What can be better than rewards on earth and in heaven?

As opposed to keeping us safe terrorism is a low cost business, but it still needs funds to operate. That is why Russia started its campaign against ISIS in Syria by blowing up its oil trucks, which had been spared all these years by the US led coalition. The Real IRA is estimated to earn 32 million pounds from smuggling and organised crime. Naxals in India finance their terror activities through extortion. So, it is established that terrorists generate funds from criminal activities but why do people become terrorists? Why would someone blow himself up for a dubious promise of afterlife? "Eli Berman suggests that altruism and an exaggerated sense of importance plays an important role in driving terrorists, including suicide attackers," says Roshan Kishore in an article. It is difficult to imagine anyone deliberately driving a truck over innocent people, including children, in a spirit of altruism, which is defined as ' a selfless act to benefit others'. Poverty is not a cause. Esteban F Klor has shown that foreign fighters in ISIS come from countries where poverty and inequality are low and Alan B Kruger and Jitka Maleckova have found that many terrorists in the world come from well to do families. Why are so many terrorists motivated by religion? Berman and David D Latin suggest that it is because religion allows access to 'club goods'. As opposed to private goods, no one is excluded from using public goods and use by one person does not decrease the amount of public goods. The best example is a street light. Club goods are restricted to members of a group but every member has full access to all the goods, for example a library accessible only to those who pay subscriptions. What do members of Taliban of Hamas pay to be members of the clubs? They pay in time, as they spend years studying religious texts. But is there no economic inducement to join terrorist organisations? Perhaps there needs to be research into similarities and differences between terrorist and criminal gangs. The Los Angeles Police site lists 5 reasons for young men joining street gangs, mainly a sense of belonging and bragging rights. But young men, with no stable employment, maybe lured with promises of lots of money, fast cars and beautiful women. ISIS propaganda promised a normal life of Eid celebrations and the thrill of extreme violence. Fighters are promised captured women as sex slaves, which is extremely exciting for inadequate men, brought up in a repressive culture. Such rape is especially enticing because it is sanctioned by religion. There is really no solution. Except to keep the filth out of our countries.