Australia and the Truth About Islamic Terrorism

Islamic terrorism is not something I talk about lightly. I am writing this with a heavy heart, especially after what just happened in Australia. When I saw the reports, my first reaction was grief, grief for the Jewish people who were targeted simply for who they are. My second reaction was a familiar one, a deep ache I have felt again and again over the course of my 55 years.

I have watched terrorist attack after terrorist attack unfold in my lifetime. Different countries. Different decades. Different political climates. But the same ideological thread keeps reappearing. And at some point, honesty demands that we stop pretending we do not see it.

Islamic terrorism is not random violence. It follows a consistent global pattern rooted in doctrine, not desperation, and recent attacks in Australia and beyond make that reality impossible to ignore.

Australia Was Not an Isolated Tragedy

What happened in Australia did not come out of nowhere. It was not an aberration. It was not disconnected from the wider world. It fits a pattern that has repeated itself for decades, across continents, cultures, and governments.

In just the past several weeks, we have seen or narrowly avoided multiple terrorist attacks driven by the same ideology.

Australia was the most devastating and visible. Jewish civilians gathered for a religious observance were murdered. Their faith and identity made them the target.

In Germany, authorities stopped a planned attack on a Christmas market. The intended victims were ordinary people celebrating a Christian holiday. The motive was ideological. The target was religious.

Additional plots and attacks have occurred or been disrupted in other countries as well, including attempted attacks on public gatherings, religious sites, and civilian centers. In each case, authorities identified Islamic motivation or allegiance to Islamic terror groups. These were not political protests that escalated. They were religiously motivated acts of violence.

This is not coincidence.

This is a pattern that has played out again and again throughout my lifetime.

The Pattern Behind Islamic Terrorism

Islamic terrorism does not emerge randomly from poverty, politics, or social grievance alone. If that were the case, we would see the same pattern across every ideology and religion. We do not.

Instead, we see a very specific and consistent reality.

The majority of the world’s most active terrorist organizations today are Islamic in ideology. The majority of mass casualty terror attacks in recent decades have been carried out in the name of Islam. The targets are often Jews, Christians, or Western civilians. The justification is religious.

This does not mean every Muslim is a terrorist. I have never said that, and I never will.

But it does mean we must be honest about the belief system itself.

A religion must be judged by its authoritative teachings and by the fruit those teachings consistently produce. When a doctrine repeatedly inspires violence across cultures and generations, the problem is not misunderstanding. The problem is the doctrine.

What the Numbers Reveal About Islamic Terrorism

Out of the world’s top twenty largest and most lethal terrorist organizations today, roughly eighty five to ninety percent are Islamic in ideology. That fact alone dismantles the claim that Islamic terrorism is rare, fringe, or the result of isolated misinterpretation. When nearly every dominant terror movement in the world claims Islamic justification, the issue is not coincidence. It is systemic.

This is not just my opinion, it is a reality even secular analysts have documented when examining patterns of terrorism and violent extremism.

Muslim apologists often respond to this reality by appealing to concepts like abrogation, arguing that certain Quranic commands for violence are overridden or canceled by other verses. But even if that argument were granted, it fails the most basic test of truth. Beliefs are judged by what they produce. And what Islam produces, again and again, across nations and cultures, is religiously motivated violence against unbelievers.

Even major research organizations acknowledge that terrorism is counted as a category of religion related violence in global datasets.

Interpretation is not proven by what scholars claim in books. It is proven by how millions of adherents act when they take the faith seriously.

What Islam Teaches About Jihad

This is where the conversation usually stops, because people are uncomfortable confronting religious texts directly. But avoiding the texts does not make them disappear.

Islam is defined by the Quran and the Hadith. Those texts repeatedly command and justify violent jihad against unbelievers.

The Quran says believers are to fight those who do not believe in Allah until they submit. It speaks of striking the necks of unbelievers in battle. It praises those who wage jihad and promises reward for those who fight and kill in the name of Allah.

The Hadith go further. Muhammad is recorded as saying he was commanded to fight people until they profess Islam. Other Hadith praise violent jihad as the highest form of devotion and promise paradise to those who die while waging it.

These teachings are not obscure. They are foundational. They have been taught, interpreted, and applied for centuries.

Islam contains explicit commands and justifications for violent jihad. Those teachings are not fringe. They are part of the religion’s authoritative core.

Why the World Keeps Making Excuses

For as long as I can remember, Western leaders and media figures have rushed to explain away each new attack.

They tell us it is about mental health. Or politics. Or oppression. Or colonialism. Or anything other than what the perpetrators themselves say.

This constant deflection does not help victims. It does not prevent future attacks. And it does not honor the truth.

Denial does not save lives. Truth does.

The refusal to confront the religious roots of this violence has allowed it to continue largely unchecked. Worse, it has silenced Christians, Jews, and others who are expected to absorb attack after attack without ever naming the source.

A Biblical Lens on False Religion

As a Christian, I am not allowed to pretend that all belief systems are morally equal. Scripture does not give me that option.

Jesus did not say He was one way among many. He said He is the way, the truth, and the life. The Bible consistently teaches that false religions lead people away from God and into destruction.

A belief system that prescribes the killing of unbelievers cannot be reconciled with the God revealed in Scripture. It cannot be baptized with euphemisms. It cannot be sanitized for the sake of comfort.

That does not make Muslims my enemy. People are not the enemy.

False doctrine is.

Any belief system that commands violence against others is evil, no matter how many people sincerely believe it.

If you want to understand the difference between biblical exclusivity and worldly accusations of supremacy, I have written about that directly in Christianity Isn’t Supremacy.

Why I Am Writing This Now

Australia broke my heart. Not because it shocked me, but because it confirmed something I have seen for decades.

I am tired of pretending we do not know what is happening. I am tired of watching the same pattern repeat while leaders insist each event is unrelated to the last. And I am tired of seeing Jewish and Christian communities pay the price for our collective cowardice.

If we truly love people, we will tell them the truth. Not the comfortable truth. The real one.

Islam, judged by its own teachings and by its historical and modern fruit, is not a religion of peace. And the world will not be safer until we stop lying about that.

If you have followed my work for a while, you also know I have warned before about the cultural and political consequences of Islamic ideology in Why a Muslim Socialist Mayor Should Alarm Christians.

Arch Kennedy
Bold, Unfiltered, and Unafraid

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