Expert: 20 percent of Islamic State converts were Christian

UNITED NATIONS — A terrorism expert says about 20 percent of the recruits to the Islamic State extremist group are from Christian families and three-quarters of those who become foreign fighters for militant groups do it through their friends.

Scott Atran, co-founder of the Center for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict at Oxford University, says research has found that only one in five young people are recruited by a family member and that “radicalization rarely occurs in mosques” and very, very rarely through anonymous recruiters and strangers.

He told a meeting on “Foreign Terrorist Fighters” Tuesday organized by the U.N. Security Council’s counter-terrorism committee that “it is the call to glory and adventure that moves these young people to join the Islamic State” and that “jihad offers them a way to become heroes.”

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