Running Head: BELIEF AND REASON 1

BELIEF AND REASON

Name

Institution
BELIEF AND REASON 2

Belief refers to a state of mind where a person has a perception and believes that

something is the case with the presence or absence of proof that the something is actually the

case. It is also seen as a mental representation of a positive attitude towards the possibility of

something being the truth. Reason, on the other hand, refer to the basis or the cause of some

facts, actions or events such as war. Belief and reason are correlated in that reasons could be the

basis of a belief and a belief could be a reason for some action [ CITATION Ste04 \l 1033 ].

Belief systems are a set of supportive beliefs which can be religious, political,

philosophical, and ideological or a combination of all. The beliefs of an organization or a system

play a part in the overall definition, behavior, and motivation of the group, therefore, influencing

their actions. Most terror attacks and activities have been executed on the basis of beliefs in an

organization. Impacts and counter-terror strategies are normally influenced by the beliefs as was

the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings

The brothers, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, were motivated and fuelled by the

extreme Islamic beliefs though they were associated with no terrorist groups and were working

alone though it was perceived that they learned to build bombs from an online English –language

magazine of Al Qaeda [ CITATION COO13 \l 1033 ]. The brothers were radicalized over time and

acted partly due to anger as a result of alienation and abandoning by their governments.

Dzhokhar in an interrogation revealed that together with his deceased brother were motivated by

religious extremism [ CITATION Ray14 \l 1033 ]

It is evident that beliefs and reason are related act hand in hand. Beliefs are the founding

reasons of some events and reasons as well could be the basis of a belief. The belief was the

reason that propelled the staging and execution of the Boston bombings in 2013 by the two

brothers.
BELIEF AND REASON 3

References

COOPER, M., SCHMIDT, M. S., & SCHMITT, E. (2013, April 23). Boston Suspects Are Seen

as Self-Taught and Fueled by Web. Retrieved from New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/us/boston-marathon-bombing-developments.html?

pagewanted=all&_r=0

Sternberg, R. J., & Leighton, P. J. (2004). The Nature of Reasoning. New York: The Press

Syndicate of the University of Cambridge.

Surette, R. (2014). Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice. Boston: Wadsworth Publishing.