Opinião do Especialista

Religion, Violence and Terrorism (Dr. Peter E. Tarlow)

Publicado por Peter Tarlow

The week of June 21, 2015 was not a good week on the world stage. The week saw the tragic murder of 9 people gunned down in a South Carolina church, then the ISIS attacks in Tunisia, the beheading in France, the murders in Syria and the attack against the Mosque in Kuwait. The last three of these deeds occurred during the Muslim month of Ramadan, when some terrorists believe that there is a higher calling to martyrdom. For example, Yahoo News reported on June 27, 2015 that Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, Islamic State spokesman, stated: “The best acts that bring you closer to God are jihad, so hurry to it and make sure to carry out the invasion this holy month and be exposed to martyrdom in it… These are your weapons and this is Ramadan.”i Death seemed to be everywhere. Reading and listening to the media, it would not be difficult to draw a connection between religion and violence. The assumption that religion leads to violence is one that has been around for many years. In the 1950s when I was a young boy people often told me that religion was responsible for most wars and killings. The claim was based on the assumption that religion motivated people to take the lives of their fellow men and women based on religious fanaticism. I heard lectures on the role of the Crusades, Jihadists, and the Inquisition. We read about the Salem witch trials and our teachers showed us pictures of the Ku Klux Klan burning crosses. Even as a young boy I wondered about these statements. Was it possible that the lessons that I was taught about being kind and good to my human beings also drove people to a form of psychotic madness? To add to my confusion I wondered if Stalin religious? How about the communist Chinese? Hitler murdered people because of their religious faith, but was he religious or the antithesis or religion? Although there are clearly religious fanatics who murder, what about religious people who are martyred, or innocent victims, or sacrifice their lives for others in what Durkheim called “altruistic suicide”?ii These were innocent people, who were faith observant but not only not motivated by religion to take the life of a fellow human being, but also were at times willing to give their lives for others. For a long time these questions plagued me. Ironically, the English language forces us to think about violence and religion even in its vocabulary usage. Thus, the word “plagued” becomes problematic as we connect the word with the Biblical Ten Plagues that resulted in the death of all of Egypt’s first born. This paper is an attempt to address if, and/or to what extent, the question: does religion lead to additional violence and to acts of terrorism? That is to say, does religion lead to a greater propensity to commit acts of terrorism than does secularism? Certainly, religion and terrorism are in the news. Scholars and politicians may argue as to the extent that the Islamic State represents Islam, but there can be no doubt that the followers of the Islamic State (ISIS) see themselves as representing the true face of Islam. The same is true for Al Qaeda. We cannot separate these people anymore from Islam than we can separate the Inquisitors from medieval Christianity. In fact, just as the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitors vented much of their anger against so-called Catholic “heretics” in the same way, much of the violence that ISIS creates is aimed at other Muslims who do not meet its “Islamic” standards. Certainly, we cannot blame the average person for being shocked when s/he reads headlines such as: “New low: ISIS reportedly gives away sex slaves as ‘prizes’ in Koran contest”. iii We cannot be surprised when those who are anti-religious charge that religion leads to fanaticism and fanaticism evolves into violence. No one can deny that these charges exist. The question is: are these charges true and if so, to what extent are they true?

Methodology:

These are not easy questions to answer. The use of statistical data or some form of quantitative analysis although tempting may easily lead to false conclusions. The reasons behind this statement are as follows: 1) Without a clear cut definition of terrorism, it is impossible to count acts of terrorism 2) There is no clear cut dividing line between acts of violence and acts of terrorism 3) As will be seen below, there are no clear definitions of religion This confusion of terms means that it is impossible to be sure of the data’s validity. It is for this reason, that a qualitative analysis of the question at hand may lead us to a greater understanding of the problem. To begin to answer them I have based this paper on two basic premises: (1) human beings are moved to act or motivated by ideologies and (2) all religions are a manifestation of an ideology. That is to say that religion is a subset of the concept ideology. Ideologies act as the justifications for arguments over economic resources and power, although we can argue that power is the means by which resources are gained and ideologies work as the justifications for the use or power. We can argue that although all religions are ideologies not all ideologies are religions. As such, religion, along with secular ideologies, act as motivators for both positive and negative human actions.

Leia o texto na íntegra acessando o link: http://www.palermo.edu/Archivos_content/2015/economicas/journal-tourism/edicion12/04_Religion_Violence_and_Terrorism.pdf

 

Sobre o autor

Peter Tarlow

Dr. Peter Tarlow, PH.D, Founder and President of Tourism & More
Dr. Peter E. Tarlow is a world-renowned speaker and expert specializing in the impact of crime and terrorism on the tourism industry, event and tourism risk management, and economic development. Since 1990, Tarlow has been teaching courses on tourism, crime & terrorism to police forces and security and tourism professionals throughout the world.
Tarlow earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Texas A&M University. He also holds degrees in history, in Spanish and Hebrew literatures, and in psychotherapy. In 1996, Tarlow became Hoover Dam's consultant for tourism development and security. In 1998, Tarlow's role at the Bureau of Reclamation expanded. He was asked to develop a tourism security program for all Bureau of Reclamation properties and visitor centers. Tarlow continued his involvement with the Bureau of Reclamation until December of 2012. In 1999, the US Customs service asked Tarlow to work with its agents in the area of customer service, cultural awareness, and custom's impact on the tourism and visitor industry.
In 2000, due to interagency cooperation on the part of the Bureau of Reclamation, Tarlow helped to prepare security and FBI agents for the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympic Games. He also lectured for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. Tarlow is currently working with police departments of the state of Rio de Janeiro for the 2014 World Cup Games and 2016 Olympic games.
In 2003, US National Park Service asked Tarlow to take on special assignments dealing with iconic security for its multiple tourism sites. Within the US government Tarlow has lectured for the Department of the Interior, for the Department of Justice (Bureau of Prisons and Office of US Attorneys-General), the Department of Homeland Security and the American Bar Association’s Latin America Office. Tarlow has worked with other US and international government agencies such as the US Park Service at the Statue of Liberty, The Smithsonian's Institution's Office of Protection Services, Philadelphia's Independence Hall and Liberty Bell and New York's Empire State Building. He has also worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the United Nation's WTO (World Tourism Organization), the Center for Disease Control (Atlanta, Triangle Series), the Panama Canal Authority. He has taught members of national police forces such as the members of the US Supreme Court police, and the Smithsonian Museum’s police. He has also worked with numerous police forces throughout the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America.
In 2013 Tarlow was named the Special Envoy for the Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System. At almost the same time the US State Department asked him to lecture around the world on issues of tourism security and safety. In 2013, Tarlow began working with the Dominican Republic’s national tourism police, then called POLITUR, and as of 2014 called CESTUR.
Since 1992, Tarlow has been the chief organizer of multiple tourism conferences around the world, including the International Tourism Safety Conference in Las Vegas. Since 2006 he has also been part of the organizational teams for the Biannual Aruba Tourism Conference and has helped organize conferences in St. Kitts, Charleston (South Carolina), Bogota, Colombia, Panama City, and Curaçao. In starting in 2013, Tarlow became a co-organizer of the first and second Mediterranean Tourism Conference held in Croatia.
Tarlow's fluency in many languages enables him to speak throughout the world (United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and Africa, and the Eastern Pacific, and Asia). Tarlow lectures on a wide range of current and future trends in the tourism industry, rural tourism economic development, the gaming industry, issues of crime and terrorism, the role of police departments in urban economic development, and international trade.
Tarlow has done extensive research on the relationship between tourism, crime, and terrorism. He also works with police forces to understand their constituents and provide the best customer service possible. Tarlow publishes extensively in these areas and writes numerous professional reports for US governmental agencies and for businesses throughout the world. He also functions as an expert witness in courts throughout the United States on matters concerning tourism security and safety, and issues of risk management.
Tarlow’s research ranges from the impact of school calendars on the tourism industries to tourism ecology and business. These research interests allow Tarlow to work with communities throughout the United States. He is teaches how communities can use their tourism as an economic development tool during difficult economic times, and at the same time improve their local residents’ quality of life.
Tarlow speaks throughout North and Latin America, the Middle East and Europe, and Asia. Some of the topics about which he speaks are: the sociology of terrorism, its impact on tourism security and risk management, the US government's role in post terrorism recovery, and how communities and businesses must face a major paradigm shift in the way they do business. Tarlow trains numerous police departments throughout the world in TOPPS (Tourism Oriented Policing and Protection Services) and offers certification in this area. Tarlow provides keynote speeches around the world on topics as diverse as dealing with economies in crisis to how beautification can become a major tool for economic recovery.
Tarlow is a well-known author in the field of tourism security. He is a contributing author to multiple books on tourism security, and has published numerous academic and applied research articles regarding issues of security including articles published in The Futurist, the Journal of Travel Research and Security Management. In 1999 Tarlow co-edited "War, Terrorism, and Tourism." a special edition of the Journal of Travel Research. In 2002 Tarlow published Event Risk Management and Safety (John Wiley & Sons). Tarlow also writes and speaks for major organizations such as the Organization of US State Dams, and The International Association of Event Managers. In 2011, Tarlow published: Twenty Years of Tourism Tidbits: The Book. The Spanish language addition is to be released in 2012. He has recently published a book on Cruise Safety (written in Portuguese) entitled Abordagem Multdisciplinar dos Cruzeiros Turísticos. In June of 2014, Elsevier published Tarlow’s newest book: Tourism Security: Strategies for Effective Managing Travel Risk and Safety. He is currently writing a new book on tourism sports security (to be published in late 2016) and a series of articles on the same topic for the American Society of Industrial Security.
Tarlow’s wide range of professional and scholarly articles includes articles on subjects such as: "dark tourism", theories of terrorism, and economic development through tourism. Tarlow also writes and publishes the popular on-line tourism newsletter Tourism Tidbits read by thousands of tourism and travel professionals around the world in its English, Spanish, and Portuguese language editions. Tarlow has been a regular contributor to the joint electronic tourism newsletter, ETRA, published jointly by Texas A&M University and the Canadian Tourism Commission. His articles often appear in a wide range of both trade and academic publications including Brilliant Results and Destination World.
Tarlow lectures at major universities around the world. Tarlow is a member of the Distance Learning Faculty of "The George Washington University" in Washington, DC. He is also an adjunct faculty member of Colorado State University and the Justice Institute of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) and a member of the graduate faculty of Guelph University in Ontario, Canada. Tarlow is an honorary professor at the Universidad de Especialidades Turisticas (Quito, Ecuador), of the Universidad de la Policía Federal (Buenos Aires, Argentina), la Universidad de Huánuco, Peru, and on the EDIT faculty at the University of Hawaii in Manoa, (O'ahu). At numerous other universities around the world Tarlow lectures on security issues, life safety issues, and event risk management. These universities include institutions in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Pacific Islands, and the Middle East. In 2015 the Faculty of Medicine of Texas A&M University asked Tarlow to “translate” his tourism skills into practical courses for new physicians. As such he teaches courses in customer service, creative thinking and medical ethics at the Texas A&M medical school
Tarlow has appeared on national televised programs such as Dateline: NBC and on CNBC and is a regular guest on radio stations around the US. Tarlow organizes conferences around the world dealing with visitor safety and security issues and with the economic importance of tourism and tourism marketing. He also works with numerous cities, states, and foreign governments to improve their tourism products and to train their tourism security professionals.
Tarlow is a founder and president of Tourism & More Inc. (T&M). He is a past president of the Texas Chapter of the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA). Tarlow is a member of the International Editorial Boards of "Turizam" published in Zagreb, Croatia, "Anatolia: International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research," published in Turkey, and "Estudios y Perspectivas en Turismo," published in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and American Journal of Tourism Research.

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