aziz
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02:17:25 pm on August 22, 2008 | # | |
British Intelligence (MI5) finds that religiousness and piety tend to depress violent fanaticism, instead of enhancing it:
Far from being religious zealots, a large number of those involved in terrorism do not practise their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and could actually be regarded as religious novices. Very few have been brought up in strongly religious households, and there is a higher than average proportion of converts. Some are involved in drug-taking, drinking alcohol and visiting prostitutes. MI5 says there is evidence that a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation.
(via Thoreau and Bruce Schneier)
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Willow 4:19 pm on August 22, 2008 | #
FINALLY. What we’ve all known for years…
Thoreau 6:45 pm on August 22, 2008 | #
Saw the incoming link. Didn’t know I had readers on this site. Well, now I’m on even more FBI lists….
aziz 7:32 pm on August 22, 2008 | #
welcome, Thoreau. Im a longtime reader of yours and Jim’s. I also am a physics guy too
I hope we can convince you to take a look around - we have a really great roster of pretty much all the major Muslim bloggers here. Think of this as a QuickHits/Twitter/The Corner for the Islamsphere 
razib 10:32 pm on August 22, 2008 | #
i think this reinforces robert pape’s contention that radical terrorism is preconditioned upon *political*, not *religious*, causal priors. the cognitive anthropologist scott atran has also done work which implies that these sorts of movements use religion as a *means* and superficial cloaking toward other ends and dynamics.
Willow 11:52 pm on August 22, 2008 | #
I couldn’t help but notice the following as details about the 9/11 hijackers began to surface: several were in Vegas the previous week, one had a serious girlfriend, and another rented a porno the night before the attacks.
If that’s extreme religious piety, I’ve been doing it wrong all this time…
thabet 5:34 am on August 23, 2008 | #
Has anyone seen how the Dhummies are reporting this? I would go there, but can’t be bothered to trawl through this rubbish bin.
Thoreau 11:11 am on August 23, 2008 | #
What kind of physics do you do, Aziz? I’m an optics/biophysics guy with little smatterings of other stuff mixed in.
aziz 11:28 am on August 23, 2008 | #
I did my PhD at MD Anderson in Houston, in medical physics - my specialty is imaging physics, specifically MRI. I’m actually working from home, while my wife does her residency in derm, so as to mind the kids. I’m writing some papers based off of data I acquired during my postdoc, which is good at keeping me in the game and filling the CV hole until my wife is done (two years left). Whether I am a free-lance researcher, or an unemployed overeducated bum, depends on your point of view, I guess