Religion and support for suicide attacks

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Sociology of Religion
• Political Science

Background:

• Understanding the drivers of support for suicide attacks is crucial for global security.
• The role of religion in political violence remains a complex and debated topic.
• Previous research has yielded mixed findings on the religion-violence nexus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between religious practices and support for suicide attacks.
• To differentiate the impact of prayer versus religious service attendance.
• To examine these associations across diverse cultural, religious, and political contexts.

Main Methods:

• Four studies were conducted, including surveys of Palestinians and Israeli settlers, a cognitive priming experiment, and a cross-national survey of six religions.
• Religious devotion was measured through prayer frequency, while religious engagement was assessed via attendance at religious services.
• Support for suicide attacks was measured through various attitudinal scales, including willingness for martyrdom and out-group hostility.

Main Results:

• Prayer to God was consistently unrelated to support for suicide attacks across studies.
• Attendance at religious services positively predicted support for suicide attacks in Palestinian and Israeli samples.
• In a cross-national survey, regular attendance at religious services predicted both willing martyrdom and out-group hostility, while prayer did not.

Conclusions:

• Religious service attendance, potentially reflecting enhanced coalitional commitment, is a significant predictor of support for suicide attacks.
• Prayer, as an indicator of individual religious devotion, does not appear to be directly linked to support for such violence.
• Findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between different forms of religious engagement when examining their relationship with political violence.