The psychological term I was looking for is COGNITIVE DISSONANCE.
In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort (psychological stress) experienced by a person who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values. The occurrence of cognitive dissonance is consequence of a person’s performing an action that contradicts personal beliefs, ideals, and values; and also occurs when confronted with new information that contradicts said beliefs, ideals, and values.
This mental discomfort is PREVALENT in the Muslim world.
It's also known as compartmentalization. A nuclear engineer friend of mine worked with a very devout Muslim who was by all accounts a competent atomic physicist (from Pakistan, I think). In his daily work, my friend's Muslim colleague solved equations and ran computer simulations just like any normal scientist, but if you discussed the underpinnings of the subatomic particles he studied, he'd tell you that matter and energy were really magic spirits ("Djinns").
Obviously this guy had one compartment of his brain for science and another compartment for his religion, and when they intersected he said/thought some very strange things.
The psychological term I was looking for is COGNITIVE DISSONANCE.
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It is prevalent in Western leaders, too.
They really do want to believe that there can be a moderate Islam that is peaceful in the face of all historical evidence and all of the “holy” scriptures of Islam.