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Trenton Novitzki
Professor Synstelien
English 1108-03
January, 30 2012
Terrorism in The Name of God

Terrorism has been going on since the beginning of civilized society. It has been used to
push the agenda of religious groups over the past few millennia. There are two forms of
Religious Groups that have had the greatest impact on the world through the use of Fear and
hatred, committing terrorist acts, only to be justified by religious texts and stories.
The first Religious Group is Christianity, a religion that believes in one god and focuses
on the religious teachings of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. His resurrection was said to provide
salvation for people of all races and religions. Christianity conveys messages of peace, love, and
freedom of opinion that can often be used to justify violent acts upon people and groups of
different religious and political beliefs. The Spanish inquisition of the 15
th
century is often
referred to as the earliest state to perform terroristic acts upon another group of people. These
actions however dastardly they may have been were condoned by the church in an effort to drive
out people of Islamic and Judaic beliefs, who did not convert to the religious beliefs of the
Catholic Church. This often happened through terroristic acts that spread fear and allowed the
use of severe torture to, Teach a lesson to those that have not converted. In more recent events
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there have been multiple terrorist attacks upon abortion clinics, which used reconstruction
theology to justify the attacks. Reconstruction theology is the belief that states all religious
choice and freedom of religious expression are to be taken away from individuals. The end goal
being to create the kingdom of God by tearing down the so called sinful society in which we
live today and convert most if not all of the worlds population to fundamentalist Christianity.
Though they say that no violent force will be needed, history has a different story to tell. Under
this newly created society Laws and Punishment would be dictated by the writing of the Judaic
Old Testament. People practicing another religion and found guilty would be executed. Many
people would see this as a terroristic totalitarian society.
The next Religious Group is Islam. The followers of Islam believe in the same God as
the Christians and Hebrews. They believe that Gods final directions for mankind were given to
the prophet Mohamed, who is believed to be last prophet of God. The book of Islam, the
Quran has teachings of both peaceful actions and to carry on warfare or even wage it just as
Christian and Judaic text also do. The Quran also includes both the teachings of the Hebrews as
well as the teachings of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The Hashishin or assassins are known to be
the first Islamic followers to commit terroristic acts. The assassins were around between 1092
and 1265. They operated mostly in Persia, and were a sovereign military group of Shiites that
waged terroristic acts upon the Sunni, overwhelming many Sunni strongholds in mountainous
regions under the command of Hassan-I Sabbah. In the beginning of the 21
st
century al-Qaeda
started its reign of international terrorist attacks. Such as the bombing of the Twin towers on
September 11
th
2001. Four groups of terrorists associated with the Islamic group al-Qaeda hi-
jacked United Airlines Flight 175, American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 93, and
American Airline Flight 77. American Airlines Flight 11 was hi-jacked by five men all working
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for al-Qaeda. This was the first of four bombings that would take place that day. Within fifteen
minutes of takeoff, the hi-jackers had harmed three people as they hastily rushed the cockpit.
After reaching the cockpit the five men crushed any resistance put up by the captain and first
officer. After seizing control of the plane, Mohamed Atta purposely collided with the world trade
centers north tower, killing the terrorists, all 11 crew members, as well as 87 people aboard the
plane. The impact of this bombing also killed around 1600 people inside the tower. United
Airlines Flight 175 was also hi-jacked by a second group of five terrorists belonging to the group
al-Qaeda. This was the second attack of four that would happen that day. This attack happened
approximately 17 minutes after American Airlines Flight 11 had crashed into the north tower.
Flight 175 was hijacked about 30 minutes after takeoff; after the hi-jacking was complete the
plane was flown by Marwan al-Shehhi who was trained in piloting aircrafts. He then crashed the
plane into the south tower of the world trade center, killing nine crew members, fifty-one
passengers, and themselves in the process. There were around 900 dead in the building alone,
this including the jumpers and the emergency workers that went in to try to rescue people
trapped on the upper levels of the tower. This was the first of many international acts of
terrorism. There were also many train bombings occurring in Europe in the years to come. While
it is arguable whether or not the United States would have gone to war if not for the 9/11 jihadist
attacks, the attacks offered new public support to wage war against terror in Iraq and Pakistan.
This would result in the beginning of one of the longest wars America has ever been involved in.
America just recently started pulling all troops out of Iraq in 2012.
In conclusion terrorism has been used in many different ways over the years and is
always justified by some form of religious text or document, and has been used to push the
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agenda of these religious groups. It has also been used to gain the support of the masses in
Brittan and the United States, attaining the ability to wage war in Iraq.