1. Introduction
2Radicalization is a process in which individuals adopt an extremist system of values, which accepts and supports the use of violence and intimidation� The objective of such attitude is to exert strong influence on society, achieve far-reaching changes, and even urge the followers to similar acts� The most extreme stage of radicalization is reached when terrorist activities are undertaken by a given individual or group�
An important tool of counteracting the phenomenon in dispute in its all stages, including terrorist activity, is a full recognition of the sources of extremism threats and identification of the most extremist environments – economic, psychologi-cal, social, political as well as religious factors that foster the development of radicalization of opinions� The way individuals perceive themselves and the en-vironment in which they exist together with the specificity of their beliefs related to extremism, are crucial� The threat of radicalization is not only the probability of violence or the risk of its use, but also the possible driving force of other forms of detrimental impact on society�
In 2011, in Poland the pioneer research program titled “Recognition, counter-action and prevention of the phenomenon of radicalization of religious opinions
1 The team members of a research project titled: “Recognition, counteraction and pre-vention of the phenomenon of radicalization of religious opinions among Islam be-lievers living in the Republic of Poland – as an element of national system of early detection of terrorist threats” conducted in the framework of the research program of the Police Academy in Szczytno titled: “Counteracting and combatting organized crime and terrorism in conditions of safe, accelerated and sustainable socio-economic development” No� O R00 0040 07)�
2 The research was realised in cooperation with the team of the Institute of Psychology at the Polish Academy of Science (pl� IP PAN), composed of: Urszula Jakubowska (manager), Janusz Reykowski (consultant), Piotr Radkiewicz, Paweł Boski, Krzysztof Korzeniowski, Bogdan Wojciszke� The project was realized in the framework of the aforementioned grant no� OR00004007 from the Ministry of Science and Higher Edu-cation during 2009–2011�
Damian Szlachter and Piotr Potejko 194
among Islam believers living in the Republic of Poland…” was conducted� The purpose of this project was to measure and assess the scale of radicalization and identify the groups exhibiting relatively strongest extremist attitudes� The research-ers also aimed at indicating psychological factors that foster the development of the discussed phenomenon� The key results of the aforementioned research are presented below�
2. Theoretical Presumptions of the Research
For the purpose of the research, it has been presumed that religious extremism means the co-occurrence of two interrelated categories of attitudes: religious funda-mentalism and agreement on employing violent actions in order to solve religious and socio-political conflicts�3 The first category, fundamentalism, was analyzed in individual (psychological) terms as a specific type of religious beliefs, irrespective of particular denomination, constituting an evidence of fundamentalist attitudes�
According to the theory devised by Altemeyer and Hunsberger,4 religious ethnocen-trism, expressed in the conviction that one’s own religion is the only truth about the world and meticulous observance of its rules constitute the condition of salvation�5 In terms of the second category (the approval of using force in solving socio-political conflicts), violent behaviors are treated as a criterion feature for the definition of political extremisms,6 including religious terrorism7 and secular terrorism�8
In the research, it has been assumed that co-occurrence of these two categories is evidential for psychological maturity for engaging in a particular situation into radical political actions of religious background� In other words, individuals who
3 U� Jakubowska, J� Reykowski, P� Radkiewicz, P� Boski, K� Korzeniowski, B� Wojciszke, Ekstremizm religijny wśród wyznawców islamu mieszkających w Polsce� Raport z ba-dań(typescript)�
4 B� Altemeyer, B� Hunsberger, Authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, quest, and prejudice, “The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion”, no� 2, 1992, pp� 113–133; B� Altemeyer, B� Hunsberger, Fundamentalism and authoritarianism, in:
Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality R�F� Palotzian, C�L� Park (eds�), Guilford Press, New York 2005, pp� 378–393�
5 Ibid�
6 U� Jakubowska, J� Reykowski, P� Radkiewicz, P� Boski, K� Korzeniowski, B� Wojciszke, Ekstremizm religijny…
7 B� Bolechow, Terroryzm, Wydawnictwo PWN, Warsaw 2010�
8 J� Horgan, Psychologia terroryzmu, Wydawnictwo PWN, Warsaw 2008; D� Szlachter, Walka z terroryzmem w Unii Europejskiej – nowy impuls, Wydawnictwo Adam Mar-szałek, Toruń 2007�
Religious Extremism among Islam Believers Living in Poland 195
show high level of both religious fundamentalism and approval of violence in solving socio-political conflicts may quite rapidly and easily undertake radical actions if they are inspired by external factors such as: strong leader, conflict, a lack of ability to fulfill their essential needs�
What is common for various isolated opinions is the belief that the world is unkind, aggressive and threatening� Scientific knowledge9 and the results of the research on religious fundamentalism indicate that experience of the world in categories of menace stems from the feeling of fear, harm, frustration and threat�10 Such attitude leads to the need of complete submission to an authority figure�11 It as well may be a political or religious leader, as an idea or notion�12
To reach the valid conclusions it is vital to find out what factors make some people become religious extremists� It has been presumed that individual dif-ferences in the level of religious extremism may stem from the configuration of specific believes about ourselves and the social world�13 For that purpose, the fol-lowing variables have been measured in the research: authoritarian personality, social trust, legitimization of social order, social cynicism, political cynicism, the feeling of collective harm, the number and quality of contacts with people and the assessment of the quality of one’s life�
3. Methodology used in the Research
Examined individuals
In the research, a group of 536 people (295 women and 241 men) was examined�14 They were purposefully selected according to the criteria of their denomination,
9 A�T� Beck, Prisoners of hate. The cognitive basis of anger, hostility, and violence, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 1999�
10 J� W� Jones, Why does religion turn violent? A psychoanalytic exploration of religious terrorism, “Psychoanalitic Review” no� 93, 2006, pp� 167–190; U� Jakubowska, W� Onisz-czenko, Genetyczne i psychospołeczne uwarunkowania postawy fundamentalistycznej religijnie, in: Przekonania w życiu jednostek, grup, społeczności A� Cisłak, K� Henne, K� Skarżyńska (eds�), Academica Wydawnictwo SWPS, Warsaw 2009, pp� 31–48�
11 B� Altemeyer, B� Hunsberger, Authoritarianism, religious…op�cit�;
12 Orthodox system of religious beliefs e�g� see: B� Altemeyer, The Authoritarian…op�cit�
13 U� Jakubowska, J� Reykowski, P� Radkiewicz, P� Boski, K� Korzeniowski, B� Wojciszke, Ekstremizm religijny …op�cit�; U� Jakubowska, Ekstremizm polityczny, Gdańskie Wy-dawnictwo Pedagogiczne, Gdansk 2005�
14 The analysis of the results comprised data form 534 people; results of 2 people were rejected because their group affinity appeared to be inconsistent with religious beliefs (e�g� Tatar-Catholic)�
Damian Szlachter and Piotr Potejko 196
ethnic origin and sex� It was assumed that the compared groups should be rela-tively equivalent in terms of age, sex and education distribution� The sample con-sisted of the following subgroups: a) 121 Muslim Poles (including 113 people of Tatar origin) and 123 Poles of denomination other than Islam/agnostics; b) 83 Chechen Muslim people and 85 refugees living in Poland of denomination other than Islam/agnostics; c) 62 foreign Muslim students and 60 foreign students of denomination other than Islam/agnostics� Table 1 presents characteristics of all groups due to sex, education, age and denomination:
Table 1: Socio-demographic characteristics of the examined groups
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) N
SEX
Woman 47 50 71 74 27 25 294
Man 36 35 50 49 35 35 240
EDUCATION
Primary 18 - 5 5 - - 28
Vocational 8 4 6 6 - - 24
Secondary general 32 39 38 39 5 1 154
Post-secondary - 11 9 14 2 - 36
Higher incomplete 2 13 14 8 47 52 136
Higher 15 17 49 51 8 7 147
AGE
16–25 13 6 18 21 54 49 161
> 25–35 32 46 21 24 7 10 140
> 35–45 23 28 23 15 - - 89
> 45–55 12 3 17 21 - - 53
> 55–65 2 2 14 17 - - 35
> 65 years 1 - 27 24 - - 52
DENOMINATION
Christian - 69 - 112 - 33 214
Islam 83 - 121 - 62 - 266
Other - 7 - - - 4 11
No denomination - 9 - 11 - 23 43
(N) 83 85 121 123 62 60 534
Legend:
(1) Muslim refugees from Chechnya (4) Polish non-Muslim (2) Non-Muslim refugees (5) Foreign Muslim students (3) Polish Muslim (6) Foreign non-Muslim students
Religious Extremism among Islam Believers Living in Poland 197
Research conditions and materials
The research was conducted from July to mid-October 2010� It was carried out in small groups and individually, with care concerning the anonymity of measurement� During the research, the examined people were asked to com-plete a complex questionnaire consisting of the instruction, particulars and measurement scales� In the instruction, there was an explanation of the goal of the research and the rules of participation� The specification included questions for sex, education level, age and denomination or lack of it� After completing the form, participants placed them inside a pile of other forms or they sent it back by post� The data was also gathered during the Muslim League congress, after the religious ceremonies, in a refugee centre and during individual meetings in the participants’ houses�
Measurement scales applied in the research together with the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of reliability:
Religious extremism
■ Religious fundamentalism�15 12 positions; α Cronbach = 0�91; examples: God has given humanity a complete, unfailing guide to happiness and salvation, which must be totally followed; No single book of religious teaching contains all the in-trinsic, fundamental truths about life (–4 – I strongly disagree, 0 – I feel neutral, +4 – I strongly agree)�
■ Approval of religious violence (scale formed for the needs of the research)�
4 positions; α Cronbach = 0�60; example: People who die for the sake of the nation are heroes deserving admiration (1 – I strongly disagree, 4 – I strongly agree)�
■ Approval of political violence�16 4 positions; α Cronbach = 0�78� The respond-ents answered the questions it is allowed to, when the intention is good, throw eggs at your political opponents and pour on them ill-smelling liquid, set bombs in various facilities, imprison or kill people (1 – I strongly disagree, 4 – I strongly agree)�
15 See: B� Altemeyer, B� Hunsberger, A revised Religious Fundamentalism Scale: The short and sweet of it, “The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion”, no� 14, 2004, pp� 47–54�
16 U� Jakubowska, Ekstremizm polityczny…op�cit�
Damian Szlachter and Piotr Potejko 198
Perceiving oneself and the social world
■ The feeling of collective harm� The respondents expressed their opinions on conditions for the development of other denominations in Poland: Catholicism, Judaism, Protestantism, Islam and Orthodox Church (1 – best conditions; 10 – worst conditions)�
■ Authoritarianism�17 By virtue of this variable it was possible to verify individu-al’s disposition to uncritical submission to authorities� 6 positions; α Cronbach
= 0�78; example: Respect should be always paid to those who are in power (1 – I strongly disagree, 4 – I strongly agree)�
■ Social trust�18 The variable verified the conviction if people are good by nature and if they may be trusted� 8 positions; α Cronbach = 0�72; examples: By nature people are friendly and kind-hearted to one another; We may say that more good than evil is being done in the world (1 – I strongly disagree, 4 – I strongly agree)�
■ Political cynicism�19 The variable measured the lack of trust in social institu-tions and disrespect for ethical rules in public life� 6 posiinstitu-tions; α Cronbach = 0�60; the respondents had to select one of six pairs of statements that is in their opinion closest to the truth, e�g� (A) Governments’ representatives usually say the truth vs� (B) We mustn’t believe in majority of statements pronounced by government’s representatives.
■ Social cynicism�20 The respondents approved or not of the conviction that preserving humanist and pro-social values in life makes no sense� 4 positions;
α Cronbach = 0�65; examples: People of good (kind) heart are often persecuted by others; Engaging in social affairs may bring only trouble to an individual (1 – I strongly disagree, 4 – I strongly agree)�
17 See: K� Korzeniowski, O wielowymiarowości autorytaryzmu, in: Demokracja w Polsce.
Doświadczanie zmian U� Jakubowska, K� Skarżyńska (eds�), Academica Wydawnictwo SWPS, Warsaw 2005, pp� 114–123�
18 U� Jakubowska, W� Oniszczenko, Genetyczne i psychospołeczne…op�cit�
19 See: P�M� Sniderman, A question of loyalty, University of California Press, Berkeley 1981�
20 P� Boski, J� Więckowska, M� Biłas-Henne, Cynicism in Love and in Politics, in:, Psycho-logical aspects of socialaxioms K� Leung, M� H� Bond (eds�), Springer Verlag, New York 2008, pp� 239–267�