The terrorists who stormed a church in the Jordanian city of Karak did not simply wake up one morning and decide to attack the church and commit a horrific massacre. They had absorbed extremist ideology until every trace of humanity had been stripped from them, turning them into savages consumed by a thirst for blood.
What makes a person who was once an ordinary, peaceful child become a terrorist who kills innocent people in cold blood, believing that he is performing a righteous deed that will earn him a place in paradise?
There is only one answer, and no other: religious hatred. The equation is clear, despite attempts to confuse and obscure it. Religious hatred leads to extremism, and extremism leads to terrorism. Eliminating religious hatred is the foundation of any solution. Without it, we will continue to see terrorists emerge, time and again, in one country after another.
Reverse the equation, however, and the outcome changes. Building a culture from the outset on genuine tolerance, not merely the appearance of it, and respect for human dignity will raise well-adjusted children and foster a healthy society that does not breed extremists and terrorists. In other words, eliminating extremism is a necessary condition for eliminating terrorism. Otherwise, we will remain trapped in a vicious cycle.
We have repeated the same story so often that it has become tiresome. Security personnel perform heroic acts to prevent terrorists from committing massacres, but they face an impossible task. They are like people trying to hold back the waves of the sea with their bare hands. They cannot wrest the gun from a terrorist's hand at the last possible moment every single time. Nor can security forces prevent the spread of the culture of extremism and hatred propagated by hardliners. That is neither within their power nor their responsibility.
That responsibility belongs to educational, religious and social institutions, as well as families. Instilling tolerance in the minds and hearts of new generations from the very beginning is one of the greatest responsibilities governments must undertake.
It is no easy task, given the legacy of extremism that has taken shape over recent decades as extremist groups and their rhetoric came to dominate Arab societies through the media and education.
But it is a responsibility that cannot be avoided. Otherwise, we will witness more massacres committed by terrorists who were once ordinary, well-adjusted children, but whom we left vulnerable to extremist ideology until we ourselves became its victims.
