Who's afraid of the religious wolf? (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

Who's afraid of the religious wolf?

3:39pm Wednesday 5th August 2009

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The high-profile terror trial of the men accused of plotting to blow up transatlantic flights is finally coming to a close this week.

The judge is now in the middle of summing up the case, which means going back over an enormous amount evidence - something that could take up to a week, apparently. This means the jury haven't been sent out yet and because four of the defendants are from Waltham Forest, it also means I spent most of the day in Woolwich at the crown court on Monday.

It was interesting to say the least. The body of evidence is vast and complex and a lot of it has to do with the concentration of hydrogen peroxide required to create an improvised explosive. I'm not much further ahead, having listened to the judge talk about it for an hour - not that I would have done anything with the information if I were!

It was also interesting to learn that a case with such potentially terrifying implications could quite easily be stripped of all excitement and drama. The summing up looks set to be an intense process, full of minute detail and close observations, and I noticed at least one person nodding off during Monday's session. The challenge, therefore, is to inject some of that drama back in.

The story is an unsettling one. The alleged plotters are accused of planning to smuggle enough explosives onboard flights to the US and Canada to cause 'death on an unprecedented scale'. The prosecution claims they would have stripped out AA batteries and placed modified light bulbs inside, filled with explosive mixture. Soft drinks bottles would allegedly also have been filled with the mixture and detonated in order to bring down the planes.

And secret recordings made in a Walthamstow flat apparently show the accused laughing and joking while talking about the supposed plot. The possible consequences of such a plot don't even bear thinking about, but it is nonetheless alarming to imagine the thought even entered anyone's mind.

It also calls into question the nature of religion and belief. It has been claimed throughout that the accused were planning to carry out the attacks in the name of Islam. And it's because of cases like this one that Islam has become the new by-word for extremism and fanaticism, leading to widespread fear of the religion as a whole, however unfounded.

It's funny how closely linked the two seem to be - religion and terrorism, that is. It wasn't so very long ago that Irish Catholic extremists were to blame for terrorism in this country and it was they who were hated and feared. It's perhaps not such a very big leap to claim a link between the two as such intense devotion can lead to some very strange behaviour, but it's easy to forget that religion is not the sole cause of terrorist acts.

Animal rights activists, environmental campaigners and perhaps even anti-war protestors have been known to commit acts of violence in the name of their respective causes. But because religious belief is so ubiquitous, it appears that extremist behaviour is more common among those who believe than those who don't.

Moving on from there, before I end up starting a debate I didn't mean to start, I am going on holiday for a grand total of TWO WHOLE DAYS as of tomorrow. Therefore, in my absence, please contact assistant editor Jonathan Bunn either by emailing jbunn@london.newsquest.co.uk or calling the Epping office on 01992 572 285.