I was surprised to discover that Stein's conclusions on the 9/11 suicide bombers were similar to conclusions I've reached based on studying Hitler and Nazism: collective acts of violence grew out of attachment to and defense of an entity conceived as omnipotent.
Nazism was a religion. Hitler declared, “We do not want to have any other God, only Germany.” Hitler's role was that of a preacher who inspired his flock to worship the German nation. Deutschland ueber Alles (“Germany Above All”), Hitler explained, was a “profession of faith that fills millions with a strength that is mightier than any earthly might.” Our love for our people, he said, will never falter, and our “faith in this Germany of ours is imperishable.”
People with a fanatic belief in Allah call those who do not believe in Allah--"infidels." Nazism also revolved around the identification of infidels--non-believers. The other side of the coin of faith in Germany was anger toward those who did not share the faith. Hitler declared:
We are fanatic in our love for our people. We can go as loyally as a dog with those who share our sincerity, but will pursue with fanatical hatred the man who believes that he can play tricks with this love of ours.
Well before Islamic terrorism became prominent, I was using the phrase “death to the non-believers” to crystallize my understanding of why Hitler felt compelled to exterminate Jews. Hitler conceived of Jews as people who did not worship Germany sufficiently: were unwilling to embrace and surrender to the national community.
Hitler became enraged contemplating the idea that some people sought to avoid sacrificing for Germany. The essence of the Jew, Hitler believed, was precisely the Jew's inability or unwillingness to become devoted to a national community--and to make sacrifices in the name of this community.
Bin Laden—like Hitler—felt that everyone had to embrace and worship the object that he embraced and worshipped. There could be no exceptions. Bin Laden stated that—according to the Muslim religion—Allah has “created us for the purpose of worshipping him.” As a corollary to this proposition, Muslims are required by God to punish people who do not worship Allah.
Citing the Qur’an, Bin Laden urged believers to fight for the cause of Allah and to kill pagans “wherever they are found.” When a believer meets an unbeliever, he said, the believer is encouraged to “smite the neck” of the unbeliever: to fight those who “believe not in Allah.” The purpose of Jihad is to rouse the believers in order to “restrain the fury of the non-believers.”
According to Hitler, every single German was required to embrace and to serve and embrace Germany. No one was exempt. There “cannot be a single person,” Hitler proclaimed, who “excludes himself from this obligation.” The aim of National Socialism was dictatorship of the “whole people, the community.”
In spite the enormous popularity that National Socialism had achieved, Hitler believed that there still were a few “incurables” who had “never understood the happiness of belonging to this great, inspiring community.” Nazism revolved around eliminating these incurables, “party poopers” who—Hitler imagined—refused to embrace and devote themselves to Germany.
Like Bin Laden, Hitler encouraged followers to “smite the neck” of those who did not bow down to Germany: to kill people who did not believe in Nazism (wherever these people might be found). The Final Solution was a massive act of terroristic violence, the purpose of which was to punish—eliminate—infidels.