Much debate has raged this week regarding the (presumed) Syrian
bound sisters from Bradford. How could these people become so radicalised in
our free and democratic society? To the rational mind it remains a complete
enigma as to why anyone would choose such an irrational, immoral, preposterous and
ultimately dangerous path. Some blame the internet. Some blame extremists in the
local community. Some blame the radicalised brother. But regardless of where
these hateful ideologies were preached from, how could such insidious ideas
possibly take root?
It seems to me that some groundwork has to be done first.
Believing in vile nonsense requires a bit of effort. Before you can believe in
something utterly ridiculous and hateful, you need to first believe in
something seemingly slightly less ridiculous and hateful. The best way to
believe in something slightly less ridiculous is firstly to make it a cultural
norm, so we stop questioning it, and secondly to make sure you start believing
in it before you are capable of fully comprehending the ridiculousness of the
belief.
Religious fanaticism and its associated consequences could
therefore be seen as having a Maslow styled hierarchy of belief. Here’s my
belief pyramid and the consequences you can expect at each level.
While much thought and effort is directed at tackling those
at the top of the pyramid, society seems equally keen to continue fuel the
system from the bottom, ensuring that we have a constant fresh supply of enough
receptive minds to climb to the top of the pyramid.
Of course things are a lot more nuanced than my knowingly
provocative graphic suggests and I’m keen to stress that the attributes of
these levels of religiosity are not restricted to any particular faith.
Finally, does the general decline in religion mean that this
pyramid will eventually die out, or will we just find a new base?
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