# ISIS and the power of religion

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-and-the-power-of-religion/697473>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 4, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-and-the-power-of-religion/697473 "2014-09-04T14:07:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-and-the-power-of-religion/697473/21 "2014-09-06T15:57:34Z")

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> [@delphica](#):
>
> The most telling descriptor in **Richard Parker’s** site, for me, is underemployed. While there will always be individuals who are religious fanatics and probably dangerous, when you’re looking at an entire demographic, economic forces are a huge factor. People who feel successful and invested in their quality of life and secure about their economic situation, no matter how devout they are personally, are a lot less likely to rise up in a religious war. If you have nice things, you’re going to be more inclined to stick with the status quo.

True to a point. Remember that most of the 9/11 hijackers were educated young men, who could have been successful professionals back at home. The ones from Saudi Arabia probably did not come from the unemployed classes, if there even is such a thing among Saudi citizens.

But I think your point is well taken wrt recruiting a large number of fighters on home soil.

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