Religious fundamentalism is a force which has absolutely possessed the imagination of both America and the world lately. You have your terrorists on the one hand, who are always characterized as Islamic fundamentalists. And then you have your Christian fundamentalists, on the other hand, who actively promote the return of traditional Christian values to American society. Interesting comparisons could be drawn between Islamic and Christian fundamentalism, but I’d like to look instead at just what religious fundamentalism is all about.
Religions, at their core, consist of a story (or set of stories) and rituals which people use to interact with and act out elements of the story. When a story is told or shared between multiple people, it naturally gets modified based on the unique perspective and cultural background of each person. To keep stories from being modified to a point where they become unrecognizable, people and institutions often try to control what versions of stories are passed on as “official” and which ones are relegated to the garbage can of history.
Religious fundamentalism, then, is one of the methods by which people seek to maintain a particular version of a religious story, along with its accompanying beliefs and rituals. They believe they have found (or been given) the best, most potent possible version of a particular story. Usually too, fundamentalist teachings - no matter the religion - will insist upon a literalist interpretation of their particular story. By insisting on a strictly literal reading of a story, you effectively limit the number of questions which can be asked about it. By reducing the amount of time spent wondering or “reading between the lines,” you help to ensure that alternate interpretations (and hence, modifications) have a more difficult time arising.
A literalist reading also helps maintain a sense of unity among a group of people. Social bonds can be built and sustained around non-interpretive understanding of stories, beliefs and practices. It is much more expedient to give people a list of points to memorize, than to ask people to delve deeply into something, and analyze on many levels simultaneously in order to come up with their own conclusions and interpretations.
- END -
ASSOCIATED CONTENT @TMBCHR (Auto-Generated)
- Dissonance, Fundamentalism & Syncretism
- Notes: Bubbles From Eyes
- Building Spiritual Communities
- Religion over politics
- Fundamentalism Part 2: Brand Identity & Cultural Immune Systems
