Religiosity, Religious Fundamentalism, and Perceived Threat as Predictors of Muslim Support for Extremist Violence

Religion is often seen as one of the main causes of extremist violence, such as suicide attacks. Because empirical studies analyzing this purported relationship are scarce, we investigated how religious practices and attitudes, perceived threat, and demographic variables contribute to support for extremist violence. We analyzed multinational face-to-face interview data for native Muslims with a final sample size of N = 6,576. Using multilevel ordinal regression, we found that increased support for extremist violence was strongly predicted by social religious activities and perceived threat. Conversely, aspects of individual religiosity and even religious fundamentalism were associated with a decrease in support for extremist violence. Demographic variables showed small or no significant effects. Important practical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.