RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN POSTSECULAR SOCIETY: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Violence by religiously-identified groups has become a pervasive element of modern conflicts. The article provides a discussion on circumstances of religious violence, focusing on examining patterns that contrib- ute arising contemporary religious terrorism. Theorizing should not be an exercise in differentiating “spiritual” and “structural” causes but rather an effort to understand their complex interplay in social processes. This article argues that three broad concepts of religious activism – social movements, fundamentalism, and cosmic war – help explain the different ways that religion becomes involved in activism and the conditions under which groups use violence to further their goals