Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2006, Page 86
Book Reviews
Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill
Jessica Sterns, Harper Perennial (a division of Harper Collins): New York,
September 1, 2004. ISBN 0060505338 (paperback) $15.95. 400 pages.
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, numerous books about terrorism have been
published. Most of the authors did not have direct contact with terrorists as data sources
instead, they relied on secondary sources and cited those few individuals who have had
direct contact. In her book Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill, Dr.
Jessica Stern interviewed terrorists and presumed terrorist supporters on their home
ground.
Until Dr. Stern‘s book was published, most of the authors who had direct contact with
terrorists were either journalists or former counter-terrorism agents. Dr. Stern‘s book is
therefore unusual because she is a trained social scientist who spent four years collecting
primary data. She is to be commended for her courage in undertaking this enterprise, which
she did in spite of her acknowledged fears.
Dr. Stern has a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University, and she is a faculty affiliate
at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. She has served on the National
Security Council, specializing in the threat of nuclear smuggling and terrorism in Russia and
the former Soviet states. She has been a super-terrorism fellow at the Council of Foreign
Relations and a national fellow at the Hoover Institute. She has published numerous articles
and books on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. She clearly has the background
and expertise to write an academic treatise on terrorists for her fellow scholars and
researchers. In this case, she has instead written a very readable book for the general
public that is an interesting blend of personalized journalism and social science.
Overview
In her introduction, Dr. Stern states that she limited her research to terrorists who are
religiously motivated because she considers religious terrorists to be the most dangerous
individuals in the world today. Also in this section, Dr. Stern acknowledges that her field-
interview and survey data-collection methods did not constitute fully controlled experiments
with random selection to experimental and control groups. This is an important point that
applies to all research on cults and extremist groups. These closed, insular groups cannot be
studied with the best scientific methods, and therefore any conclusions made about these
groups are empirically questionable.
Dr. Stern divides her book into two sections. Part I is entitled Grievances That Give Rise to
Holy War. In the five chapters in this section, Dr. Stern uses the data from her interviews
and surveys to answer the following question: Why do people respond to religious
grievances by joining terrorist groups, and once they join, what makes them stay? Dr. Stern
concludes that there are five ―grievances‖ (reasons) that cause individuals to join and stay
in these groups. Each chapter in Part I is devoted to one of these five grievances:
Alienation, Humiliation, Demographics, History, and Territory. Although she has separated
these grievances into separate chapters, Dr. Stern recognizes that behavior is determined in
multiply ways, and that joiners have a complex set of reasons for their actions.
In Part II, entitled Holy War Organizations, Dr. Stern addresses this question: How do
leaders run holy-war organizations? In chapters 6, 8, and 9, she focuses on different types
of terrorist organizations, and on the different kinds of relationships that exist between cult
leaders and their followers. The focus in chapter 7 is on individuals who engage in terrorist
actions apparently without the approval or support of a group or organization. In chapter

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2006, Page 87
10, Dr. Stern makes counterterrorism policy recommendations based on her data collection
and on her experience.
Part I: Grievances That Give Rise to Holy War
In chapter 1 (―Alienation‖) Dr. Stern interviews former members of a domestic right-wing,
extremist hate group, called the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA). Like
most cults, the CSA was based on a charismatic leader, and it practiced many typical cult
behaviors identified by Margaret Singer, Robert Lifton, and other cult researchers. The cult
was located in an isolated environment, members were not allowed to receive any outside
messages or information, and members had to give up all vestiges of their pre-cult
identities. The leader and the other cult members became the only reality for each member.
Dr. Stern concludes that these behaviors occurred because CSA members became
increasingly alienated from mainstream society.
Chapter 2 (―Humiliation‖) is essentially an abbreviated history of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict from the Palestinian viewpoint. In 1999, Dr. Stern interviewed Hamas and Fatah
officials in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as Israeli counter-terrorism officials. She
concludes that the Palestinians have been militarily, economically, and culturally humiliated
by the Israelis, both historically and in the present, and that this humiliation leads to a
continuous supply of Palestinian suicide bombers.
In Chapter 3 (―Demographics‖), Dr. Stern describes how population shifts alter the balance
between competing religious groups. The Soeharto regime in Indonesia supported the
movement of Muslims from overcrowded islands to underpopulated islands with indigenous
Christian populations. In some cases, Christians reacted violently, which led to the
formation of Islamic terrorist groups in Indonesia who attack Christians and other minorities
and the Indonesian government.
Chapter 4 (―History‖) examines the impact of selective historical memory on extremist
behavior. Right-wing Jewish extremists wanted to destroy Muslim holy sites in Israel, to
restore the Temple of Solomon, and to expand Israeli borders to their biblical dimensions.
Dr. Stern uses their story to demonstrate how historical interpretation can be used to
sustain a long-term grievance of one group against another, thus leading to a continuing
cycle of violence.
Chapter 5 (―Territory‖) describes the Indian-Pakistani Kashmir conflict from the viewpoint of
various participants. In this chapter, Dr. Stern makes the point that competing groups
imbue disputed land with sacred and/or nationalist characteristics, thereby making land
something more than just a natural resource. Extremist groups on both sides use the
sacredness of the land to fuel the grievance process of potential joiners and supporters.
Part II: Holy-War Organizations
In chapter 6 (―Inspirational Leaders and Their Followers‖), Dr. Stern discusses her
interviews with leaders of the ―save-the-babies‖ movement, a violent subgroup of the right-
to-life movement. These leaders describe a new form of extremist organizational structure
called ―leaderless resistance.‖ This is a disturbing extension of the cult organizational model
into the Internet age. Similar to traditional violent cults, this group uses a charismatic,
transformational leader to inspire followers to commit violent acts. However, these followers
are only inspired. The leaders do not explicitly order followers to engage in these acts.
Those who engage in the acts do not live with the leaders or with other followers, and they
do not regularly communicate with anyone in the movement. This new ―virtual reality‖
extremist organizational structure is also used by Al-Qaeda, which Dr. Stern describes in
chapter 9. This structure is much more difficult for law enforcement and security agencies to
monitor and penetrate.