Problem not Islam but fundamentalism



John de Rosier

7 Responses

  1. Phil says:

    I would agree that fundamentalism is a problem in all religions but only in Islam are the majority so cowed by the minority that it is allowed to flourish in their midst. For that they are culpable.

  2. Mary Folsom says:

    “Phil” is incorrect in saying that fundamentalism is allowed by the majority of Muslims, and also in implying that it is universally condemned in other religions. I have read many statements by people in the Muslim faith who condemn terrorism. I have also met several fudamentalist Christians who condone bombing of abortion clinics, and harrassment of the clinic’s clients. I know Irish-American Catholics who sympathize with IRA terrorist acts. Also, only last week, a high-ranking Israeli Rabbi called for annihilation of Palestinians. Many Jews supported him.

  3. iknowtruthismine says:

    Fundamentalism, the narrow absolutist belief that your vision of truth is the only one that is valid, dependant on the accumulation of myths and superstitions from our even less aware ancestors, is always evil. It is inherent in ALL religious belief, no less than our homegrown varieties that are now trying to transition their absolutist religious mentality over to the political realm. The Tea Party movement is nothing but an attempt to facilitate the combination of absolutist religious and absolutist political ideologies under one roof and use this force (of empowered ignorance) to further the interests of the real power center of society, uber-wealth.

    We have the new doctrinaire myth that it is the rugged individual that is at the core of our true nature, and that society is only a corrupt system that means to rob the rich to pay the poor. We should all stand, or fail, by our individual efforts (Social Darwinism) and that society owes us nothing in the way of a helping hand, and leveling the playing field so that the rich and powerful don’t have an unfair institutionalized advantage, is totally out of the question. If they can just sell this myth to the masses, the rich will have no problem maintaining their dominance, keep the masses hoping to rise, and always in time of strife or economic downturn, the poor to blame for all the ills that befall us. Fundamentalism, in ALL its forms, can go take a flying leap.

  4. Phil says:

    While IKTM is over the edge as usual, I agree with his feelings about fundamentalism. Mary is just plain wrong. There are fundamentalists in most religions but they are not protected by the overwhelming majority. That is why the Catholic Church had a reformation, there are reform jews etc.

  5. Mary Folsom says:

    There are over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. I don’t know what number constitutes an “overwhelming majority”, but for argument’s sake, let’s say it’s 60%. I challenge Phil to provide credible evidence that there are 900 million muslims “protecting” the fundamentalists of the religion. Generalizing statements, such as implying that the “overwhelming majority” protects fundamentalists, are without basis in fact and are the root of bigotry. I suggest that he Google “Muslins for Peace” and browse through some of the 15.5 million results.

    BTW – The Catholic Reformation aka “Vatican 2 Council” ended in 1965. It had nothing to do with IRA violence, most of which took place between 1969 and 2005.

  6. Bernard Continelli says:

    Hear Hear! “Extremism in the defense of religion IS a vice”. (Apologies to the late Karl Hess whom I had the honor of meeting in person in Philadelphia in 1989)

  7. fred says:

    There are those that belief that if god meant something other than what is written the text would say something else; they are fundamentalists. The belief religion that man’s law is not a substitute for god’s; they are authoritarians.