9 Ways to Take Religion Back from Extremists

Last weekend at Bondi Beach, families gathered to celebrate Hanukkah—an event meant to fill a public space with light, food, and joy. Instead, it became the site of Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in decades that killed people across generations, including a child, a rabbi, and a Holocaust survivor. Police and Australian intelligence agencies say it was an anti-Semitic attack carried out by radical Jihadist gunmen allegedly motivated by ISIS ideology.

Extremism like this doesn’t grow out of religion—it hijacks it. Across history, violent movements have twisted nearly every major faith to justify harm: a white supremacist invoking Christian identity murdered worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018; Islamist extremists killed hundreds in the Sri Lanka Easter bombings in 2019; Buddhist nationalists have incited violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar; Hindu extremists have attacked religious minorities in India; and far-right militants have carried out mass violence in the name of a “Christian Europe,” as in Norway in 2011. Different doctrines. Same pattern.

What these movements share isn’t theology: it’s fear, isolation, grievance, and a hunger for certainty in a chaotic world. When people feel ignored or unmoored, rigid ideologies offer something comforting: simple answers, clear enemies, and instant belonging. Even within faith groups, there is often division and derision, especially now that nationalism and fundamentalism have become more mainstream.

Every major religion calls for humility, compassion, and care for the vulnerable. Extremists don’t represent faith communities—they exploit them. That’s why pushing back doesn’t mean attacking religion or litigating belief online. It means supporting the overwhelming majority of people of faith who want their values to build trust, protect neighbors, and hold communities together rather than tear them apart. 

Here are 9 practical ways to do exactly that.

1. Support Local Faith Leaders Who Preach Unity

Most pastors, rabbis, imams, priests, and lay leaders are doing quiet, unglamorous work to keep their communities grounded. Like Movement Partner Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, who preaches curiosity, courage, and “fierce love”—even for people who hate you. 

A 2025 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center shows that most religious Americans support coexistence with other faiths, believing that religious diversity strengthens U.S. society.

Supporting these leaders by attending events, sharing their work, or helping fund community programs amplifies moderation and makes extremism less attractive.

2. Teach People How Manipulation Works

Extremist movements don’t recruit with doctrine first. They recruit with emotion: fear, humiliation, outrage, and a threat to identity.

Teaching media literacy, emotional manipulation tactics, and critical thinking—especially in churches, mosques, synagogues, and youth groups—helps people recognize when faith is being weaponized.

Groups like Moonshot use media literacy and prevention programs to disrupt radicalization before it turns violent. They teach us to ask: Who is telling this story, and what do they want me to feel? Is this presenting evidence or just repeating worst-case examples? Is disagreement being framed as evil or dangerous rather than human? Does this message leave space for compassion, humility, and doubt?

3. Create Exit Ramps for People Getting Pulled In

Leaving extremism is hard both socially and emotionally. Sometimes, exiting such a group can be physically dangerous.

Organizations like Life After Hate specialize in helping people disengage from extremist movements safely and rebuild their lives with compassionate, evidence-based interventions. These interventions are helmed by “formers” — people who have been de-radicalized from extremist groups themselves and can exemplify a positive future free from the extremist group. 

4. Call Out Hate Without Attacking Whole Communities

Condemning violence is necessary. Blaming entire religions is counterproductive. When we treat millions of peaceful people as a single threat, we reinforce the “us vs. them” story extremists depend on. 

After 9/11, spikes in discrimination and hate crimes against Muslim communities were exploited by violent groups as proof that coexistence was impossible, helping fuel further radicalization . 

The goal is to isolate harmful ideas, not entire faith traditions.

5. Give People Meaningful Ways to Belong

Extremist groups often succeed where communities fail to provide a sense of belonging.

Sociologists studying radicalization consistently find that identity and purpose matter as much as ideology. People don’t just join extremist movements because of beliefs. They join because they want to matter.

Community service programs, faith-based volunteer work, and cross-community projects give people a healthier sense of mission. Groups like our partner organization One America hold workshops and build faith networks across the country with the goal of fighting extremism and building resilience to toxic polarization. 

Belonging doesn’t have to come with an enemy.

6. Shrink Online Radicalization Pipelines

Social media algorithms reward content that promotes outrage, certainty, and fear—the same emotions extremists rely on.

A 2021 study found that YouTube recommendation systems can amplify extremist content. And how social media platforms moderate extremist content leaves much to be desired. Research shows that when major platforms crack down, extremist groups simply migrate to smaller or encrypted spaces, then re-enter mainstream platforms with toned-down messaging. Recent rollbacks in moderation at large platforms have made this cycle even easier.

To complicate matters, moderation can become fodder for extremist recruiters, who point to social media censorship as evidence that their ideology is being suppressed by the powers that be. 

Tamar Mitts, a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, argues that due to the atomization of the social media environment, the solution isn’t platform-by-platform crackdowns, but rather coordinated, ecosystem-wide moderation standards—especially for universally harmful content, such as calls for violence—supported by shared tools and databases such as ROOST. 

7. Strengthen Schools and Youth Programs

Young people are especially vulnerable during identity-forming years.

Groups like Interfaith Youth Core aim to teach children civic engagement, empathy, and pluralism to reduce susceptibility to extremist narratives later in life.

Schools, after-school programs, and faith-based youth groups can serve as protective factors—not by preaching politics, but by building social trust and resilience.

8. Address the Real Pain Under the Anger

Economic insecurity, loneliness, trauma, and social dislocation fuel extremism far more than theology.

The RAND Corporation has found that grievance and perceived injustice are among the strongest predictors of radicalization.

Policies and programs that reduce isolation—mental health access, job training, addiction support, and community rebuilding—cut extremism off at the root.

Our government made significant strides in addressing this pain in 2025. Across the country, 29 states enacted 75 bills focused on expanding workforce support, crisis response systems, and school-based mental health initiatives.

9. Build Real Relationships Across Differences

Extremism thrives in isolation. Relationships interrupt it.

Decades of research show that personal contact across differences reduces prejudice and radical thinking. When people actually know someone from another faith, race, or political background, extreme narratives lose their power.

Programs like our partner organization Interfaith America help colleges, workplaces, and communities build real interfaith relationships—not just panels or debates, but shared projects and friendships.

Bridging divides is the best way to keep fear from hijacking something meant to give people hope.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis