Fundamentalism: prevalence, types, overview.

Fundamentalism, in its many varieties of religious enthusiasm, is in the process of destroying civility today--our ability to get along with each other in trust and cooperation, possibly even our civilization. We seem to have reached a turning flashpoint of using religious faith to divide the world into “us” and “them.” We are willing to stereotype those who disagree with us as dangerous and even as “anti-faith,” anti-American,” and “anti-patriotic.” Are there healthy and unhealthy forms of fundamentalism?

In this country, politicians are willing to wade into any situation where they find political gain by asserting supposedly religious values, such as in the recent Terri Shiavo case. Religion is being used to divide the electorate, not only by many religious groups, but even by the White House itself, all in “God’s name.” Overseas, religious extremists so read their scriptures to obtain the mandate to strap explosives on themselves in order to kill as many of their brothers and sisters as possible in order to make a socio-politico-religious statement. They believe this suicidal assassination of innocent countrymen gains salvation and eternal reward for their sacrifice.

I want to distinguish several types of religious fundamentalism, several ways of affirming the fundamentals, or the basic truths of an ideology. There are other kinds of fundamentalism, for example, in science and other disciplines, e.g., holding firmly to certain truths even in the face of contrasting evidence. Einstein’s holding to the classical scientific view that the universe was fixed and static even in the face of his own mathematics until he finally looked through the Hubble telescope to discover the expanding universe would be an example. He later regarded this obstinance as his greatest scientific error.

Perhaps the easiest religious fundamentalism to understand is the extremist type, although it is also the most challenging to deal with, as it is a type of fanaticism. Secondly is a literalist fundamentalism that insists that every word in the Bible is the infallible Word of God and must be under any circumstances Divinely inspired. Thirdly, a radical fundamentalism seeks to return to the “roots’ say of the real message of Jesus as opposed to what organized religion has done with Jesus. We intend to describe each, with its limits, and make some suggestions for a remedy.

I have already addressed the first two types in an article published some ten years ago titled “The Ultimate Temptation.” I suggested that for the religious person those types of fundamentalism are a form of stealth idolatry. That is, instead of accepting faith as a divine gift, they have a sense of entitlement or ownership of the faith vision that permits and even encourages the judging of others as further from the Divine Light than they are. They even judge the motives of others who think, feel and believe differently as insincere. This article may be found elsewhere on my blog on the Human Shadow. There is also other posting there that addresses religious extremism. Here I intend to distinguish healthy from unhealthy fundamentalism, and offer some criteria for the reader. A second article already addresses this issue somewhat “What is a psychologically healthy spirituality?” which is can be found in numerous places on the web and also in my blogs.

What is an extremist fundamentalism?
What is a literalist fundamentalism?
What is a radical fundamentalism?
Is a civil fundamentalism possible?
Do we need a global ethic for our survival as a species?
The context in all these questions is religious faith.