Islamic fundamentalism

[_ID_]

Fundamentalists of any religion are usually breaking the rules of their roots.

[Alex Bragi]

Excellent thread, Tom—very thought provoking.

I also agree completely with ID, "breaking the rules" is, ironically, what all fundamentalists seem to have in common. That, and a very narrow-minded attitude that what they believe is totally right and what everyone else beleives is totally wrong. As physicist and Nobel laureate Stephen Weinberg once said: "“Good people will do good things and bad people will do bad things. But for good people to do bad things – that takes religion”. Unfortunately, I believe he’s right.

However, I can’t agree with this assessment: “But Karen Armstrong aptly points out that fundamentalism is already on the way out and was mostly a 50'ies to 80'ies phenomena. Today fundamentalists are a fringe movement in all parts of the world including the middle-east.”

You need not look further than the USA’s “Bible Belt” (where the separation of Church and State has become so blurred), to realise how strong fundamentalist Christianity is today and, more importantly, how politically powerful it’s become.

[TomOfSweden]

However, I can’t agree with this assessment: “But Karen Armstrong aptly points out that fundamentalism is already on the way out and was mostly a 50'ies to 80'ies phenomena. Today fundamentalists are a fringe movement in all parts of the world including the middle-east.”

You need not look further than the USA’s “Bible Belt” (where the separation of Church and State has become so blurred), to realise how strong fundamentalist Christianity is today and, more importantly, how politically powerful it’s become.

I'll buy that. Karen Armstrong's theory is that the root of all religious fundamentalism is the stress of the new modern culture and the perceived assault of the secular world on it. If we accept her theory and think of all our new technology and it's increasing complexity it becomes understandable.

Her focus in this book was Islamic fundamentalism. She covers the Christians fundamentalists in "God's warriors". I haven't read that one, so I can't really say in detail what she mentions about it, and me personally; I don't know more than what I see in sensationalist press, which paints a picture of USA as extremely backward spiritually, (like in Kansas for example) which I just don't accept. I personally think it's just journalism focusing on the extremes

[TomOfSweden]

Fundamentalists of any religion are usually breaking the rules of their roots.

well, yeah. But I don't see how that's relevant. She argues that all fundamentalists are a new and a separate religion. Christian bible-thumpers in the bible belt and Islamic fundamentalists in the caves of Afghanistan are pretty much the same new religion and have the same values. They just have different symbols. The difference between the Koran and the Bible, in what actually is being said are minute.

Don't forget the audience. It isn't really fair to read the Bible and the Koran today to find the words of the prophets. It's probably better to look at how people of the time actually reacted to them.

Our world is a radically different place then it was 600 AD. A person following the Koran to the letter in 600 AD will read a completely different book than a person following it to the letter today. Our brains and minds are a product of the times we live in. The words have radically different meanings today. Dictionaries get redefined all the time.

Because of evolution all religions have probably broken with their roots. I don't see how that is an intrinsically bad thing.