I haven't either.
I view it like this. The vast number of people who are religious are not extremists.
There is another point to add and that is very few extremists become terrorists.
Exactly. I think a lot of it is, when and what is filling these extremists heads with hate. A lot of children follow their parents lead and that's probably what happened to the son at Bondi's shooting.
Our influence is usually moulded in what we see and what happens to us, particularly through puberty and maybe living in harsh environments and who are our role models.
I don't think extremists are any different to those who lived a thousand years ago.
We have millions of more people and more exposure to media of all sorts.
Religious extremism isn't new and not because of their olive complexion.
The Crusades were explicitly religious wars.
From the late 11th century onward, crusaders were told they were:
Acting on God’s will
Guaranteed forgiveness of sins
Fighting a holy war against “infidels”
They Crusaders (including
English,
French, German, and other European forces) committed acts that today would unquestionably be called extremist violence:
Massacres of civilians, including women and children (e.g. Jerusalem, 1099)
Forced conversions or execution
Slaughter of Jewish communities in Europe en route to the Holy Land
Destruction of entire towns in the name of faith.
I can't condone violence, no matter what the colour of their skin is
nor the persecution of someone's peaceful faith.