ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the growing threat of religious violence, the potential use
of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) as a tool to achieve a “religious goal,”
the expanse of global transfer systems as the mechanism for ideological extremist
groups to obtain WMD, and the ideological evolution of two very different
groups, the Aum Shinrikoy Movement in Japan and the Al Qaeda terrorist
organization, in their development of an apocalyptic mindset. The groups were
chosen because they are global in reach and their difference compels us to
recognize that they represent both a dangerous trend that defies region, and they
represent a diversity of apocalyptic ideological belief.
