ISIS has a cheery phone app to indoctrinate children about tanks and guns

ISIS app for children.
(Image credit: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)

The Islamic State lost about a quarter of its territory in 2016, but in the areas the terrorist organization retains, indoctrination starts early. ISIS runs a number of schools and has developed its own curriculum, including a colorful app to teach very young children their letters while introducing them to weapons of war. Instead of "A is for apple," the app explains that "B is for Bunduqiyya (gun)," "D is for Dababa (tank)," and "S is for sayf (sword)."

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.