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Essay on Domestic Religious Terror
History is filled with evidence that religions contain many elements of hatred and antagonism toward other religions. Consequently, fighting between enemy camps in the name of faith has not been unusual. Similarly, terrorism, as a cost-effective tool of low-intensity conflict that projects psychological intimidation and physical force in violation of law, has ancient roots.
Examples are attacks mounted[section]by Jewish religious extremists, known as the Zealot Sicarii, against the Romans in occupied Judaea, as well as the martyrdom missions of the Assassins, targeting the Crusaders in the Middle East. The former were active for 70 years in the first century, and the latter lasted some 200 years from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries.
Present-day terrorists nourished by theological roots have introduced a new scale of violence. Their threats and responses make it clear that we have entered an age of terrorism, with serious implications for national, regional, and global security concerns (Emerson, 1998). Perhaps the most significant dangers are those relating to the safety, welfare, and rights of ordinary people; the stability of the state system; the health of economic development; the expansion of democracy; and possibly the survival of civilization itself.
Operation Rescue began in 1984 as Project Life when Randall Terry, a seminary student, and his wife began standing outside an abortion clinic to dissuade potential clients from going through with their abortions. They also opened a Crisis Pregnancy Counseling Center and a home for unwed mothers. Such efforts were only modestly successful, and in 1986 the idea of doing dramatic "rescues" developed into Operation Rescue. A trial operation before a Cherry Hill, Pennsylvania, and abortion clinic brought nationwide publicity and revitalized much of the pro-life movement. Other major rescues, notably in Wichita, brought a flood of volunteers to the organization......
