Can Islamic Fundamentalism Relate to Nonviolent Support? The Role of Certain Conditions in Moderating the Effect of Islamic Fundamentalism on Supporting Acts of Terrorism

The present study aims to understand when and how acts of terrorism are supported and denounced by Islamic fundamentalists in Indonesia. We predicted that the belief in establishing Islam peacefully and rationalization of violent action would moderate the Islamic fundamentalism-support for acts of terrorism relationship. The result of the research of 309 Muslim participants shows that the relationship between Islamic fundamentalism and support for terrorism acts was positively significant for Muslims holding low belief in establishing Islam peacefully and high rationalization of violent attack. However, the relationship was negatively significant at high level of belief in establishing Islam peacefully and rationalization of violent attack. The findings indicate that Islamic fundamentalism may potentially support violent as well as nonviolent acts under some certain conditions.