Power not Poverty
Reader comment on item: God and Mammon: Does Poverty Cause Militant Islam?

Submitted by Benjamin Orion (United States), Jul 22, 2005 at 15:00

This article persuasively argues an important point: it is power and not poverty that motivates the Islamic fundamentalists. We really need to spend MUCH more time thinking about this. It explains so much and puts militant Islam in its proper moral context. We always assume that conflicts are about redressing wrongs, whether real or perceived. It has become unfashionable to consider sheer lust for power and prestige as the driving force behind political or social movements.

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