"I think it's difficult for most of us in the West to understand the thinking and motivation behind religious extremism."

It shouldn't be at all hard for people to understand it. They simply need to remember that religion can be taken up as a cause, just as politics can. Far, far, far greater death and destruction has been caused for political reasons, as opposed to religious reasons.

It's also true that 'religious extremism' today is intertwined with politics. Islamic extremists don't simply want people to follow their religion, they want to establish political states based on their religion.