The topic of religion often evokes sentimental reaction, which clouds judgment, but in the following, I attempt to address so-called "radical Islam" from a secular point of view.
To begin, let us address the phenomenon of people pretending to be something they are not in order to be a part of a larger social group.
A dilettante is someone who professes to have an interest in a branch of knowledge, for example a craft, without actually having substantial knowledge or self-discipline in that craft, or body of knowledge.
A dilettante is someone who only has a superficial interest in order to identify with a larger social group because of either peer pressure or in order to gain self-esteem.
This is exemplified in pop culture by trends. People jumping on the bandwagon, so to speak, when something becomes popular.
For example, when the Leafs make the playoffs we see a rise in the number of their fans, but the truly dedicated fans are the ones who watch their team even when they are having a losing season.
This typical human quality of wanting to be a part of something bigger, like a social group, may be explained by the need to increase one’s self-esteem since, according to social psychology, one of the two main ways to increase self-confidence is through social status. (The other is through personal achievements).
Now for an example of dedication in regards to religion.
A co-worker identifying himself as a Sikh once told me he was not “full Sikh” even though he wore a turban. He seemed educated in his culture and explained to me how there are levels of Sikhism which correlate to the individual’s level of dedication to their religion.
In his case, wearing a turban put him at a relatively high level of Sikh, but there were other aspects of his personal habits and lifestyle that could have been more in line with his faith, according to him.
Now turning to Christianity, C.S. Lewis claims in his book Mere Christianity that it is impossible for people to be like Jesus, because we always fall short (although through the journey, one achieves self-development).
Lewis explains his view drawing from his own life experiences trying to implement Christian principles into his lifestyle choices.
Lewis, like my Sikh co-worker, feels there are levels to his religion, depending on the level of self-discipline of the particular individual identifying themselves with their particular faith.
If there are levels to Sikhism and Christianity, can we apply this same logic to Islam? If so, could these so-called Muslim terrorists actually just be dilettantes, and not really Muslim at all?
Maybe they are simply violent people claiming to be something they are not, in order to justify their despicable actions.