Stop Linking Terrorism With Religion

Published on Sep 6, 2026, filed under politics, society, misc. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon.)

Thesis.

When we speak of terrorism, the Western discourse, through the Western media, usually links it with religion, and mostly one religion: Islam.

This isn’t because terrorism is exclusive to one faith. There are Christian terrorists, Hindu terrorists, Jewish terrorists, Buddhist terrorists, atheist terrorists, and many other terrorists.

Still, our media and our societies love to nearly exclusively speak of Islamic and Islamist terrorism.

One can suspect an agenda here: justifying Western-supported Israeli colonialism (with the occupation of Palestine and the expansion to Lebanon, Syria, and eventually more countries) as well as American hegemony and imperialism (with the goal to control resources and protect the petrodollar). Both agendas are easier to advance when denouncing Muslims, as it distracts from and reframes Israeli–American crimes.

But even when discussing actual terrorism that serves no such agenda, this near-exclusive tying of terrorism to Islam is wrong:

Linking Terrorism With Religion Can Only Serve the Purpose of Denouncing That Religion

Religion can be used to justify terrorism, but religion per se is not the root cause, meaning this forced link only serves to stigmatize and marginalize believers in the respective religion.

If you protest that Islam mandated terrorism, this is wrong.

The connection forced is thus one that can only do damage.

It’s like constantly speaking of “male terrorists” (they are mostly male—and you may already hear the public outcry if this was called out all the time), of “terrorists who eat meat,” of “terrorists who wear jeans.”

The argument here would still hold, because if anything, there’s correlation—but not causation.

By continually fishing for the religious background of a terrorist or terrorist organization, we create an association that, in most cases, only harms the respective group—whether jeans-wearers, meat-eaters, men, or Muslims.

(You could go further and argue that none of this would be justified even if there were a causal link—because we have a responsibility towards whatever the group is, here: Muslims.)

The next time you hear someone linking an act of terrorism with a religion, like Islam, I ask you to do two things:

1. Forget the religion, because you owe that to all the peaceful believers who have nothing to do with the act (perhaps more than a billion people).
2. Hold media accountable by contacting publishers directly to call out sensationalist coverage and to demand nuanced journalism that doesn’t fuel bias against specific groups.

Talk about terrorism, create the conditions under which people don’t need to resort to terrorism—but stop linking terrorism with religion.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager at various companies (e.g., Google); I’m an active web and tool developer (code optimization, digital defense), a contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and a book author (O’Reilly, Frontend Dogma).

I love trying things—in web development and engineering management, but also in politics and philosophy, where I hold to one idea in particular: that we can only be well if we take good care of everyone. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my perspectives and experiences. (Interpret charitably but be critical—and share feedback and advice that makes my work better.)