Religious literacy, radicalisation and extremism

This chapter explores the connections and disconnections between the political and the religious, and the frequent confusion between the two. From there they draw attention to the focus in policy on Islam as a problem, which they see as overblown and unhelpful – a prominent expression of religious illiteracy. They emphasise the theme of fluidity, pointing out that religion and belief are messy and shifting aspects of identity, not monolithic blocks, easily amenable to simple political tropes and their corresponding actions in violence. Yet the ‘securitisation’ of British Muslims, and their brothers and sisters around the world, does precisely this and this is noted and lamented. For them, ‘it is not Islam which makes someone violent, but…a belief that violence is legitimate’.