[Vautrin]

"Divine" depends of course on your interpretation of the purpose of your existence. Some find it in extremist interpretations of a religion, others in the believe that the human race is a plague on this planet. Still others find it in political goals (Rote Armee Faction, ETA).

These people are highly convinced of the righteousness of their cause. And, in all probability have tried to get what they want in other ways. Here in the West you can turn to political parties and get people who stand for your idea elected. At least that is the theory. It does not work that way in a lot of countries. Even supposedly democratic countries as Egypt and Pakistan are more dictatorships than anything else. These dictators have often the support of the same Western countries that are now threatened by terrorist attacks.

If these regimes are doing one thing well, that is to crush moderate opposition. You can be a liberal in Egypt, but if there is nothing to vote for, there is little point in that. For people who are not satisfied with how things stand, there is little point in taking a secular approach to matters - it simply does not offer any opportunity to get results.
Thus inviting more and more people, due to the ineffectiveness of the secular opposition, to more extremist resistance.

What terror is supposed to do, differs with the exact motivation of the group undertaking these attacks. In the case of the RAF the perpetrators had clearly political ideals in mind - but unlike they had anticipated, it only caused a bigger and bigger rift between the members of the RAF and the general public.

As for the fear, it is sadly not too hard to come up with rationalistic justifications - just as in a real war. If the Americans are allowed to do this or that to our own people (and this is identication with a group of people by the terrorists), then surely we are allowed to do the same to them: "If the enemy tortures in Abu Graib, or Guantanamo, why should we not be allowed the same? If the enemy kills innocent civilians, why should not we be allowed to do the same?"

Of course, American and other countries policies (what terrorists often claim to oppose) are not made by the working men and women in the street. These are targeted by the attacks. In that sense, terrorism is not effective.

If you believe (as a terrorist) that there is a God out there, who serves justice in the afterlife, the basic idea is that if you are innocent and have lived a good life, you will go to heaven. If not, you go to hell.
Depending of course on your beliefs. Some Muslims don't believe that non-believers can go to heaven. Just as some Christians believe the same. Of course, the more extremist the beliefs, the less inclusive these beliefs are in general of non-believers.