Religiously Motivated Terrorism: A Systematic Review Exploring Causal Pathways

Religiously inspired terrorism is a broad and contested notion. In the literature, it includes reference to acts including 'Islamist', ‘ultra-Zionist’, and 'Christofascist’ violence. A systematic review of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies published between September 2001 and April 2018 highlighted 1275 papers, of which twelve research studies met the inclusion criteria. CRITICAL FINDINGS Findings indicate both religious and nationalist motivators for terrorist activities, rooted in a sense of grievance, often fuelled by geopolitical sensitivities. Religious motivators tend to be associated with lower educational attainment, but education has a positive impact on modifying violent extremist beliefs. IMPLICATIONS OF THE REVIEW FOR POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH Prisons form a ready setting for such educational activity, although it should target the individual since group disengagement from terror networks is rare. There are significant methodological limitations to the retrieved evidence, which presents a pressing need for further research to improve both conceptual understanding and effective responses to the phenomenon of religiously inspired terrorism.