The Marriage of War and Religion
Since war and religion are both alternative realities, this chapter explores the relationship between the two. The chapter begins with an account of identical twin German brothers who both joined ISIS and were soon killed in suicide attacks. Were they motivated by religion or the lure of war? This chapter considers three options. One is that war encompasses religion by imagining that God is on the side of the militants engaged in it. A second is that religion encompasses war, usually in a metaphoric way through religious mythology and images. (One possibility that is dismissed is that religion automatically leads to war, since there is no evidence that that is the case). The third possibility—perhaps most likely in the case of the German twins—is that religion and war are combined in “cosmic war.” Religious militant movements such as the Islamic State combine an apocalyptic notion of religion with militant engagement; in ISIS war is religion and religion is war.