Religious Fundamentalism - Why John might be right.

Fundamentalism is tossed around like a dirty word these days. It is associated with the western world's heightened awareness of radical Muslim fundamentalists, a.k.a. terrorists. Fundamentalism, however, is something seemingly much more benign. Simply put, fundamentalism is a belief that all knowledge, particularly scripture, anointed by your particular brand of religion be taken by the word. In other words, whatever your good book says should be taken completely literally, without exception. As crazy as this sounds, christian fundamentalism permeates far deeper into the mainstream of life here in America than many may think. Although sanity still usually prevails in a free society, vigilance must be kept to ensure the sanctity of free thought and opinion for future generations.

This whole thing started for me when I came across a succession of quotes from people in positions of influence and power in this country who swore by the idea that the earth is only 6000 years old. This was stunning to me. Sure, if my dear old grandmother told me this, I can accept it. She grew up in an entirely different world than I did. However, these people make decisions for the masses. This scared the shit out of me. I couldn't fathom how educated, intelligent and savvy politicians could come to the conclusions that they were coming to. What is it that can make an otherwise intelligent and educated person come to an outlandish conclusion? The answers I came up with don't bode well for our future.

Fundamentalists have staked their very souls on the literal word of people from an ancient time. This makes their worldview completely rigid. By their sworn belief, they cannot accept any new knowledge that contradicts the words that they have staked their lives on. Regardless of the amount or veracity of any new data supporting a theory that contradicts the Bible, fundamentalists must refute it at all costs. If they don't, then the literalism upon which their faith is built is instantly and irreparably destroyed.

I can't emphasize this idea enough. No matter what treasures are revealed to us in the future from great minds, they will all be refuted by fundamentalists if the knowledge steps on the toes of the gospel. If Einstein's theory of special or general relativity directly contradicted what the Bible says, we may indeed live in a very different world today. The repercussions of this idea as applied to our world's past, present, and future cannot be overstated.

So, where does this idea leave the fundamentalists? At the least, it leaves a culture suspicious of accepting change, and in the case of change that contradicts the good book, it leaves a culture that will vehemently fight intellectual progress to the death. To the death you say? Take a good look at Islamic fundamentalists. While the ideas of cleansing infidels through jihad may seem far fetched for your local fundamentalist Christian congregation, there are striking similarities on how these two groups view the outside world. The constructs are the same. The difference is in the extremism of the implementation. Take away some of the comforts of a life in the western world, back it by a few dozen generations of resentment and hate, and I'd bet my life that the two groups would be indiscernible from each other.

The truth is religious fundamentalism, no matter what brand, breeds blind faith, intellectual incuriosity, and a thought process that is inextricably immersed in religious partiality. Let me try to expound on that point. People seem to be losing the ability to separate their own personal beliefs and experiences from their thought process. This eradicates the idea of objectivity. Compounding the problem is a consistent inability by the partial thinker to finger this obvious problem. This leads to a massive persecution complex when the conclusions they've come to differ so greatly from the conclusions gained through truly objective processes.

The bottom line is that fundamentalists don't see any problems with their lines of rationality and reasoning because they know that they're right. Not in regard to any particular argument, but in regard to the keys of our very existence. This approach to the world, in their minds, gives them every right to influence policy and culture with fundamentalist beliefs without a tinge of doubt or care towards those that may think differently. After all, they're right. Which by default, means you're wrong if you don't agree. A good fundamentalist would NEVER admit to that last sentence, perhaps because they're incapable of introspection, but it's the truth. It has to be. It's based on logic.

A large faction of narrow minded people who have staked their lives on a static worldview, who believe they have the answer for salvation and a persecution complex to boot? Sounds like Armageddon to me.