Christianity and Judaism were as bad, historically, as Islamic extremist are today. King David was a butcher. The history of Christianity is full of persecutions and massacres.
The question is: Why have Christian, Jews and most Muslims evolved away from interpreting their religions as a license to commit atrocities, while some Muslims have not?
For us non-religious people, it's obvious that almost a organized religions are about brainwashing and using the brainwashed to dominate all other people.
They're a way of declaring anyone who does not conform to their socio-economic order to be EVIL.
The roots of Islamic terrorism lie in the primordial desire to dominate. But in a modern world these Muslims are unable to adapt, unable to compete, so they resort to mass murder in anger and frustration.
We have the docs and the irosies who subscribe to alt-R bs about the maj of muslims being bloodthirsty devils or something, and they are as blind as the Manchester suicide bomber. Their rationale is not rational. Perhaps its attention seeking.
I mean the motivations of bin laden and the core of ISIS are belief that arab states have sold out to the West. That's not baseless, but systematic rape and torture killings are somehow excused. The Taliban are not classic terrorists. But in order to avoid Western corruption, they choose to deny basic healthcare for women. And they NEVER has the consent of the govern. Hobbs argued monarchs were legit, but their legitimacy rested with their willing subjects. I don't think there's much Iranian support for ending their experiment in a theorcratic republic, but individual rights there wouldn't pass in the Age of Elizabeth. And Western homegrown terrorists are beyond rationality because they are people actually personally benefiting from the fruits of being in the West. They can worship as they choose and even protest corruption in the ME without the West putting them in prison. Sending money to hamas apparently got Cat Stevens on a no fly, but we didn't lock him up
The motivations for terrorism are beyond republican and dem labels, and they are just impossible to get one's mind around ... or so it seems.