How Human Brain Is (Religiously) Radicalised
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
2 July 2022
Radicalization
Is A Process Of Developing Extremist Beliefs, Emotions, And Behaviours
Main
Points:
1. It’s
important to understand the whole phenomenon of radicalisation.
2. Radicalisation
is often associated with inveterate religious beliefs.
3. Religion is
an ingrained evolutionary phenomenon.
4. Human
religious behaviour is often impulsive and based on involuntary reflexes.
-----
Following
the gruesome beheading of a tailor by two fanatics in Udaipur, the whole world
is wondering how people can be so monomaniac in their mission in life that the
consequences of such an act don't bother them even a bit. This is radicalised
behaviour. Before that, it's important to understand the whole phenomenon of
radicalisation.
Radicalization
is a process of developing extremist beliefs, emotions, and behaviours. The
extremist beliefs are profound convictions that oppose the fundamental values
of society, the laws of democracy and universal human rights by advocating the
supremacy of a particular group (racial, religious, political, economic, social
etc.).
The
extremist emotions and behaviour may be expressed both in non-violent pressure
and coercion and in actions that deviate from the norm and show contempt for
life, freedom, and human rights. Though radicalisation is often associated with
inveterate religious beliefs, other factors like country/nation and ethnicity
also play a pivotal role.
You've the
example of LTTE's suicide bombers to bolster the point that it's not always
religion that radicalises certain individuals. The radicalised Tamil suicide
bombers blew themselves up to establish an independent Tamil Ealam or a Tamil
nation. However, the roots of religious indoctrination or radicalisation are
far greater and stronger.
The
question is: Why? Richard Dawkins, world's foremost atheist and evolutionary
biologist, is of the opinion that religion is present as a 'percolation
process' among humans. It needs some kind of an enumeration. More than any
other belief, religion passes through generations. Any other belief has a
periodic or at the most, a lifetime influence on a person. It doesn't carry
forward. But religion is an ingrained evolutionary phenomenon. Our parents,
their parents and a ladder of ancestors did believe in some religion and god.
That naturally percolated down to all of us. That's the reason, now
neurologists have found that there's a god-spot in a human brain and there's a
god gene as well; active, super-active and dormant. And interestingly, it's
there even in an avowed atheist's neuro-genetic makeup.
Human
religious behaviour is often impulsive and based on involuntary reflexes. So
much so that even a man like Dawkins once exclaimed on TV ' Oh my god!' when he
was stumped by a question asked by a very learned believer! This very presence
of bequeathed/percolated religious behaviour makes some humans religiously
fanatic. Because we've already had the wherewithal to attract the radicalisation
process. So, the moment preachers, religious groups, handlers, priests,
clerics, among others approach religiously devout and vulnerable individuals
that ever-present religious inclination gets stronger and people become
zealots.
This is the
reason, sociologists and sane people advise young minds to stay away from
religious preachers and their hateful sermons. These preachers directly hit
vulnerable individuals' god-spot in the brain and radicalise them.
Who were
those ten Pakistani youngsters who came to Bombay to kill people on 26/11 or
who was Egyptian Muhammad Musa, the mastermind, who demolished Twin Towers on
9/11? They were all religiously radicalised people, even educated ones, who
were made scapegoats by religious leaders and preachers.
It's,
therefore, my appeal to the government of India to block the access to all the
Pakistani religious channels in India so that Muslim youth will not be
radicalised by listening to the egregious religious gibberish of preachers like
Mufti Tariq Masood, Maulana Tariq Jameel, among others.
There're
useless Indian Muslim preachers as well. Listen to their Bayaan and
yarns. Rest assured, any sane person will puke. Whenever I feel depressed, I
watch these morons' ridiculous sermons for a couple of minutes and have a
hearty laugh. They help dispel my blues.
Indian and
sub-continental Muslim youth have already 'learnt' 'significant' lessons in
terrorism and sabotage from an extremely dubious and rogue preacher like Dr
Zakir Naik. Remember the Holey Artisan Cafe attack that shook Bangladesh in
July, 2016. All the perpetrators were radicalised by Zakir Naik's religiously
volatile lectures. These two criminals, involved in the Udaipur killing, are
also very fond of Zakir Naik's incendiary sermons. To save all youth (esp.
Muslim youngsters) from getting radicalised, putting the mockers on the sermons
of all preachers is a sine qua non. Will the reasonably sagacious minds among
the Muslims do something quick and worthwhile in this regard? It's high time.
----
A regular
columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/human-brain-religiously-radicalised/d/127387
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