The Australian Embassy security warning to the GCC states of a serious and credible terrorist threat is raising the spectra of religion gone badly wrong . . . again!
Fundamentalism is getting a bad name! The term fundamentalism was originally used as a label to describe Christians in the American Bible Belt who reacted to the perceived threat of liberalism in the Church by producing a series of tracts calling for a return to the fundamentals of the Christian faith. The fundamentals for this group was an unswerving faith in the Bible as the Word of God and the historical veracity of a crucified and risen Christ. In this sense then, I am happy to describe myself as a fundamentalist Christian. People are not comfortable with that label though. Fundamentalism has become a term which is used to describe religious fanatics. Instead of fundamentalist I would prefer the use of the word extremist to describe someone whose religious views has polarized the world into ‘them and us’. The rise of religious extremism is an alarming and unexpected feature of our contemporary world and it affects every faith community. It is expressed through the bombing of abortion clinics in the USA, the recent persecution of Christians in India by Hindus and terrorism in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and beyond.
So what are the features of religious extremism and when does someone cross the line from being a fundamentalist to something more ominous? The following is a simple and helpful guide. Scholars identify the following trends. Extremism often starts as a reaction to a perceived threat within their own faith community. Often the worse form of hostility is manifest between different sects who bear almost identical convictions. Church history for example, is peppered with brutal confrontation between Catholics and Protestants.
Secondly, extremism justifies the use of violence as a means to an end. The end is usually the desire to forcibly impose their version of truth upon others.
Finally extremism emphasizes a dogmatic and exclusivist theology which polarizes and dehumanizes others of different convictions.
The wide scale suffering caused by religious extremism is causing some to see all religion as the problem. The atheists argue that religion simply has to go (we won’t mention Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and Hitler who have massacred millions out of their atheist convictions).
Instead I believe a solution is a return to the fundamentals. Essentially a fundamentalist is someone who believes in the fundamentals of their faith. The scriptures insist on a compassionate theology. You cannot have ‘Love your neighbour’ and ‘burn heretic burn’ as compatible convictions. Fundamentalism should in fact provoke us to take a firm stand on such issues as poverty and exploitation and heighten our commitment to campaign for a better world.
So what are the features of religious extremism and when does someone cross the line from being a fundamentalist to something more ominous? The following is a simple and helpful guide. Scholars identify the following trends. Extremism often starts as a reaction to a perceived threat within their own faith community. Often the worse form of hostility is manifest between different sects who bear almost identical convictions. Church history for example, is peppered with brutal confrontation between Catholics and Protestants.
Secondly, extremism justifies the use of violence as a means to an end. The end is usually the desire to forcibly impose their version of truth upon others.
Finally extremism emphasizes a dogmatic and exclusivist theology which polarizes and dehumanizes others of different convictions.
The wide scale suffering caused by religious extremism is causing some to see all religion as the problem. The atheists argue that religion simply has to go (we won’t mention Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and Hitler who have massacred millions out of their atheist convictions).
Instead I believe a solution is a return to the fundamentals. Essentially a fundamentalist is someone who believes in the fundamentals of their faith. The scriptures insist on a compassionate theology. You cannot have ‘Love your neighbour’ and ‘burn heretic burn’ as compatible convictions. Fundamentalism should in fact provoke us to take a firm stand on such issues as poverty and exploitation and heighten our commitment to campaign for a better world.
(Islam is not unique to being portrayed as a religion with a sword. The picture at the top comes from a church window in Kuwait. It is a picture of St Paul wielding one mighty big sword!)
