Religious Fundamentalism versus Tolerance

The definition of fundamentalism is implicit in the name. Fundamentalism refers to the underlying principles and essential theories or creeds which uniquely define any religion. Anyone who accepts on faith these basic principles and accepts them literally as absolutely unquestionable truths, is a fundamentalist. Dogmas are usually based on the testimonials or opinions of other people (usually long dead) and cannot be verified. Different opinions produce different systems of beliefs or religions. The percentage of individuals within any group who could be called fundamentalists may be a small minority or a large majority. Those who have these rigid beliefs are essentially intolerant of other ideas but do not necessarily promote violence. However some individuals or even large groups may become violent extremists or terrorists or even instigate a religious war if they feel that their religion or group is being threatened. These religious creeds are so rigidly accepted that a fundamentalist often reacts emotionally or even violently if these principles are questioned or criticized. The reason for this hostility is mostly defensive. Numerous conflicting religious dogmas or assumptions can’t all simultaneously be true and critical investigation is discouraged and often punished. This is a serious barrier to any type of social progress or world peace.

This fundamentalism does not refer to any one religion. It refers to individuals, groups or sects in any religion that allow no dissent or criticism. This type of restriction on opinions and free thought stagnates a society. It stalls or retards the normal evolutionary development of civilization. For over a thousand years during the Middle Ages in Europe there was absolutely no progress made in any area of society. There were no scientific discoveries made. There were no books written. There were no schools built. Almost everyone was illiterate. Health and sanitation conditions were so bad that plagues killed millions of people. Societies stagnated and decayed. It was an era so terrible that it was called the Dark Ages. It was an age ruled by Christian religious fundamentalism.

Religious fundamentalism turns father against son, mother against daughter, brother against sister, neighbor against neighbor and nation against nation. It is the root cause of all religious wars. Tolerance produces peace, intolerance produces wars.

Violence and wars are frequent means of settling differences of opinions. The conflict is ended when one group exterminates the other. The dispute is resolved, but the cost in human life is great. Tolerance does not solve the fundamental differences of opinion, but it creates a peaceful environment in which the differences can be rationally and calmly debated and hopefully resolved. Compromise is always preferable to the brutalities of war.

Only when the Age of Reason began in the eighteenth century, and many theocracies were replaced by democracies did progress begin to solve some of the problems of societies. Democracies allowed free thought, free speech and the free exchange of ideas that had been forbidden by the religious fundamentalists during the age of theocracies.

Fundamentalism is the opposite of tolerant because it forbids different views. It demands simple blind obedience to a creed, a dogma or any rigid set of beliefs. It rejects any compromise, difference of opinion, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of religion or alternate ideology. Fundamentalism demands a closed mind. It is based on self righteous arrogance which dismisses any other point of view without any discussion or debate. Politically, it is a dictatorial theocracy which legalizes one state religion and outlaws all others.

Religious fundamentalism is divisive. Instead of uniting societies, it produces isolation and hostility. It places more value on deities and dogmas, real or imagined, than it does on humanity. It sacrifices real people for ideologies.

It is responsible for endless religious wars between otherwise similar cultures and people. It is responsible for the Inquisition, the Holy Crusades, suicidal jihad extremists, 9/11, ethnic cleansing, African genocide and countless tortures and deaths of innocent civilians.

The intolerance of religious fundamentalism is responsible for the World War II European prison camps, labor camps, concentration camps and extermination camps constructed and operated by the Nazis. Religious fundamentalism produced Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Buchenwald, Kulmhuf, Dachau, Flossenburg, Maichow and Treblinka. Blind obedience to an ideology placed dogma above humanity. Free thought was exterminated along with several million human beings.

Religious fundamentalism in Salem Mass. in 1692 resulted in public witch trials. Fundamentalist preachers and ministers solemnly reading a literal command from the Bible (Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Exodus 22:18), praying for guidance and wisdom, while watching helpless little old ladies, men and children being hanged on Gallows Hill. Once again, blind thoughtless obedience to rigid dogma erased tolerance and human compassion.

On September 30, 2007 on the beach in Santa Monica California, as the early morning sun dawned on the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean, 3807 wooden crosses were erected in the sand. Symbols of the 3807 American soldiers who will never return home to their grieving families. If not for religious fundamentalism creating religious wars in the Middle East these crosses would not exist. Instead, 3807 American young people could be on the sandy beach with their families and children enjoying the sun and the surf.

The Arlington National Cemetery in northeastern Virginia is the final resting place for most American soldiers killed in battle. All Americans honor and respect the sacrifice that each soldier and their families have made for the defense of our nation. But honoring the soldiers should never mean glorifying war. Some wars are necessary but no war is good. A justified war must be waged only when absolutely necessary and only for the purpose of defense. Aggressive or pre-emptive wars are not defensive. Religious wars are absolutely never justified. A difference of opinion over religious dogmas is not a justification to start a war. Most of the present wars in the Middle East are religious wars.

The American dead are buried in expensive, silk lined coffins in elaborate funerals costing many thousands of dollars. The cemeteries are beautifully landscaped in park like settings. The green grass is kept neatly trimmed and beautiful flower gardens are meticulous maintained.

Outside of Baghdad Iraq there are also cemeteries. Tens of thousands of dirt mounds in the grassless desert. It is not a tourist attraction like Arlington, but a desolate place of sadness. The dead are not buried in expensive, beautiful coffins. The dead corpses and hastily gathered body parts are simply wrapped in a simple sheet and reverently placed in a hole in the ground. Some are placed in crude wooden boxes. The Iraqi cemeteries have no separate sections for soldiers or sections for civilians. The grave is no respecter of persons. The men, women, grandfathers, grandmothers and children are buried side by side. There are no soldiers, just people. Each day hundreds of new dirt mounds are added. This is the fruit of religious fundamentalism and extremism. This is the human price of intolerance.

During the Middle Ages, countless wars were fought and countless millions died, often over trivial reasons or unimportant ideological disputes. Many of these unnecessary wars were religious wars waged because of intolerance. This still continues throughout the world today. Is seems as though nothing has changed since the Dark Ages. Protestants are fighting against Catholics. Jews are fighting against Muslims. Christians are fighting against Muslims. Muslims are fighting against Buddhists. All of these wars are the result of religious fundamentalism. Fundamentalists are extremists in any religion. Extremists who will tolerate no criticism or difference of opinion.

Nationalism is supported and encouraged by religious fundamentalism. Whether the nation is a democracy, theocracy or dictatorship, each religion is primarily concerned with their own survival and growth. This is a selfish motive. It is a prejudiced mentality which considers one’s own group to be superior to any other group. This is an attitude which tolerates and promotes wars. A nation is nothing more than one group of humans living in one particular area on the surface of the Earth. One nation is separated by another nation by an imaginary line drawn randomly in the dirt.

Every citizen of every nation should personally visit their national boundary. They should personally and thoughtfully take a close look at that imaginary line in the dirt. The dirt on both sides of that line is the same. The grass on both sides of that line is the same. The flowers on both sides of that line are the same. The people on both sides of that line are the same. Nationalism and patriotism have some limited purposes, but they should not be more important than human life. Nations and religious groups are just artificial divisions of the human family. Wars do absolutely nothing except fill cemeteries.

Religious fundamentalism and free thought are incompatible. Every religion, philosophy or system of thought has a basic list of ideas or beliefs which defines a particular group, denomination or sect. Within each group there are usually a percentage of individuals who have strongly held beliefs about these primary ideas or creeds. These fundamentalists tend to be conservative in their thinking and distrust anyone who is more liberal or tolerant. Among most religions and philosophies there is a wide variety of opinions about most ideas and principles. Especially if these ideas are based on oral traditions which may have been passed down through many generations and the sources of these ideas cannot be known or the truth of the ideas verified. All societies and cultures evolve dynamically and remain static only if they are extremely isolated. Societies evolve when new discoveries are made and old ideas become obsolete. New ideas are essential for progress. Without change, societies stagnate and fail to develop. Theocracies censure any ideas that contradict their creeds.

Religious fundamentalism tends to develop in societies that are more homogeneous. Isolation of a group from other people or cultures restricts the variety of choices that are available. Heterogeneous societies are composed of many different groups with different ideas, beliefs and opinions. These offer individuals more choices and different viewpoints. Free thought and free speech develop best in heterogeneous environments, especially when differences of opinion are respected and tolerated. The separation of church and state in our nation, which was established by the U.S. Constitution, allows such a difference of opinion to exist without government interference. This freedom of thought and speech is the essence of democracy.

Even in large civilized states, and modern cities, individual groups can be formed which remain isolated from others by their own choice. A child may be raised within a family in which no one is allowed to criticize or hold a difference of opinion from a particular religion. Most parents want their children to have the same opinions and beliefs as themselves, and encourage or restrict what the children may read or think. Children are often sent to religious schools instead of public schools for this reason. In religious schools, only one religious viewpoint is allowed. Religious schools are essentially religious theocratic institutions in which every teacher is a priest. Religious schools produce religious fundamentalist children who grow up to be religious fundamentalist adults. In public schools, children come into contact with many different viewpoints and become more broad minded. Public schools produce tolerant children who grow up to be tolerant adults.

Democracy can only exist in heterogeneous societies. The U.S. has been called the melting pot of cultures. Our original national motto, which was well chosen, “E Pluribus Unum” is Latin for “One from many.” This motto was a proclamation that our nation was diverse but united and tolerant. Our nation has always been a society that has accepted immigrants from many different cultures and ethnic backgrounds. Many different groups with many different religious beliefs and traditions migrated to America to escape the persecution and discrimination that had existed in some European nations that were more homogeneous. Especially during the Middle Ages when most European countries were Christian theocracies. Theocracies create homogeneous societies by establishing a state religion. All differences of opinion are outlawed. No criticism or free thought or free speech is tolerated. No other religion except the state religion is allowed to exist. This creates religious fundamentalism. The people living in a theocracy accept only one set of primary beliefs because no other choices are available. Since each religion believes that they alone have the correct viewpoint, they have no reservations about limiting or abolishing any opposing viewpoint. Every religion would like the opportunity to establish a theocracy and if they have the chance to do so, they will seize the political power. Once a religion has established a theocracy and has the political power to restrict other beliefs or ideas, it becomes extremely difficult to develop a democracy. In the Middle Ages, many theocracies became so powerful that they restricted free thought for many centuries. Many freedoms are sacrificed on the altar of fundamentalism.

Migrations of people, who are often refugees of wars, helps to establish democracies because this relocation tends to create more heterogeneous societies. The people in a culturally mixed society have the opportunity to exchange ideas and become aware of other viewpoints and other religious beliefs. They become more tolerant of criticism. The free flow of ideas also helps to increase natural knowledge, science and the general progress of a nation. To help encourage the development of more democracies, nations should promote world travel and migration and accept more immigrants. Democracies cannot be created instantaneously, they must evolve slowly. Our own U.S. democracy has been evolving for 200 years and still needs improvements.

In many areas, such as the Middle East, there has been little migration. Some of these nations have remained isolated for centuries and have become extremely homogeneous. The vast deserts of the Middle East and North Africa have accounted for much of this isolation. In many of these areas, one single religion has succeeded in establishing an absolute theocracy or religious dictatorship. Almost every nation in the Middle East at the present time is in this condition. Today these governments are almost all Islamic theocracies or Islamic dictatorships. Freedom of religion, freedom of thought and freedom of speech has been restricted or eliminated. The establishment of democracy in such a situation is impossible. These theocracies are absolutely intolerant of any dissent. The punishment for any criticism or expressing a difference of opinion is immediate death. The Inquisition is still thriving in these theocracies. These theocracies are composed of fundamentalists and extremists. Individuals who, primarily because of isolation, have become so narrow minded that they cannot tolerate any criticism whatsoever of their fundamental principles or creeds.

Religious wars that continue to plague the world today are primarily the result of the intolerance that still exists in many theocratic nations.

Fundamentalism and religious extremism are at one end of the ideological spectrum. Their lack of tolerance creates antagonistic divisions within the human family. At the other end of this ideological spectrum there is the opposite attitude. A liberal tolerance for all points of view and opinions. It is probably true that the majority of people are to be found somewhere in between these two opposites. When this middle majority tends to move toward the fundamentalist position, religious wars increase. When the majority moves toward the opposite more tolerant viewpoint, a more peaceful climate develops. Tolerance can be described as simply having more compassion, empathy and respect for all people. To wish for others the same liberties, freedoms and happiness that every person desires for themselves.

Tolerance simply means having the attitude that humanity should come first and displaying this attitude in all human actions. Humans should be more important than any ideology, ancient dogma, sectarian creed or national boundaries. Every person on the surface of the Earth belongs to the same family. We are all members of one species. We all share common ancestors. We all have the same needs and wants. We should all have the same freedom of opinion.. Ideological and religious differences should be tolerated, discussed and debated rationally and calmly without violence. No wars should be fought over differences of opinion or imaginary national boundaries. It is unnatural for any one group or one species to fight and kill their own members. Religious wars only produce human suffering and death. They never prove or disprove any religious dogmas. They only prove who has the most powerful army. Tolerance promotes peace and cooperation which leads to group survival and individual happiness.

Any person in any nation or any culture can belong to any religious or non-religious group and still practice tolerance. Tolerance unites father and son, brother and sister, husband and wife, neighbors and nations. Tolerance unites humanity. Religious extremism does the opposite. Tolerance values peaceful cooperation and mutual respect for all ideas, opinions and beliefs. Most of all, it places the highest value on the family. It seeks to preserve the family by putting human values above dogmas and ideologies. Any religious extremism that divides the family is destructive to social order and destructive to humanity as a whole.

There are no easy resolutions to the many problems facing our volatile world today. Religious differences and resulting hostilities are contributing to this instability. There is no reasonable expectation that there is going to be any significant change in this condition in the near future. However, in this age of increasing proliferation of nuclear weapons and the increasing destruction that is resulting from each new war, the future survival or extinction of humanity is hanging in the balance.