I don't think you understand the psychology behind radicalization. People don't become radicalized by simply reading a book or listening to a sermon; they become radicalized by having certain beliefs consistently reinforced and rewarded, by being isolated from anyone who thinks differently, and through the weaponization of grievance (both real and imagined).
I think you're the one who doesn't understand here.
Listen, what you said is absolutely right. Radicalization comes from a societal push to be radical, thinking that your side is objectively better and that alone gives you the right to literally slaughter who isn't on your side.
This is exactt the aim of Islam, pure and simple, book and sermons including. The terrorist who kills the infidel innocent civilians, lies about why he did it, the does it again lives out Islam in a more true sense than any sensible muslim, who'd preach (((the religion of peace))) out of his ignorance.
Social pressure can be a very powerful thing, and once the entire community around you is radicalized in this way, it can be very difficult for most people not to fall into it themselves.
You must literally be killed if you leave Islam. In the west, these murders happen rare enough that the media can allow itself to shut the fuck up about it. In the muslim wastelands, that shit is an everyday occurance. Just last week there was a horrible story from Africa where a bunch of these goons caught up with an ex muslim family and drenched them in acid.
This is essentially the story of what's happened throughout much of the Muslim world, but I've not seen much evidence that it had to end up this way.
Did you look for it?
The Bible contains many passages which are abhorrent to our modern sensibilities,
Like what? Stoning people to death in a harsh and hostile tribal environment? That part is there. There are also parts in the very same books that speak of showing mercy. And that's just the Old Testament.
In the New Testament it is explicitly said that you should forgive your enemies and turn the other cheek. Many Christians like to argue that it doesn't mean what it means, but it does mean what it means and the Bible itself speaks how no man is truly righteous and cannot truly follow such a path, but must try to none the less. In Islam you have nothing like this, but the complete opposite.
yet most Christians are not radicalized by them in the same way. Why is that?
Like I said, Christianity isn't about violent taking over of power structures, but of denying such and overcoming your old self for a new self reflecting Christ's teaching of peace.
Could it be because the cultural reinforcers of fanaticism are far more crucial a factor than whatever doctrinal basis people may find to justify it?
By this reason, Christianity should have a far more violent dogma attached to it throughout history, which it does not, all the while Islam should be more about peace, which it was never about peace in its history.
I'm not ignoring circumstances though, nor am I giving Islam a free pass. I think that the Muslim world would be infinitely better if it was secular,
That's like saying that the muslim world should ditch Islam and become Communist. This is not the answer.
but let's not ignore the destabilizing factors which have prevented that part of the world from advancing like the West has, such as colonialism, mercantile exploitation, constant invasions, lack of fertile land, the Mongols burning the libraries, etc.
Islam does these things to this day purely by religious dictate. They destroy archeological sites, they practice the slave trade, wage open and shadow warfare on each other and destroy their infrastructure. Mongols be damned, they came and gone, the muslims are still here to this day.
Had the geography and politics been flipped,
That is just naive. If Europe or the Americas have had the same violent ideology that Islam proposes, we would all be living in a global middle east state today. All the while if the Bizantine Empire hadn't fallen to the Ottoman sex fiend lunatics, it would be a far better world today in the same violent middle east of today. Maybe not perfect, but far better.
who knows how different Islam and Christianity
It's really not that hard to guess. One is a faith in a savior who died for everybody, preaching peace, the other is a plethora of lies bent on world domination and killing anyone who doesn't buy into your shit.
and it's not like Christianity didn't go through periods where it was just as fanatical, deranged, and reactionary as Islamist ideology is today.
See, here you again compare two completely different ideologies. Christianity had its bad moments, then they went away. Islam, since the very days of Muhammad himself, never had peace to this very day and it itself says there will never be peace until the whole world is forced to submit to it.
I'm sorry, you seem like a rational person. But you have literally 0 idea about how religion works in society and how important it actually is, and how much of a wacko lunatic factory Islam really is.
