These days leaders, media and intellectuals don't tire of mindlessly repeating the phrase 'Terrorists have no religion.' This flies in the face of facts. Terrorists kill in the name of religion and to uphold the tenets and honor of their religion. The menace of terrorism will never be eliminated as long as we continue to deny this stark correlation.
Violence in one form or the other is sanctioned by all religions in varying degrees (Jainism may be an exception as it upholds nonviolence as its fundamental tenet.) Today if this correlation is more visible in case of one particular religion, the reason is not difficult to guess. Wherever religious instructions are imparted earlier or more rigorously than modern and secular school education, they harden into a core of violent faith that becomes immune to reason. Children who are unfortunate to be so groomed turn into deeply religious persons ready to be commandeered by cunning and villainous religious leaders. These leaders are dead against secular education as evident from the fact that one group of them has named itself Boko Haram meaning modern education is heretic.
Hence the solution to terrorism is to give up this ostrich like mentality and state clearly that too deep a religiosity leads to terrorism. Once this is admitted, steps can be taken to delay and moderate religious instructions if not to eliminate them altogether.
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