the West is at war with Islam… and yet many Christians and right-wingers from various countries say that Islam is at war with the West. At least there’s some agreement on something!
McCauley and Moskalenko talk about this and 12 other processes that lead individuals and groups to radicalize in their book Friction: How Radicalization Happens to Them and Us. Sophia Moskalenko pointed out in a recent lecture how the disaster of the 9/11 attacks killed thousands but the response from the West’s global ‘war on terror’ has had far more disastrous consequences in terms of lives lost. There were also further reciprocal radicalization effects among Muslims, arguably leading to the birth of ISIS. 20 years of war that aimed to defeat terrorism actually amplified it and gave birth to more. In another study on the effects of the military’s special prison in Guantanamo Bay, researchers postulate that the prison actually resulted in more radicalization and terror, not less.
This same dynamic is at play between liberals and conservatives in the US, who each move further and further apart in a process known as ‘extremity shift.’ A normal group dynamic observed in all kinds of settings as the cohesiveness of a group grows, the opinion of the group tends to move towards the more extreme position, with more neutral voices quieting as time goes on.
Pastors and leaders should watch for these dynamics in their church… if out-groups become vilified in rhetoric and common discussions, beware. Or, if you find yourself even tempted to respond to outside threats by enemies (perceived or real) in-kind or with more vitriolic hostility, this will only feed the spiral.
5. Everyone is being exposed to extremist rhetoric
Through media, news, social channels and advertisements, everyone is being exposed including our children, to extremist narratives and rhetoric. Hostility, conspiracies and violence are in the air. Social channels promote extreme content through algorithmic prediction about what users will watch for longer (attention economy). Human brains are wired to respond dramatically to fear and anger, so this is what algorithms, advertisers and influencers strategically utilize. Politicians increasingly vilify the opposition and justify hostility, and even some pastors and Christian thought leaders hint at or justify violence on global issues like Israel/Palestine and local populations like immigrants and refugees.
While all of us are susceptible to these messages, those who are lonely, that have suffered great loss or those that have experienced personal or group shame are especially vulnerable. As loneliness and anxiety are at all time highs in the US, people are looking to fill those psychological and social needs. So, radicalization and extremist narratives are no longer on the fringes of society, they are in our midst. Pastors and Christian leaders need to be prepared to spot and address these narratives, and are well-placed to be a persuasive force for good.
6. Existential threat alarms, crisis-solution constructs and dehumanizing rhetoric are red-flags
Politicians, business leaders and extremists often mobilize voters, profits and followers by posing threats as existential and their group, ideology or company as the solution. Think of how many times we’ve heard something like ‘without this insurance protection your family could suffer a catastrophic loss and have no hope of recovery’ or heard a candidate say: ‘this is the most important election of our lifetime, if you don’t vote for [insert savior name] our society will collapse.’ Crisis-solution constructs play into our psychology in marketing, religion and politics and they have powerful framing effects, motivating people to fear and sometimes to violence. After all, if the threat is really that big, then the solution must be drastic [insert remedy].
I remember as a kid hearing James Dobson with Focus on the Family on the radio. Aside from all the great radio theatre, his organization became much more political and strident in tone as I got older. I forget which election cycle , but I remember the fear stoked by a picture he painted of the apocalyptic future awaiting America if his preferred politician was not elected. It was a scary picture of crisis, I don’t remember the details, but I remember the emotion of fear. I don’t think much of the prediction came true. Now, I don’t think Dobson is an extremist… however these kinds of narratives can cause such fear that they prevent people from engaging in relationship with those from the vilified out-group and provide a scaffolding that supports hostility and extremism.
Dehumanizing rhetoric is also a big red flag. Consider the statements of a Hamas cleric calling for the annihilation of Jews from the land calling them “filthy animals, apes and pigs (link).” On the other side an Israeli official called Hamas “human animals (link).” During the last US election cycle, it was common in our Michigan suburb to see signs with Democrats crossed out and the ending ‘RATS’ emphasized. If people can be reduced to animals or insects, then violence is more easily justified.
Particularly vulnerable to these fear-inciting alarm bells are those with a discomfort with nuance and a demanding need for certainty and closure (there’s actually a personality scale that can measure this). Those who have experienced a recent crisis or loss may look to a group or leader promising certainty and structure, a clear enemy, someone to blame and a solution like a powerful leader to protect them. These are real needs that many find satisfied in extremist groups.
I trust you’re already thinking as you read the above about antidotes, what can be done to prevent, immunize against and heal from the kinds of dynamics discussed here. Next time I’ll propose a few antidotes that I think churches and Christian groups are particular well equipped to offer.
Wilner, Alex S., and Claire-Jehanne Dubouloz. “Homegrown Terrorism and Transformative Learning: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding Radicalization.” Journal of Global Change, Peace & Security 22, no. 1 (February 1, 2010): 33–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/14781150903487956.
https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/what-nij-research-tells-us-about-domestic-terrorism
Neumann, Elizabeth. Kingdom of Rage: The Rise of Christian Extremism and the Path Back to Peace. Worthy Books, 2024.
BROWN, RYAN ANDREW. VIOLENT EXTREMISM IN AMERICA: Interviews with Former Extremists and Their Families on Radicalization and Deradicalization. S.l.: RAND Corporation, 2021.
Julia Ebner, “How far right and Islamist extremists amplify each other’s rhetoric”, TEDx Vienna Talk, October 2016.