To the Best of Our Knowledge: Inside the Mind of a Human Bomb

In this hour, Russell Razzaque is a London psychologist who has first hand experience of terrorist recruitment methods. As a young medical student, he joined an Islamic student group but left when it turned militant. Today, he advises the British government on how to keep young British Muslims away from terrorists.

Next, Islamic jihadists aren't the only religious terrorists. Across the religious spectrum -- Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu -- militant groups espouse sacred terror. James Jones is an authority on militant religious movements and says they have more in common with other than with their own faiths.

Then, in the wake of 9/11, Americans were warned to brace themselves for an onslaught of terrorist violence. It hasn't happened. Sociologist Charles Kurzman says many of our fears are unfounded: not only are terrorist groups marginal in the Muslim world, the real bulwark against Islamist violence is Muslims themselves.

After that, if someone wants to kill you, should you talk to them? Anthropologist Scott Atran has spent a decade talking with jailed suicide bombers and jihadist leaders. He says they're motivated by core human values: brotherhood, loyalty and the dream of a better world.

And finally, Pakistani psychologist Feriha Peracha directs an experimental school designed to de-radicalize Taliban boy soldiers. She says many of her young students were forcibly recruited to the Taliban and trained to wear suicide vests. Now, they're ready to go home again. [Broadcast Date: September 14, 2011]